Traveling Through Colorado

The original plan was to spend 6 nights in Colorado, but the possibility of snow storms brought about Plan B. (2 nights at Lamar, 2 nights at Alamosa, and 2 nights at Montrose) We skipped the 2 nights at Montrose and boogied to Utah, in what we hoped would be ahead of the freezing rain, snow and below freezing temps.

So this post is a summary of some of what we saw in southern Colorado while driving to out of the way places to find a geocache in a new county.

this is the CO county map prior to our trip

These photos are most likely not in order of our traveling days, but they will give an idea of the variety in flora and fauna, as well as our geocache finds.

interesting cemetery family plot

including a mural painted brick wall

not a bad view for a final resting place

again, one of those places we found not knowing its significance

June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983

Jack Dempsey

"William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, nicknamed Kid Blackie, and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926.~ Wikipedia"

our view one morning at we headed north into the mountains

gray skies, but beautiful fall colors

mountain peaks above the low lying clouds (fog)

a bison 

A sign several miles down the road advertised meat for sale: beef, elk, rabbit, bison, deer, etc. Buses and RVs welcome. Oh, and jerky for sale. We passed.

a marker honoring The Old Spanish Trail

and the first settlement in western San Luis Valley 

a water tank along the train tracks for filling 

the ol' steam locomotives (South Fork CO)

a passenger train car, also in South Fork

windshield view on the way up to Wolf Pass

no photos on the way down

Chimney Rock on our way to the UT border

a small herd of 5 deer on the sidewalk of one of the 

communities we drove through

they even posed for the photo

We had hoped to get those nine counties in the southwest area, but alas, the weather...I guess we will just have to come back another time...Thirteen new counties on this trip. Not bad for 5 days and about 1000 miles.

We are now in Utah. Winter has come to the area, but it will be a passing through in a day. We can deal with cold. We left SD so we would not have to deal with snow!

Final Leg of the Trip Back Home or Geocaching

We spent some time (2 nights) in Loveland on our trip back to SD. We had some major geocaching on the agenda and friends to share the adventure. Hubby had found seven highly favored geocaches in the Loveland area. Terry and Jane were our hosts for the day.

We drove to a farm in the country for the first geocache. An old grain bin?????

rusty grain bin

sitting in a lawn chair on the dirt floor

a dressed mannequin holding an ammo can

Very Cool & Unique!

and a tad creepy!

Then we drove around town checking out utility posts

and birdhouses in alleys

And a cemetery

killed by lightning while on a cattle drive

also killed by lightning

and a very large tree, the Liberty Tree,

next to a Walgreens

and we happened upon an Easter egg hunt 

on a church school lawn

We attended a 6:30 AM coffee geocaching meet and greet on Monday morning in Loveland before   continuing the journey home. It was very interesting because the two men at the meet and greet were traveling to northeast South Dakota the following weekend to geocache. So we gave them some pointers about what to expect after the recent 27 inches of snow.


We did a quick stop in Cheyenne for a history lesson

and visited the airport

interesting art at the gas station

We were home by 9:05 Monday night, in time to watch Bull. The unloading waited until the next day. It was good to be HOME!

And because I like to wrap up loose ends...

New Mexico map BEFORE 

New Mexico map AFTER

6 more counties completed

11 to go

I guess it is a good thing we often drive thru NM coming or going...