A Very Long Day

July 9th

Nebraska Plains

Monday has been a very long day of travel from Rapid City, SD to Woodland Park, CO. The trip was a little over 9 hours. We traveled 505 miles down through South Dakota, into and all the way down through Nebraska into Colorado, and across to Denver then down to Colorado Springs and up the Ute Pass to the Wojtalwicz's  home in Woodland Park.

Castle Rock - South of Denver on the way to the springs

Ute Pass - Waldo Canyon Fire Damage

We narrowly missed being kept out of Ute Pass because of a mud slide. It happened minutes after we got through there.  The slide which temporarily closed the road was caused by rain on the exposed earth of the pass walls. The trees and vegitation are gone; victims of the recent Waldo Canyon wildfire. The air still smells of smoke and the view of the burned areas was staggering as we drove up the pass.








It is wonderful to be with Kim, Andy, Matt and Mike. We had a great dinner, a game of "Sorry" with the boys, and are going to bed early as we are simply exhausted. The real bed is a welcome change from the RV for sure.

Grandad reads Mike (L) and Matt (R) a bedtime story.

Thanks for reading and have a good night - more to come tomorrow.