September 19, 2015 Eisenhower Museum/Boyhood Home/Library Abilene KS

Eisenhower was raised in Abilene, KS and is buried here.  The Eisenhower Museum was very interesting and we enjoyed learning more about the man.  He was one of 6 boys and his childhood home is intact on the same site it has always been.   His mother lived in the home until 1946 and fortunately it was preserved with all the furnishings, etc.   There was a woven blanket in the "living" room that was weaved by Eisenhower's grandfather, it is over 160 years old.   There are quilts on the beds that his mother made and doilies she made, as well as pillows and rugs.   Awesome stuff.  We weren't able to take pics inside the house.

The museum is very well done and covers his military career extensively, as well as his political rise.   I was most interested in his family life and his life with Mamie (I know I'm such a girl). 

We then went to the Dickinson County Museum.  More antiques and stories and they have a "Telephony Museum".  Every kind of telephone you can think of.  Even a couple of switchboards.  The police department had an old switchboard when I was first hired.  It was fun to see one again but it sure made me feel really old.

They also have small outbuildings to include a fully furnished log house and a large barn full of old tractors, an old covered wagon.  It was sure fun to walk through.   After living in the MoHo for several weeks at a time, I can understand how these one room houses were quite efficient and really had everything they needed.  

An old carousel was housed in a separate building and it was still running!   Pretty neat.

We found a Freddy's for lunch!  Yum

 

September 18, 2015 Abilene KS / Laundry day!

No storm last night, but it did cloud up and the wind continued to blow.   Today was cloudy all day and windy and it has cooled off significantly but no rain for us.   

We headed to Junction City and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then hit the laundromat.    Laundry just had to be done but it doesn't take very long to do.   The CRV needed a bath really, really badly.  So we ran her through the car wash.    It catches a lot of spray from the MoHo.   Then we hit WalMart, isn't this just all so exciting? HaHa

After putting groceries and clothes away, we hit the interstate and found the Russell Stover Candy Factory.  Guess what?   They have an outlet store.   WooHoo - just what we don't need but what the heck.  

Tomorrow is the Eisenhower Museum and his childhood home in Abilene.  There are a few antique stores I might need to visit as well.  

Site 30

Zion Tragedy - we just heard about the loss of 7 lives at Zion National Park shortly after we had visited.  Apparently a flash flood swept through Keyhole Canyon and 7 lives were lost.    Zion is a beautiful place but park personnel are continually warning you about the dangers there and that everyone is responsible for their own safety.   I was so sad to hear about lives being lost in such a beautiful place.   

September 17, 2015 Goodland KS to Abilene KS

It was very windy today.   Gary had to really fight it the whole way.
We arrived in Abilene and were assigned Site 29. After plugging in all our lifelines we find out it is so unlevel we can't stay!   We have automatic levelers on the MoHo and to get it level the front wheels were off the ground - no bueno.  We had to move over to Site 30 and we were able to get level but what a chore, unhooking and re-hooking up everything and it is hot, hot here.  Yuck ! 

Anyway that's going to happen I guess.  Not much in the way of pics today just field after field, pretty clouds, cows and hay.   

When I registered here one of the things she told me was that the convenience store and restroom buildings are their storm shelters! Oh boy - yes we are in that part of the country and sure enough they are predicting a possible bad storm tomorrow.   So Gary got the NOAA weather radio out and set up so we will get an alarm if there is a storm warning for our area.    Tomorrow will be laundry and a bit of shopping and maybe a Cracker Barrel visit.

September 16, 2015 Grand Lake CO to Goodland KS

We left Grand Lake early in a bit of drizzle and cloud cover.  Temps were in the 50's.   We had an uneventful travel day on US 40 to I-70 near Denver.   US 40 was incredibly beautiful.   It is mountainous with a lot of climbs and descents and lots of 15MPH curves but Gary did an awesome job and not a hiccup from MoHo.   

We had visitors again last night.   Our moose family and a gray fox.  So more moose pics - but we didn't get a pic of the fox.  Win some lose some I guess.   

Enjoy!

September 15, 2015 Grand Lake CO and MOOSE!

Well folks I'm thrilled to report that we were visited today by a family of moose.   Right in our campsite - wow - just doesn't get any better than that.   

We got up and left camp and went into the town of Grand Lake for breakfast.   Nice little town, lots of little shops, with a wooden broadwalk in front of them and lots and lots of flowers.   Very pretty and very quaint.  Ended up in a little bistro and had our breakfast, then headed towards Granby.   We were actually just looking for a grocery and anything else of interest.   So we found some pretty views all around the lake, the mountains and the rain clouds.  I forgot to mention it started raining last night and has rained off and on all day.  Love that for sure!   Found a nice grocery store, stocked up a bit then headed for home.   

As we drove up the road to our campsite there was a Jeep parked in the middle of the road and we get immediately annoyed, but then realized they were filming something across the road and lo and behold it was our moose family.

We slowly rolled into our campsite and very carefully got out of our car, luckily we had the camera with us and boy were we entertained for quite a while, as these creatures were feasting all around our campsite.  Gary got some great shots - yeah for that nice new zoom lens he bought!  But when they came up behind our MoHo I was sitting at the back window in our bedroom and was just inches from the babies.  What a treat to sit there and watch them as they munched their way along the bushes.   Gary was still outside and one of the babies peeked his head around the bedroom slide out and looked at him but then just came right on into our site.  Amazing!    Please enjoy - as we did.

Babies in our campsite

Mom and Dad resting in the empty campsite right next door

Look at dad - we think he's pretty young from the look of his rack

Grand Lake

Beautiful homes on the hills

 

Would have been a better shot if I hadn't cut off front tip of the canoe

 

 

 

 

 

September 14, 2015 Rocky Mountain National Park / Trail Ridge Road

We slept pretty well last night, until we realized it was really cold in our house!   We had elected not to set the heat to come on and about 4AM, we were regretting that decision.  So I elected Gary to get up and turn it on (hee hee)!   It was about 45 degrees in the ole MoHo - way too cold for this thin blooded California girl.  My feet were freezing - so tonight I'm wearing socks for sure.   

We headed for the RMNP and the Trail Ridge Road.   The highest, paved road in the US.   We were at one point over 11,000' elevation.  Guess what folks it's really hard to breathe that high up.
This road is amazing and should be on everyone's bucket list.   Not a road to take a motorhome over for sure.

We were so lucky to see lots of animals today!  We saw a buck Elk and his female and baby!   They caused quite a traffic jam on the road and we were only able to catch a quick pic as there was chaos everywhere.    Then we stumbled on a group of what we believe to be Bighorn sheep.  They looked to be mostly females and their young, but then what do we know!  We had a beautiful gray and blue bird pose for us and the cutest little ground squirrels.   Unfortunately no sightings yet of our moose mama and babies here in the campground.  Darn - that would be the cherry on top!

Oh and we stopped at the Continental Divide.  Gary had to have his pic taken there.   

Continental Divide - fascinating!

 

Bighorn sheep

Big Daddy Elk

Found these beauties at a Visitor's Center

Took this out my car's moon roof!

Beautiful fall colors

September 13, 2015 I-70 East between Green River Utah and Grand Lake Colorado

We had a very quiet night in Green River, Utah - took a nice walk and found a really nice campground right across the street!  Green River State Park, although it looked like all back-in sites which would be a no bueno for a one nighter (we don't want to have to unhook the CRV if we don't have to).  Our little spot only cost us $10.00 too, so that was a bonus.

So we were on the road by 7:30 and everything was going quite well.   We were enjoying the beautiful scenery of Colorado and then we decided we needed to get gas!   Oh Lord - how I hate having to get gas.  We found a "Kum n Go" (yes that is correct) gas station and it looked to be accessible for us so in we went.   We were sorta at a bad angle and after gassing up the guzzler, it looked to us like the CRV was not going to make the corner of the island!
The only solution was to unhook the CRV and then I would drive the rest of the way to Grand Lake.    Then because of the angle of the MoHo and the car,  Gary had to get tough with the hitch to get it loose.   Ugh.........

Got situated and back on the road but that cost us about an hour.   As it turned out the Vail Summit, which is over 10,0000', was a bit tough for MoHo, so it was probably for the best that we weren't towing.   Gary's sure MoHo could have done it with the CRV hooked up but what the heck, it all worked out in the end.

We arrived at our campground, Elk Creek Campground, and when registering we were cautioned that there is a mama moose and her two babies in the campground.  Wow!   Just don't feed them and steer clear of them, etc. etc.   How exciting is that?   So we love this place and we love our spot.    After hooking up all our lifelines, Gary was relaxing outside and suddenly noticed a big pile of what has to be moose scat right here near our site!   Wow - so exciting.  

We are going to do the Trail Ridge Road tomorrow.  I just read it is the highest paved road in the US.   We will drive it over to Estes Park and check things out there.   

Also saw a herd of bison (maybe buffalo - I don't know the difference) but of course I was driving so no pics - but pretty darn exciting.  

I found fall today!    We were near Aspen and the trees are changing. They are a beautiful shade of yellow and very light green.  The temp here in Grand Lake a beautiful 67 degrees!  Woo Hoo - I'm happy, happy, happy.

 

Colorado River