Mike and Kathy

Back on US 50 this morning, starting southeast of Kansas City, MO and traveling east on divided highway until Sedalia. It was very overcast and rained a little early on, but eventually cleared and turned out to be a great day. We’ve been to Sedalia before… in fact, three years ago. They must really like burgers in this town. There’s the Wheel Inn since 1947, Eddie’s since 1937, and we spotted several others that looked as if they’d been around since before McDonalds. (There’s a McDonalds there too.) One of Sedalia’s other claims to fame is that Scott Joplin lived there for a few years at the beginning of his career. On the east side of Sedalia, US 50 is once again a two-lane road through gently rolling hills. We cruised through Syracuse, MO, population 172, ... read more

It was 53 degrees in Durango, CO this morning… quite pleasant. Tonight we are in Garden City, KS where they had a record high of 93 today. We continued east from Durango on US 160. We are attempting to cover as much ground as possible off the interstates. US 160 and, later, CO 10 and US 50 are all in good condition without a lot of traffic. The nearest we’ve come to an interstate on our way home was when we drove over I-25 near Walsenburg, CO. This morning we crossed the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass on US 160 east of Pagosa Springs. A little further on, east of Alamosa, we turned north to visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park, a place I can’t remember having heard of before. Here, right up next ... read more

Everybody got up early today. As much as we hated leaving the canyon, we wanted to get as far up the trail as possible before the sun finally came over the rim. So a quick breakfast, a cup of coffee, the requisite group picture, and we were on the way by 6:30 local time. For the first half of the hike out, we met up with many groups of rim-to-rimmers heading down. They often travel in large packs and, since they are traveling light, are moving fast, especially on the downhill. I was glad when they thinned out. We were not moving fast, but we kept a steady pace, stopping occasionally for a drink of water and handful of nuts. I also tried Power Gel for the first time on this trip in an effort to ... read more

On the second work day, Gene, aka The Ice Cream Man and our project leader, took three of the guys including Mike to Cottonwood campground, about one and a half miles further down the trail. Cottonwood is where the previous four spring projects took place. Two jobs were done at the campground. Lynn took on cutting down the tall grass around the buildings. Mike assisted in the other task which involved installing two solar panels on the roof of the CT (composting toilet) to generate power to run the fans. When there is no hardware store or Home Depot nearby, a fair amount of ingenuity is needed to “make do” with the tools and materials at hand. Since I was “back at the ranch”, my pictures were taken the next day… none of Mike on the ... read more

May 15th - Part II Mike and I were the first of our group to head down the trail. Starting elevation is 8,241 feet. The upper part of the North Kaibab is through a forest of aspen, douglas fir and ponderosa pine. It always smells wonderful except, of course, for those places where the mules have recently peed. Since this was opening day on the North Rim, there had only been two commercial mule trips down the trail this season. On the north rim, they offer four different mule rides, two into the canyon going as far as either the Supai Tunnel or Roaring Springs. The Coconino Outlook is a popular day hike destination, ¾ mile down the trail, 500 feet below the rim. We stopped briefly for a few sips of water and a picture ... read more