Before I go on, I would just like to say Thank You to all of you who are following the blog and for the lovely comments. I reply to the comments but don’t know if you are notified of  that, so thank you again for traveling with us.

We have now traveled through 7 states on this adventure – Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. A lot of miles and a lot of territory that Traci covers 3 times a year – Wow!

Okay, lets get moving. We have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep.

From Farmington, New Mexico, we trekked back to Colorado. What a beautiful state – wild and rugged.

This journey took us high into the mountains along very narrow roads with hairpin turns, sheer cliffs, and no barriers – yikes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I say “high into the mountains,” I’m not kidding. About midday we reached Molas Pass – elevation 10910 ft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Occasionally we came across little towns nestled in the valleys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a bite to eat at Maddie & Maud’s – the best hamburger I’ve ever had!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several hours, miles and mountains later, we arrived at our final destination for the day – Grand Junction, CO. What a pretty, quite town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodnight for now and sweet dreams. Tomorrow, Utah and Nevada.

After leaving Fort Collins we headed south toward Farmington, New Mexico, stopping just outside of Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods. What a gorgeous area to enjoy a bit of easy hiking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colorado’s Rocky Mountains are vast and unbelievably beautiful and we drove along absorbing the grandeur all around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on toward New Mexico the weather turned dark and rainy. It made for a gloomy afternoon but also for some spectacular sunset views. Again, through a tinted window in a car that is in a hurry, the pictures are a bit fuzzy but at least you get an idea of the magnificence we beheld.

 

I wish you could have seen them in person.

 

 

On Sunday, our trio left bright and early to check-out the monument to Crazy Horse – a project begun in 1947 and still very much a work in progress. It has been a slow and gruelingly difficult process especially since the foundation accepts no government funding. The project is funded solely through private donations and money raised at the monument itself.

The sculptor first commissioned to head this project was Korezak Liolkowski – an amazing story well worth reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a bus tour to the foot of the monument, and our driver, George, told us about the Crazy Horse Project, Korezak and extreme hardships he faced during the early years of the project. As an example: One of the first things Korezak did when he began the project was to build a staircase to the top of the mountain – 142 steps which he climbed multiple times each day, year round despite the weather, hauling heavy tools, equipment and materials by hand. Think about South Dakota winters – I cannot even begin to imagine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our bus tour, we went back to the main building and strolled through the museum.

When completed the large complex will also include a Native American university, a large Native American museum and cultural center.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From here we headed toward our next destination – Colorado via Wyoming. So we bid a fond farewell to the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and said hello to Wyoming. *I feel the need to add a short disclaimer here. All of my Wyoming pictures were taken out of the tinted glass, car window as we were zippppping along making very quick progress toward Colorado – thus the lack of stellar quality of the photos. Nonetheless, I they will give you a feel for the country we were traversing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally reached Fort Collins, Colorado and took the next couple of days to spend quality time with our elder daughter Christina and her husband Rich.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quality family time – the best.

On Saturday. Traci and I did a little more geocaching and then, at Traci’s suggestion, we all headed to Bear Country USA  – a drive through wild life preserve just outside of Rapid City. What a fun experience! Let me take you on our drive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the drive through part of the park, we went to the Baby Land section which is a walk through.

But I saved the very best for last. Bear Country had – not two, not four, but eight baby bears, and we watched, laughed, and thoroughly enjoyed these adorable toddlers.

What a great adventure!