CONCORDIA KANSAS TO ALTOONA IOWA FIGHTING A NASTY HEAD & CHEST COLD ALL THE WAY

DIDN’T HAVE A LOT OF PHOTOS FOR TONIGHT’S POST SO WALKED OVER TO WAL-MART’S GARDEN CENTER & TOOK A PICTURE OF THEIR MULCH ALONG WITH SOME FLOWERS

Not a good night.  Been fighting a chest cold since the day we left Congress & each day it has been getting steadily worse with a lot of hacking, wheezing, & congested coughing.  Last night it moved up into my throat & head making for very little sleep.  Throat felt like I had swallowed a package of razor blades this morning.  With all those little miseries going on it made for a long driving day.

Clouds had moved in during the night & temperatures dropped.  We were on the road about 8:10 & fought a nasty head wind all the way up highway 81 to York Nebraska where we picked up I-80.  Of course as soon as I swung Winnie’s nose to the East we commenced fighting a tricky cross wind for the rest of the day.  Fortunately I-80 traffic was light.  Not a lot I can tell you about our day.  We just kept slogging East.  However, since pulling out of ‘Army Tank’ Park this morning I had one thought in mind.  One destination…..Cracker Barrel:)) 

Figured for sure there would be a Cracker Barrel in Lincoln Nebraska & sure enough there was.  Kelly looked it up & we rolled off I-80 at exit 403 around noon.  Thursday special was Turkey & dressing with mashed potatoes & gravy.  Right up my alley & of course buns & corn bred.  We both had the Turkey special.  What a pleasant Oasis those Cracker Barrels are for us on long traveling days.  Always like the ambience there.  Hank Williams was belting out Honky Tonk Blues when we walked in.  Cracker Barrels always make me feel better & I was sure needing some feeling better this morning.  My razor blade throat finally cleared up.  Just dealing with head stuffiness tonight & a bit of fatigue.  Have a feeling with a good night’s sleep tonight I will start pulling out of this shortly.

Our day remained windy, on the cold side, & cloud covered.  No problems rolling through Omaha Nebraska or Des Moines Iowa.  Kelly looked up a Wal-Mart location on the East side of Des Moines & came up with one in Altoona south of I-80 & the big Bass Pro Shop.  What a great feeling it always is at the end of long traveling days to pull in somewhere, shut things down, & just go back into the coach & sit down on our couch.  Because we are self contained I don’t have to bother with hooking up water & electric.  I sure like that.

  

A FEW THINGS SEEN ALONG THE WAY LIKE A DANDELION & A DINOSAUR EATING A TREE

 

A CAR WITH SOME OUCHIES & PAINTED SILOS IN DES MOINES

   

A DRIVE-IN MOVIE THEATER & AN OLD BUILDING OF SOME KIND

 

AND LET’S NOT FORGET BEAUTY & THE BEAST

Our scenery didn’t change a whole lot today.  The hills were a bit higher & the grades longer but the countryside along our route is basically flat.  And at this time of year with no leaves on the trees & no crops in the fields the word boring comes to mind.  Plus it was overcast & dull. Yes, we  sure do miss the mountains of the South-West.  Update::  We did finish the day in sunshine & warmer temps here in Wal-Mart’s parking lot in Altoona Iowa:))

EVEN PHEEBS WAS BORED WITH THE SAME OLD-SAME OLD FLAT SCENERY

Because we are off the road on the early side today & I don’t have a whole bunch of photos to edit so maybe I can make a start at getting caught up on all the kind emails people have sent in recently.  Not meaning to ignore anyone, it’s just these long traveling days kind of knock the stuffings out of me sometimes. & putting a post together at the end of each day occasionally leaves my limited energy levels depleted.  And I also found out today thanks to a reader my short term memory has let me down again.  Had put 6 reader emails in a special folder a couple weeks ago to remind myself not to forget to answer them & then promptly forgot to answer them.  I get so frustrated with myself when I do things like that!!!!  I will get those emails caught up when we get home & if I forget again Kelly said there is going to be some very big trouble headed my way…………

Looks like we have some snarly weather setting in for Sunday.  Rain!!  Plan right now is to be home sometime Saturday & at least get the rig half unloaded just in case we have us a downpour.  Don’t want to be carrying things in the house with a cold rain coming down & don’t want to be driving home in rain either if we can help it.

HEY TOM I GOT A ROLLER COASTER FOR YA TODAY:))

We will probably just bite the bullet & brutally fight our way though Chicago traffic Friday.  No way around it.  May just as well meet the Beast head on & deal with it.  We’ve had to do it before:((

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Honorable Secretary of Agriculture Washington, D.C.

Dear Sir;

My friend, Ed Peterson, over at Wells Iowa, received a check for $1,000 from the government for not raising hogs. So, I want to go into the "not raising hogs" business next year.

What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on, and what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all governmental policies. I would prefer not to raise razorbacks, but if that is not a good breed not to raise, then I will just as gladly not raise Yorkshires or Durocs.

As I see it, the hardest part of this program will be in keeping an accurate inventory of how many hogs I haven't raised.

My friend, Peterson, is very joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was $422 in 1968, until this year when he got your check for $1000 for not raising hogs.

If I get $1000 for not raising 50 hogs, will I get $2000 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4000 hogs not raised, which will mean about $80,000 the first year. Then I can afford an airplane.

Now another thing, these hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand that you also pay farmers for not raising corn and wheat. Will I qualify for payments for not raising wheat and corn not to feed the 4000 hogs I am not going to raise?

Also, I am considering the "not milking cows" business, so send me any information you have on that too.

In view of these circumstances, you understand that I will be totally unemployed and plan to file for unemployment and food stamps.

Be assured you will have my vote in the coming election.

Patriotically Yours,

PS: Would you please notify me when you plan to distribute more free cheese.

LA JUNTA COLORADO TO ‘ARMY TANK PARK’ IN CONCORDIA KANSAS

THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP THE SCENERY ON OUR WHOLE DRIVE TODAY
With the morning Sun full in our eyes at the start of another travel day we headed East out of La Junta Colorado about 7 a.m.  Landscape this side of the mountains is about as flat as a floppy pancake.  Grasslands from horizon to distant horizon & yet it is beautiful in it’s own way.  Especially in the early morning light.

SNAGGED A FEW WINDMILLS FOR YA TODAY MIKE
 
Spent a big part of the morning following secondary roads ambling our way North-East through the grassy Plains.  Highway 50 out of La Junta to 287 & headed North.  A left & right deak up to Kit Carson & hung a right onto highway 40.  This took us all the way to Oakley Kansas whereupon we hopped onto I-70.  But I’m getting ahead of myself again.
 
NOTICE THE ‘WAVY’ HIGHWAY
I love when I can look up & down a road & not see another single vehicle.   That is what made this morning’s drive so relaxingly enjoyable.  But there is a traffic menace on these long straight stretches of paved back roads & they move very fast & are very big.  The menace comes in the form of 18 wheelers hauling livestock, feed, & grain etc.  These guys are doing about 350 mph .  You first see them coming up from behind about a mile away.  Re-check behind again in 10 seconds & you have a mirror full of very angry looking truck grill!!  No point trying to outrun them, just grip the steering wheel tightly while they thunder right over top of you.  We got big truck tire marks all over our rig now.


<<< A BONUS FIND WHEN WE ROLLED INTO A REST AREA IN WESKAN KANSAS…FREE WATER TO TOP UP OUR FRESH WATER TANK
Rolling into Oakley I reminded Kelly this was our last relatively peaceful country drive (except for the trucks) on a two lane highway until we turned off the 402 south of Forrest Ontario Canada.  From here on in it was Interstates the rest of the way.  Very lite traffic on I-70 today.  I don’t mind Interstates when not many vehicles are on them. They serve a purpose in directly moving one from one place to another in the shortest possible time.  I’ve always felt Interstates in the West have far less traffic on them than Interstates in the East.

Temperatures by 10 this morning were 72F & by afternoon we were in the 80’s with a mild wind.  Just a beautiful weather day.  Had my driver’s window open challenging that big warm Kansas wind to just come on in & try to blow my hat off.  It did.

We remembered a nice quiet & free RV Park we had stayed at on our way down last October.  It was about 45 minutes north of Salina Kansas on highway 81 in a little place called Concordia.  Located directly across from a Wal-Mart at Concordia’s south end I call this place ‘Army Tank Park.’  Has an Army Tank & a Howitzer Gun Carrier on display as you pull in.  Actually this is a functioning Air Park with runways, hangars, & small planes.  Free water & electric with 12 level cement slab sites with 8 of them pull-throughs.  Lots of grass & trees for shade.  Safe & great for pets & people alike to get out & do a little walking around.  There are 6 of us here for the night.  For additional photos, information, & the proper name of this Park just check out my link for our last time here in October… ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

 
YOU CAN SEE A TRUCK ON HIGHWAY 81 TO THE RIGHT…BIT OF ROAD NOISE HERE BUT NOT BAD

AND THIS IS WHY I CALL IT ‘ARMY TANK PARK’
Again, no hard & fast destination tomorrow.  We’ll just drive for as long as we can.  As I have said before, we don’t doddle along through this part of the country because this is Tornado season & with the really hot & humid air here right now storms can develop very rapidly.  And it looks like a cold front headed this way could be here by the week-end.  Could be trouble so we will be making tracks.  MapQuest said we logged about 450 miles today.  Oh, & saw my first Dandelion & Robin too right outside our door where we are parked for the night.  As I am typing this Robins are singing in the trees outside.  Now how nice is that.  Noticed farmers on the land today as well.  And if it doesn’t cool off tonight we are going to have trouble sleeping.  There is some dat busted humidity in the air!!  Just realized we have gone through our second time zone change as well.

Again, very impressed with how well our rig is running.  Our fleet footed & agile Chevy Sunseeker last year had really spoiled me but I’ve kinda come around on the Ford V-10 engine now.  Not as much torque as the Chevy engine but it just gets out there & wants to go.  Biggest problem I am having is holding the speed down.  If I don’t lock it into cruise control I’m up to 70-75 mph before I even realize it.  Not so good for gas mileage.  Some folks have asked me how many miles to the gallon our 26’ Class C Ford gets but I have no idea.  I’ve never been one to pay attention to that.  Some things are just better left unknown to me.

LOTS OF SPRING CALVES IN KANSAS THIS YEAR
Looks like we got ourselves out of Congress Az just in the nick of time.  With temperatures there now in the high 80’s & low 90’s I would have been grumbling like nuts about the heat already.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  How agri-corporations around the world would treat their Cows……………….
- NORTH AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
- FRENCH: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
- JAPANESE: You have two cows. You redesign them to 1/10 the size of ordinary cows, producing 20 times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoons called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.
- GERMAN: You have two cows, re-engineered so they'll live for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves.
- BRITISH: You have two cows. Both are mad.
- RUSSIAN: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42. You count them again and learn you have 12. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
- SWISS: You have 5,000 cows. None belongs to you. You charge others for storing them.
- HINDU: You have two cows. You worship them.
- CHINESE: You have two cows and 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity and arrest the newsman who questions the numbers.

CORTEZ COLORADO TO WALSENBURG CO.….OOOOPS, & THEN TOO……

This is Tuesday April 8th’s post

Five other rigs spent the night near us at Walmart in Cortez Arizona.  Noisiest part was a street sweeper going by cleaning the parking lot early this morning.  Other than that it was a quiet night.  Quiet nights are always very much appreciated.

Short walk for Pheebers around Wally World’s parking lot & we were back on highway 160 heading East out of Cortez Colorado by 7:25 a.m.  Roads were bare & dry, no snow, clear skies, & smooth sailing.  I sure had the weather figured wrong for this area over the years.  Had always imagined snow & cold for this part of Colorado in early April.  Maybe so other years but we have had totally great weather with daytime highs around 60F.

OUR CHALLENGE FOR THE DAY WAS TO GET OURSELVES THROUGH THESE MOUNTAINS

Had the town of Walsenburg in the back of my mind as a destination for today & that is where I am posting this from.  Very pleased at how our Ford E450 Winnie Wagon pulled us up the long mountain grades & eased us down the other side today.  Amazing how it knows when to downshift itself on the descent grades.  With our 2003 Damon I had to always do that manually.  Technology eh.

 

We knew there was another Bayfield besides Bayfield Ontario Canada & this morning we rolled into Bayfield Colorado just East of Durango.  Had been looking for a place to dump our tanks & it was in Bayfield we found Riverside RV Park.  We didn’t want to be carrying any extra weight through the mountains.  Same reason we made several fuel stops at just $50 a pop.  No need to carry a heavy load of fuel up & down those 6 & 7% mountain grades.

  

WE DUMPED OUR TANKS HERE AT BAYFIELD’S RIVERSIDE RV PARK…NICE LOOKING PARK

We knew WOLF CREEK PASS would be our toughest challenge & it was.  It’s an 8 mile Eastbound climb to reach the summit at 10,856 feet.  Winnie stuck to her lower gears as she worked hard all the way up that mountain grade with our speed not getting much over 30 mph.  The higher we climbed the more snow we saw but not as much as I figured we’d see.  One time in May of 92 in Colorado’s Este’s Park I saw snow along a road so deep it made the road look like a tunnel.  Guess that is what I was figuring on seeing to day.  But nope, snow was pretty as a picture & didn’t look deep at all as we rolled over top the summit.  Long way down the other side & I barely had to use any brakes as the Ford engine & transmission easily geared us down the mountain.

CLIMBING TOWARDS WOLF CREEK PASS

 

WOLF CREEK PASS SUMMIT & WASN’T IT NICE OF COLORADO TO PAINT AN ARROW ON THE HIGHWAY POINTING TO WHERE WE COULD SEE THE MOST SNOW

 

WE BEGIN OUR LONG DESCENT

Saw a million ba-zillion great photos today but we weren’t on a photo tour & I had pay a little extra attention to the driving side of our trip.  Nowhere to pull off & take those scenic mountain stream pics.  Most all photos were again taken from the driver’s seat so the quality is not exactly there again but it does give you an idea of the type of gorgeous landscape we traveled through.  Colorado sure has a lot Pine trees making for beautiful mountainsides of green.  How nice it was for us to see big green trees again.  And nice to see snow without having to drive in it or shovel the darn stuff.

  

THIS IS THE ONLY SHOT I GRABBED OF A FLOWING WINTER CREEK

 

A TUNNEL & A SNOW SHED

Didn’t find any Wal-Mart's or Cracker Barrels in the town of Walsenburg despite it being on the I-25 route between Albuquerque NM & Denver Colorado.  We did find a trash littered Conoco Truck stop at the Northern end of town with a big parking lot.  We’re far enough from I-25 for the noise not to bother us.  Trucks coming & going are another story of course.  In the morning we will strike out from here across the Plains.  No destination in mind & we will just drive until we feel it’s time to stop.  That works best for us.  Not everyone’s cup of tea but then again we, like most other folks, are not everyone:))

 

LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A NICE PEACEFULLY QUIET SPOT…..UNTIL YOU PUT THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE  (CHECK THE LAST MINUTE UPDATE AT THE END)

Some readers are having trouble in our Archive department.  Since having to change templates awhile back a few bugs have arisen here & there.  We are going to work at getting those things fixed but it may not be right away.  Yes I have posted every day for April & if you scroll down to the end of each post look for the word HOME in the pink bar.  ‘Newer’ & Older Posts’ should be visible on either side of the ‘HOME’ word.  If not  then hover your curser in the pink bar either to the left or right of the word home & Newer or Older should appear.  This is one of the bugs we have to work on.

I’m sure I have missed some readers questions since we have been on the road but I do remember JUDY asking about getting a Class A into Goosenecks State Park.  No problem.  Mike McFall used to haul their 45’ fifth wheel in there with a big 18 wheeler truck cab.  Paved road all the way with a few ‘pay attention’ curves & that’s it.  There were 3 big 40’ Class A diesel bangers parked when we were there a couple days ago.

And I see Casita Camper Debra Nielsen has joined us as Blog Follower 651.  Thanks for dropping by Debra & welcome to the right now travels of the Bayfield Bunch.  Appreciate your interest & hope we can hold your interest through the long summer ahead.

And to commenter Jim…..had we read your comment earlier today I would have cracked off a few pics going through South Fork Co.  We did see that Walmart in Alamosa you mentioned.  Had it been later in the day we would have pulled in there.

 

PIT STOP AT A REST AREA EAST OF WOLF CREEK PASS

Last minute update:: It was about 6:30 tonight when yet another truck rolled in & parked beside us.  Had an 18 wheeler on the other side & the truck lot was filling up fast as the truckers came in off the road.  Both trucks on either side left their engines running & we had diesel fumes coming in our open door.  (it was warm out)  Kelly & I both looked at each other about the same time & said it’s time for us to get on out of there, the truck stop idea just wasn’t going to work.  Next town along our journey was a little place called La Junta 75 miles to the East.  Kelly checked our Walmart Atlas & by golly they had themselves a Walmart there.  Well that was a no brainer & 5 minutes later we had things stowed away & were Eastbound & down slipping back through Walsenburg & picking up highway 10 for La Junta. 

UNUSUAL TO SEE A BIG WATER POND OUT HERE IN THE DRY GRASSLANDS

What a beautiful drive this was.  Not another vehicle on the highway.  With a slowly setting sun behind us we gave Winnie her lead & she just sailed us across the gently rolling grassy Plains.  Mountain shadows faded in my rear view mirror as old Sol with his hues of pink & gold eased himself down over the horizon.   An hour & a half later we rolled into Wal-Mart's parking lot in La Junta Colorado.  What a nice feeling, Walmart parking lots after a long days travel kinda feel like home.  Kelly slipped inside to buy a toaster, Pheebs took up position in the driver’s seat watching for Mom to come back & me, well I’m just sitting here working away on today’s post.  All is well with the Bayfield Bunch:)) 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A buyer was considering purchasing an aging thoroughbred but wanted a veterinarian's opinion of the horse before finalizing the deal. When the vet had completed his examination the potential buyer asked, "Will I be able to race him?"
The veterinarian looked at the buyer, then at the horse.
"Sure," he replied, "And you'll probably win!"