ring down country roads along the New England coast has been fun, but its time to start thinking about meeting friends in Las Vegas(also fun). Twenty eight hundred fifty miles miles to see friends, some shows, and play cards. No hurry, we'll get on the road early and stop by early. An unseasonably cool summer even into August, now the drive west into the afternoon sun. If we drive two hundred miles a day(easy on the interstate), that's only fifteen days. We don't need to be there until August 25th, plenty of time for sightseeing, casino camping and Wal-mart RV resorts, We'll cross the country on I-70 for the first time. Famous Mystic Connecticut and The Mohegan Sun Casino is our last stop in New England. We found Dick and Barbra Reis's house in Naples New York, they weren't home, their plans to be there by the 1st had changed, we'll miss them by a week. The weather was good through New York, western Pennsylvania, and along Lake Erie. We turned south before Cleveland toward Columbus Ohio and picked up I-70. The scenery changed from industry and commerce to soy beans and corn. It was an nice drive into Indiana on I-70.
Shirley Indiana is a great small town. Our friends Bob and Phylis Wright had a spot for us to park by the barn. The weather was great, 50's at night, 70's in the day, a mild summer all the way to August. Three months of road grime and the coach needs a bath. No more excuses about not allowed to wash in a campground, or its going to rain, It takes 5-6 hours work and were sore but it looks great again. On Saturday it does warm up and we spend the afternoon at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. What a huge show, You can't see it all in a week, let alone one afternoon. Vendors, livestock, machinery, food, tractor pulls, agriculture, dog shows and competitions. the Midwest has descended upon Indianapolis. The crowd was big, we walked alot, it got up to 92. Stayed 3 days with Bob and Phylis, had a good visit. 6 miles from Bob's house we're back on I-70 headed west.
Shirley Indiana is a great small town. Our friends Bob and Phylis Wright had a spot for us to park by the barn. The weather was great, 50's at night, 70's in the day, a mild summer all the way to August. Three months of road grime and the coach needs a bath. No more excuses about not allowed to wash in a campground, or its going to rain, It takes 5-6 hours work and were sore but it looks great again. On Saturday it does warm up and we spend the afternoon at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis. What a huge show, You can't see it all in a week, let alone one afternoon. Vendors, livestock, machinery, food, tractor pulls, agriculture, dog shows and competitions. the Midwest has descended upon Indianapolis. The crowd was big, we walked alot, it got up to 92. Stayed 3 days with Bob and Phylis, had a good visit. 6 miles from Bob's house we're back on I-70 headed west.
St. Louis Missouri, crossroads of the Midwest. The Mississippi and Missouri rivers converge and barges move down river under us as we cross the long Mississippi bridge. Our stop today is the Harrah's casino in St. Louis, along the Missouri river, tomorrow night we'll stay at the Harrah's in Kansas City. It's been 8 days since we've done any housekeeping, an old campground in Russell Kansas is our next stop. The afternoon and evening are warm, and for the first time all summer we use the A/C. The park has plenty of power, the washer/dryer is going, Linda has stew in the crock pot, the TV's on and we've made about 1700 miles in 8 days. Our longest driving day was 240 miles. About four and a half hours, were on the road by nine and stop about one or two o'clock. After hundreds of miles of corn and soybeans were now seeing cattle and acres of Milo and sorghum silage all through Kansas. We spend the night in Goodland Kansas at Wal-mart. Wide open Kansas prairie for the last 2 days
. A few oil wells in western Kansas as we gain altitude traveling on to the Colorado Plateau, by the time we cross the Colorado state line were at 5100 feet.
. A few oil wells in western Kansas as we gain altitude traveling on to the Colorado Plateau, by the time we cross the Colorado state line were at 5100 feet. I-70 runs directly through Denver, we stop just east in Aurora and visit with Betsy from Fort Myers for two days and see a little of the Denver area. Betsy took us over to Century City, new gambling legislation has boosted the areas casino games and limits. We were lucky to get out as cheep as we did. The lunch buffet was good and a nice ride into the mountains west of Denver. A windy night at the Wal-mart, Betsy stoped by to say goodbye, will see her in two weeks in Las Vegas. A slow climb into the Rocky mountains. Beautiful weather, grand views as we cross Loveland Pass, 11,900 feet. We'll take the tunnel under the continental divide. A walk around Breckenridge and good lunch at Fatty's restaurant with a doggy bag for supper.
We stop just past Vail at a super center in Avon. Cool nights in the 40's, low 70's in the afternoon. On Monday we take the Jeep south to Leadville. Great small town, mining from the late eighteen hundreds till 1960. We're on a self guided driving tour, "The trail of the silver Kings", in the hills east of town the Jeep makes a loud noise and starts steaming? More later.... 