Today we slept in...needed the rest after several long travel days (I know, Betty C--you all would think we are wimps!!). We chose to have a "big" (for us) breakfast this morning which also slowed us down somewhat and we didn't pull out of camp until 9:45. The temperature was already 71 so we knew we had likely left the "polar vortex" behind us!
 
I forgot to mention yesterday that right next to our camp ground was an extremely large piece of property that appeared to be completely full of the pieces of the huge electricity making wind mills that you can see in many places in this country . Up close and personal, it was still hard to have a good grasp of how large these things are. Later on in the afternoon we came by an area that had many of them installed and working. I took some pictures that I will try to upload later.
 
We stopped for fuel before we left Garden City and for those who are interested we paid $3.39/Gal getting a fraction less than 10 MPG. By the way, on the route we have been on for the last several days we both agreed that the roads have been the best consistently good roads that we have ever been on. RVers will know what this means...those traveling via automobile would not have a clue what we are talking about. We didn't hit any spots where it felt (and sounded!) as if all the innards of the RV, as our friend Larry would say, were getting their "liver lights" shaken out! This is a good thing! 
 
As an aside, it definitely appears that the two of us have definite issues with each other and the concept of finding post offices in small towns along the way. Don't ask, and if you get a card from us while we travel, be VERY grateful . Just saying. Did I mention not to ask? Don't.
 
As we traveled westward through Kansas towards Colorado, the terrain at the start of our drive today was quite flat. There were huge fields that were beautiful to look at and many, many feed lots and dairy lots. John said that they stunk...my nose doesn't work so well which was a blessing at this point in time to say the least. Later we came once again to rolling hills and we started seeing quite large Juniper bushes. Also, it was obvious that there has been a lot of rain in the area lately because the natural grass lands that we passed were very green. We have driven though that area several times in the last many years and neither of us ever remember seeing it that verdant. John talked to a lady at a store we stopped at and she said that the area has had more water in June and July than they have had over the last four years. The last time we were through here the Arkansas River was dry...it had water in it this time.
 
FYI: According to John we should get a medal from the great state of Kansas as there are at the the very minimum 500,000 less bugs in Western Kansas . He knows because Mufasa hit them head on as we traveled today.
 
As we crossed the state line into Colorado at 10:50 MT (all times that I report from now on until we change time zones again will be MT) we suddenly saw fields full of prairie dog burrows! Wow. I can't imagine how the cattle around there keep from breaking legs frequently! The Colorado roads were not up to the level we have become accustomed to during the last few days through Missouri and Kansas, but were still not "liver light" shaking so we were pleased.

In Lamar, CO we stopped at a McDonalds for...TA DA!!...a chocolate chip frappe! This is the first one on our trip and the first one we have had in quite a while so I KNOW that I am not addicted and this will NOT be a problem going forward. Trust me. I hope. Really.
 
Laura called us at 12:15 and told us that she had made reservations for us for this evening at Lathrop State Park in Walsenburg, CO. We had thought before we made the trip that we would probably stop in La Junta for this night and thus did not have reservations . She was a sweetie and got one of the last sites in the park for us...it is SO good to have staff!
 
As we continued on our way towards Walsenburg we passed many places where we saw groves of HUGE cottonwood trees that were dead...no bark and with twisted limbs. We think that maybe the big drought that this area was in several years ago may have caused this. It looked like the apocalypse. We passed one rickety, shabby, falling down old house that was surrounded by a ring of twisted dead cottonwoods that had to have been 75 to 100 years old. The dead barkless branches looked like the root system of an exotic tree from Africa. It could have been a set from a horror movie.
 
We drove past Old Bent Fort on our way today. We stopped there the last time we came through and it was very interesting. If you like Wild West history, I suggest that you Google it and check it out. We also drove through Las Animas where I took a quick shot of the Las Animas Court House and an old jailhouse. Very interesting architecturally .
 
Continuing westward we passed many very long coal trains coming eastward. They are always interesting to see...it boggles the mind at how much these unit trains can carry and that there are so many of them making the trek to wherever they are going day after day. 
 
Passing through La Junta we made a stop at the rail yard because we saw the fuselages of several Boeing airplanes loaded onto railcars. They looked just like the ones that were in the news a little while back that had fallen into a river when the railcars they were on jumped the track. The town itself reminded us strongly of Gallup, NM--small western town right next to a major railroad track.
 
Along the highway we started to see Cholla Cactus, always a sign that we are officially in the West. The temperature was up to 94 degrees but the humidity was still quite low considering. We felt like we were almost there when at 2:25 we saw the Rockies rising out of the flat land we had been driving through. We forget how very, very almost overwhelmingly big they are .
 
By 2:50 we had arrived in Walsenburg and the temp had dropped to 86. We stopped for fuel so we wouldn't have to do so tomorrow and paid $3.77/gal for it. Again we got nearly 10MPG. By 3:30 we were in the camp ground and shortly after that, thanks to our favorite older daughter, we were set up right next to their site. We got to meet Sheeba the Wonder Dog and Bourbon the cat. All is well with our world! Tomorrow we will all drive about 125 miles west to South Fork, CO where we plan to camp with our children for the next week.
We drove 236 miles today.

PS...color me "pooped" this evening and I am not going to post pictures tonight. As Scarlett O'Hara said, "I will think about that tomorrow!" There will appear to be two pictures but they are videos I uploaded via the phone earlier today. Don't know if you can use them as videos yet until I get them out of the body of the blog with more pictures tomorrow.