First time in Kansas

I a definitely teaching an art class at the rally so I have to stock up my supplies. Hobby Lobby here I come!

Moving further East and still on I70 took us up. And I mean up too! Over 11,000 ft at one point with many miles of 8% and steeper grades. The rig was down in 1^st gear, flat out at 4500 rpm going 30mph. Still the old girl made it and didn't overheat or anything dramatic.

Yep a tunnel at 11,158'

We had a couple of nights in Golden Colorado where we visited the Colorado Railroad Museum. This is definitely worth a stop. Look up their schedule to get a ride on a real steam train. Their workshops are interesting as they restore both the rolling stock and the actual engines in their Roundhouse.

Colorado Railroad Museum

You don't see many of these around!

We also found a nest of Elks Lodges. There were 3 withing about 15 miles of the campground we were staying at. We found out too late that one of them has camping facilities that aren't listed in the RV directory. We visited the Golden Lodge first but they had a power outage and told us to try the Lakewood Lodge which is famous for a big stained glass window they rescued from Denver Lodge 17 when it was being redeveloped. Along with seeing the window we lucked into their Boche Ball league. They have about 5 Boche lanes and 60 active players. Better yet they have the grill going outside and a nice shaded area to sit and eat burger and hot dogs. No guessing where we ate dinner that night!

Finally we found ourselves in Kansas. It's the first time for us and we get to add another state to the list at the side of the blog. I had found a campground called High Plains CG right off I70 near Oakley KS. It was shown as having “Captain Jack's Pub” on site. It turns out that “Captain Jack” and his wife who own the CG were from Hampton VA. Not only that but they served Chesapeake Bay seafood! We had their Maryland Crab Cakes made with Old Bay seasoning. It took us back to our 25 years around Baltimore and Annapolis MD. Very pleasant.

Barbara saved a buffalo from being killed by an illegal hunter right outside the Buffalo Bill Culture Center. What are the odds! Very brave Barbara.

Barbara saves the Buffalo

Buffalo Bill has several museums across the country. We visited the one in Cody WY a couple of years back. It turns out that Buffalo Bill was very much a product of his own ego and of several dime novels written by Ned Buntline. The same gentleman invented Wild Bill Hickock who's name wasn't William or even Hickock! It's apt than that this center is in Oakley KS. Which has nothing whatever to do with Annie Oakley, and the

Buffalo Bill Culture Center has nothing much about him, mainly because he never came here! It does mention that his legend was formed “In the area” which considering the size of the Prairie here about is a pretty broad description!

Street art in Dodge City.

We also stopped in Wichita for a couple of nights, one of which was spent watching huge thunderstorms circle around us and hearing reports of tornado's forming and softball size hail. Luckily none of it came near us. Also luckily we posted on Facebook that we were in the area and our good friends Marty and Peggy sent us a message that they were in the area too so we went stayed an extra night and caught up on their news.

L-R Me Marty, Peggy and Barbara

Time to go, Escapades is calling.

To make up for that we stayed at the Elks Lodge in Chula Vista and naturally caught up on all our old friends and neighbors in town. Days of partying turned int nights of partying. The diet went completely out of the window.

After so much fun with great friends and ex neighbors it felt strange to be heading out again. Towing the Miata got a little less stressful every day, but I still had Barbara peering out of the rear window as we pulled away to check the wheels weren't locked!

Hitched up and ready to travel

We are starting our summer of travel for 2018.

First we had decided to try and get together with our Aussie friends Mike and Lynne who were currently around Moab UT having a great time exploring all the tremendous National Parks nearby. Zion, Canyon Lands to name but two. They were heading West slowly and we were heading North East. It looked like we could meet up in Utah somewhere.

We posted on FaceBook that we were stopping in Parker Arizona and suddenly Paul and Karen our friends from Sundance in Casa Grande were on our doorstep. What a nice surprise. We chatted for an hour then went our separate ways.

We stopped in one of my favorite places “Valley of Fire State Park” North of Vegas. I have always promised Barbara I'd bring her here and we had 2 great days exploring this spectacular spot. We even hiked the Petroglyph Trail and felt the spirit of the ancient people in that special canyon.

Valley of Fire gets it's name from the vivid red sandstone formations

Hauntingly beautiful Petroglyphs

Prickly Pear cactus in bloom

Lost City Museum in Overton Nevada I feel a painting coming on!

When we first started this trip back in 2015 one of the early stops we made was in Panguich UT. For sentimental reasons we stopped there again before driving the stunning UT 12 thru the Dixie National Forest and Bryce National Park. If you drive this road don't expect to make fast time. If the breath taking views aren't enough to slow you down then the 8, 9 and 10% grades should! Twisting and climbing we crossed the snowline and crested the highest point at 9400'.

9400' and above the snowline on Utah route 12.

Mike and Lynne were dry camping on BLM land but the entrance was too rocky for the Miata to get into that spot and we picked a little campground called Sand Creek based on the RV Campground Review app. It was quite expensive for what it was but it's a popular place so we took what we could get. Mike steered me to another app that gives the location of BLM spots on a map iOverlander might be our “Go To” now for that kind of camping, it's really easy to use.

We had a great couple of days and nights catching up with all their news and their trip down to Baja Mexico. A nice dinner at Rim Rock Hotel and Restaurant followed by a beer or so at our rig with a trip into the Capitol Reef NP to round things out. It's funny how you can make friends so easily when you're RV'ing, and we just love these guys.

Barbara, Lynne and I in Torrey Utah

Capitol Reef NP Scenic Route

Sunday Farmers Market with a band in Torrey

More Aussie's! Turned out these ones were from the same city as Mike and Lynne

On we went, breaking our “No Interstates” rule to drive 100 miles up I70 to Grand Junction Colorado. Happily the Elks Lodge was open on Sunday and we were welcomed and given bowls of the soup somebody had thoughtfully provided. It turned out that the Exalted Ruler was an artist too and we were soon chatting away and showing pictures of our work to each other.

We were told to go visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River while we are in the area so we elected to stay 2 nights and do some exploring.

The Escapades Rally is at the end of this month and we are trying to hook up with one of the groups we are associated with to camp together. It's more fun if we are in the same area and cuts down on how far we have to walk to “Happy Hour”!!

I am definitely teaching an art class there now, so I have to stock up my supplies. Hobby Lobby here I come!