Odyssey Road Trip

Snow on the Ground the Evening we Arrived in Spearfish, SD Spearfish, Montana had been our destination for the evening before, which is not far from Sundance. We actually reserved a hotel that we had stayed at previously. It was rather cold in this area, as you can see from the pictures there is plenty of snow. High snow banks decorated the streets. When we checked into our Hotel the owner told me that just a ways from there the area received three feet of the white stuff in one sitting....ugh!  Snow in Front of our Hotel Room Next morning we saw the beginnings of lilac blooms stopped by the snow and cold. We drove one not really knowing if we were in for winter or summer at my Sister’s. Antelope Grazing Buffalo Driving through some of the lesser populated states is not your typical drive. Usually you can stop at rest areas or service stations without much concern for planning, however, areas where there are few towns there a

Heading north to Canada we noticed a Costco that was built along the highway near Cheyenne, WY. We decided to stop after about a two hours drive. Just built in the perfect spot for a quick stop. Another odd difference between Mexico and the USA was the air conditioning situation. Often where we live in Mexico, including parts of Guadalajara that we have been to, there are not many air conditioners in public buildings. If there are air conditioners they  are used occasionally. We noticed in the US that air conditioners are used frequently and in my estimation, not always necessarily needed. In several Costcos we were in, the air conditioning made the building extremely chilly. We did not even want to walk around because it was too cold. Even though there was snow on the ground the air in this Costco was being circulated and was cold.  Once up and running again on the highway we certainly noticed how green the fields were in Wyoming. The ditches, etc were spotted with pa

We also spent a night camping at a State Park in the southern park of Denver - Aurora to be exact. Cherry Creek State Park had the same foibles as the Cheyenne Mountain Park. We did, however, get to talk to a volunteer. He was very positive about the State Park system in his area. Perhaps he has not had the opportunity to camp out here. When we were not camping we were shopping. We didn’t always buy but it was sure fun looking. Ken realized that foul weather was about to come our way. Camping was about to become a terrible idea. Up to this point we were blessed with spring weather in this high altitude city. Thank heavens for weather apps and future weather forecasting. Ken had booked us into a Best Western Hotel in Northeast Park Hill, part of Denver. We stayed in this little hotel area about a year and a half ago when driving down to Mexico. We were driving around and Ken looked at the outside temperature of were we were and the temperature was zero degrees Celsius...brrrr. Now

We explored Pueblo during the day.  In the evening we headed north to Cheyenne Mountain State Park and camping in our van. We saw signs saying to look out for wildlife but did not see any animals. Our first little bit of culture shock happened here- two things. One thing was the price of camping in a State Park in Colorado. We spent $56 CDN per night to camp and then add a Park entry fee of about $11 CDN per day. Kind of pricey I would say. There were no campground hosts to answer questions, nor were the camp bathrooms very clean. It was, however, convenient to book a site on-line. We also saw that the large majority of campers were in RV’s not tents, etc. Our second cultural shock was seeing so many drugged out people either in restaurants or along roadways. They were obviously homeless carrying their worldly possessions with them. Sad to see something like that during breakfast, my heart went out to those girls.  We explored Colorado Springs. We made sure to

It was so nice to see Randy and Kelly again. They left Lakeside close to the beginning of April so we had not seen them in awhile. They really put us up nicely and made us feel welcome. It was warm enough that first evening that we could sit outside and enjoy the weather, the yard and the two pooches. That first night they drove us to the neighbouring town of La Junta for a supper out.  Ken likes to flavour sherry, etc in oak casks. Kelly had liked Ken's sherry in the past. Ken realized that the casks he brought with us full of sherry could be bottled and tested. He presented quite the show, bottling the sherry and giving us testers, too many I am thinking now. It was very tasty. Kelly and Randy's grand-dogs were adorable. It felt so homey, comfortable and nice to be around such friendly, precious dogs. Nova was bigger and older than Panda. Both loved treats and being part of the gang.  One morning Randy and Kelly took us t