Day 5 (Sleeping by the Rockies)
Day 5
June 26, 2006
Salina, KS to Colorado Springs, CO (422 miles)
The Salina campground continued to fill up late into the evening. After speaking to other campers, this is clearly a waypoint between Colorado and St. Louis. EVERYONE planned to head east or west this morning. We have never seen so many people pull up stakes in a campground for an early start. Many of the travel trailers and 5th wheels didn’t unhook from their vehicles. The overnight low was 58 degrees, so we awoke to a chill in the air this morning. In spite of the cool temperature, there was very little dew. We sense that we are about to transition to the real desert. What a change in weather this is from Thursday when we felt high heat and humidity in West Virginia and Kentucky.
As we drove across Kansas and eastern Colorado, the land really opened up. Gradually trees became less and less common. Eventually the only trees were cottonwoods growing along creeks. The wind is continuous. We saw hundreds of windmills and oil rigs in the fields along I-70. There are many exits in western Kansas that are built to Interstate Highway System standards with long, gently curving ramps and viaducts, of course, which lead to dirt roads at the edge of the Interstate right-of-way. It seems kind of wasteful to us. We saw tractor trailer triples and full-sized (53’) doubles on the road. They looked like trains! Can you imagine them on the Capital Beltway?
We crossed into the Mountain Time zone in western Kansas and shortly thereafter stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center in Burlington to get a map for Emily who has been collecting and referencing state maps as we cross each state. For reasons that are still unclear to even Frank, he wanted to take the camera into the rest area with him. He left it in the bathroom. We drove 280 miles farther, arriving in Colorado Springs before we noticed it was missing. Panic set in as we played through our minds what was lost. Not just a very nice camera, but also about a dozen photos (from today, hence no photos with this post) and three memory cards and 6 expensive rechargeable batteries. Plus the camera case. We called 411, and, amazingly enough, got a phone number for the rest area with very little difficulty. We called but they were closed, so we left a message and hoped for the best. If Walt, Mark or Mya of Engine 23 were with us, Frank would give them our camera to hold for him (inside joke)!
The drive to Colorado Springs included an 80 mile section on a 2-lane road that crossed the last bit of the prairie before, suddenly before us, the Rocky Mountains came into view. There were very few if any foothills before 14,000 foot high, monstrous stone peaks stood before us. Colorado Springs is built on the flat land just east of some of the highest peaks in the Rockies.
The campground was nothing special and very crowded. People were in C. Springs from all over the county. We met a fire fighter from Chicago and another one from a suburb of Detroit. Both were very friendly and helpful with directions and advice on what to see and do in C. Springs. We felt we had no choice but to buy a new digital camera to replace the one that Frank lost. We called Frank’s brother, Jonnie, for advice on which model to buy and dropped $250 on a new camera at Wal-Mart.
Although we would never choose to live in Kansas, there were some wonderful things about it. For instance, you pumped your gasoline before you paid for it in the places where we stopped, and the fast food workers are smart and friendly. It is such a pleasure to have competent people with a pleasant attitude wait on you!
June 26, 2006
Salina, KS to Colorado Springs, CO (422 miles)
The Salina campground continued to fill up late into the evening. After speaking to other campers, this is clearly a waypoint between Colorado and St. Louis. EVERYONE planned to head east or west this morning. We have never seen so many people pull up stakes in a campground for an early start. Many of the travel trailers and 5th wheels didn’t unhook from their vehicles. The overnight low was 58 degrees, so we awoke to a chill in the air this morning. In spite of the cool temperature, there was very little dew. We sense that we are about to transition to the real desert. What a change in weather this is from Thursday when we felt high heat and humidity in West Virginia and Kentucky.
As we drove across Kansas and eastern Colorado, the land really opened up. Gradually trees became less and less common. Eventually the only trees were cottonwoods growing along creeks. The wind is continuous. We saw hundreds of windmills and oil rigs in the fields along I-70. There are many exits in western Kansas that are built to Interstate Highway System standards with long, gently curving ramps and viaducts, of course, which lead to dirt roads at the edge of the Interstate right-of-way. It seems kind of wasteful to us. We saw tractor trailer triples and full-sized (53’) doubles on the road. They looked like trains! Can you imagine them on the Capital Beltway?
We crossed into the Mountain Time zone in western Kansas and shortly thereafter stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center in Burlington to get a map for Emily who has been collecting and referencing state maps as we cross each state. For reasons that are still unclear to even Frank, he wanted to take the camera into the rest area with him. He left it in the bathroom. We drove 280 miles farther, arriving in Colorado Springs before we noticed it was missing. Panic set in as we played through our minds what was lost. Not just a very nice camera, but also about a dozen photos (from today, hence no photos with this post) and three memory cards and 6 expensive rechargeable batteries. Plus the camera case. We called 411, and, amazingly enough, got a phone number for the rest area with very little difficulty. We called but they were closed, so we left a message and hoped for the best. If Walt, Mark or Mya of Engine 23 were with us, Frank would give them our camera to hold for him (inside joke)!
The drive to Colorado Springs included an 80 mile section on a 2-lane road that crossed the last bit of the prairie before, suddenly before us, the Rocky Mountains came into view. There were very few if any foothills before 14,000 foot high, monstrous stone peaks stood before us. Colorado Springs is built on the flat land just east of some of the highest peaks in the Rockies.
The campground was nothing special and very crowded. People were in C. Springs from all over the county. We met a fire fighter from Chicago and another one from a suburb of Detroit. Both were very friendly and helpful with directions and advice on what to see and do in C. Springs. We felt we had no choice but to buy a new digital camera to replace the one that Frank lost. We called Frank’s brother, Jonnie, for advice on which model to buy and dropped $250 on a new camera at Wal-Mart.
Although we would never choose to live in Kansas, there were some wonderful things about it. For instance, you pumped your gasoline before you paid for it in the places where we stopped, and the fast food workers are smart and friendly. It is such a pleasure to have competent people with a pleasant attitude wait on you!
posted by Hazzard Family | 15:34
1 Comments:
Sorry to hear about your camera! We've had that happen to us.
-- Cyndy and Steve
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