Jul 2008

We pack up and drive over 200 miles to Estes Park, Colorado. We stop near Cheyenne, Wyoming at the roadside rest for lunch and also at the "Welcome to Colorado" Visitor Center. Most of the drive is somewhat boring prairie scenery til we reach Loveland, Colorado where the Rockies foothills begin. Very scenic drive between Loveland and Estes Park, Colorado.

We set up at the Spruce Lake RV Park and spend the rest of the day relaxing. We were hoping to sit outside and enjoy the scenery, but the sky turns very dark and stormy as we're setting up and the remainder of the day is cloudy/rainy. So no pool time, no miniature golf, no enjoying the view of the Rockies :-( We stay inside the 5ver and watch TV, read and use their on again/off again wifi.

We pack up and leave the Badlands/White River KOA (very nice campground!). We drive through a Lakota Indian Reservation and a lot of boring prairie scenery. Lunch is in a WalMart parking lot since we can't find anywhere else to pull over to make lunch.

Our next stop is a roadside info sign about the Mormon Trail that passed through this area of Nebraska. We can see Chimney Rock of Oregon Trail fame in the distance.

We stop for a very, very long train and I take a quick picture of Chimeny Rock:

We set up the 5ver at the Robioux RV Park in Gering, Nebraska, have an ice cream snack and then head over to Scotts Bluff National Monument. As always, we look at the exhibits and watch their movie. The Oregon Trail passed through this area at Mitchell Pass, so we head down the path near the visitor center to look at the wagons they have on exhibit. They are replicas of the wagons that were used by the settlers traveling on the Oregon Trail.

We continue pass the wagons to where we can still see ruts made from wagons that travelled the Oregon Trail nearly 150 years ago.

The wagons would normally not travel at the same spot as they travelled the Oregon Trail, but at Mitchell Pass they were forced to all follow the same path; hence the deep wagon wheel ruts are still visible at places in this area.

We then drive up the scenic drive to the top of Scotts Bluff and walk the trails to look at the views from the top of the bluff. Great views from up here.

View of the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitor Center and the Oregon Trail through Mitchell Pass:

We then drive back down past the visitors center and head back to the campground for dinner and some TV time.