Covered Wagons

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Hello from Limon, CO. I covered many miles the past two days. After looking at the weather before I departed Branson, I decided to drive a little further Sunday and Monday so I wouldn’t have as many miles to go as I cross the Rockies on Tuesday.

There’s been some rain with snow at the higher elevations of the mountains west of Denver today. I’m about 100 miles east of Denver. I hear some rain on the roof of the RV as a shower is passing over me right now. Looks like it will be no problems getting across the mountains tomorrow.

Monday was VERY windy and was a tiring drive. The campground last night left a lot to be desired. Tonight I’m at a KOA. One of the nice things about stopping at a KOA; it’s like staying at a Holiday Inn - you know to expect a nice, clean, friendly campground.

Once I departed the Ozark Mountains and headed west out of Kansas City, it was prairie land as far as the eye could see. Two very different songs kept playing in my head: America the Beautiful - “For amber waves of grain” (guess the purple mountain majesties will be playing Tuesday) and Alabama’s 40 hour week - “Hello Kansas wheat field farmer”.

Today I also saw many hawks, several wind farms (some of those power generating wind mills are HUGE), miles and miles of wheat and corn, several large sunflower fields (ready to be harvested for the seeds) and some tumbleweeds roll across the interstate.

As I marveled at the vast prairie lands I thought about our pioneer ancestors who forged west in covered wagons. I managed to drive from southern Missouri to eastern Colorado with my ‘covered wagon’ in two days. It probably took them 2 months or more. I have a hard time grasping what they encountered as they migrated west.

I took in 3 shows in Branson - Six, Yakov, and Pierce Arrow. All were very good. The comedian with Pierce Arrow was especially funny. It really worked out fine not having a vehicle. Traffic was always heavy and the KOA shuttle drivers knew lots of alternative ways to get to the shows and attractions.

That’s it for this installment. I hope there will be some photo ops tomorrow as I cross the Rockies. I really wish I had been able to stop and photograph some of the hawks today, but even if I had been able to pull over, the gray skies would have not worked as a background.

My next update will come from west of the Continental Divide!

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Photos

Pierce Arrow
Here's a shot from the Pierce Arrow show on Saturday night in Branson. They did everything from country and rock to gospel. Their bass singer is in the Guinness Book of world records as the lowest bass singer (he is 2nd from the right in this photo). Two ladies also sang and their comedian was a hoot!

Sunday morning fog
Every morning in Branson, there was fog down in the valley along the river. This is the one time I longed for a car so I could go out and capture an early morning view of the Ozarks with fog. Astute folks might notice several BlueBird motorhomes in this image. They had a rally and 60 or so were there for the weekend. Most were shiny and relatively new, but there were also several 'classic' BlueBird rigs in attendance.