You could tell it was coming by mid-day Sunday -- it was very humid and temperatures reached almost 85 degrees -- much higher than anytime during the past week. We went to work at 3 PM, and about 7 the thunderheads started forming and the heat kept coming. We started seeing lightning about 8, and the park supervisors began shutting down the rides as the flashes grew more significant. Adventureland closed about 8:45 - just a bit before normal closing, and we all hustled home. It was very still, and Mark and I even joked about getting a glass of wine and sitting out and watching the amazing cloud formations. Before we could get changed and the drinks poured, the rain and thunder hit with a vengeance, and stayed pretty consistent for about 2 hours. The weather radio alert screamed out the warning of a new severe storm front about every 10-15 minutes.
The rain sounded pretty "solid" for a while, but we couldn't verify any evidence of hail. Then the winds really began to build and about 10PM we had about 5 minutes of gusts estimated at about 65-70 mph (we understand they were clocked at that speed about 2 miles from here). The Phaeton rocked and rolled, two of our wheel sun covers came off, our big door mat blew down the way, our tiki torch got hammered, and both of Mark's external dishes (TV and Internet) came crashing over. After verifying that no other damage occurred, and with the weather calming down a bit, we went to bed at about 11PM.
We woke up this morning to the news that, as part of this storm system, a pretty significant tornado hit about 60 miles northeast of Des Moines and seven people are thought to have been killed. Fortunately, around Altoona there was only minimal and isolated damage -- most of the severe thunderstorms here passed about 10 miles south of the metropolitan Des Moines area. Most of the weekenders here in tents and tent trailers got pretty hammered, and almost all of them are packing up their wet stuff and leaving. It still looks unsettled for today, and tomorrow will give us some significantly cooler weather, along with the ever-constant precipitation - the high is forecast to be only 54 degrees!
So, we weathered the first storm here, and suspect that this is not the end of it -- lots of folks here have told us that the weather this season is very "un-seasonable". We were very impressed by the management at Adventureland and their procedures to make sure that both the workers and our customers were completely safe in the face of the ugly weather.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Getting settled in central Iowa
We've been here for several weeks now and are getting settled in to central Iowa for the summer. The past week we completed our first week as ride operators at Adventureland Amusement Park, and we got our first day off!! Our current schedule has us working the afternoon shift 6 days a week, with the shifts lasting 4-5 hours depending on the day. Later in the summer, we will be working 6 hour shifts, but basically staying at approximately 32 hours per week per person. The afternoon shift starts at 2 PM, but moves to 3 PM this weekend -- which gives us plenty of time for getting in our RAGBRAI training -- if only the weather would cooperate. According to everyone here, this has been a very wet spring (lots of the corn is not planted yet as the fields are still too wet) -- and to add to that, its been very windy. As most of you know, this doesn't contribute much to enjoyable bike riding, but we've been getting in what we can. We also joined a fitness center here run by the City of Altoona, so we have been able to do some cross-training, but there still is nothing like being on the bike itself.
Earlier this week we had an enjoyable dinner of shrimp etouffe at Mark and Sue's. Both of them are fantastic Cajun cooks, and we had a great time.
We also did find time on Tuesday to get a reasonably good bike ride in -- and remembered the camera this time. Here are a few pictures of the trail route which starts about a mile from the park and extends about 12 miles from Altoona to Pleasant Hill and into portions of east Des Moines, near the Iowa State Fairgrounds. We also saw a historical marker along the trail and one of the creeks which bisects it -- looks like this was a pretty significant wreck! (click on any picture to enlarge it)
We're trying to find decent roads or paths to the developed bike trails in downtown Des Moines which follow the Iowa river for a number of miles -- as well as connecting into the Raccoon River Trail -- but no luck yet. Once we have those routes, we should be able to easily get in some 40-60 mile rides, mostly on paved trails.
Thursday was our first day off, and with Mark's planning we made like tourists -- we drove about 85 miles east of Des Moines along I-80 to Iowa's famous Amana Colonies. This area along the Iowa river was settled in the mid-1800's by German immigrants who formed the country's largest communal society. They were very successful at farming, furniture making, and other crafts, and the community eventually covered 26,000 acres. In 1932 they voted to disband, and the area is one of the top tourist attractions in Iowa.
We visited some shops, had lunch, went to Iowa's first microbrewery, and visited what is left of the woolen mills. We also found that the furniture factory, which was recommended in one of Marks books has been closed, but we were able to see another furniture factory nearby. All in all it was a great trip, and gave us the opportunity to be real tourists!
Our friends Vicki and Bob joined us all for dinner at Culver's Butterburgers after we got back to Altoona.
The coming weekend is looking pretty ugly weather-wise -- it rained most of the night, and the wind is blowing at 15-20 mpg -- not a great environment for being outside running rides. The next couple of days as we head into Memorial Day weekend are projected to be about the same. Sunday is calling for 80+ temperatures and some rain, and we're hoping that combination doesn't develop into some interesting storms. From what we've heard, the park doesn't shut down except for very inclement weather -- I guess we'll find out what their definition of that may be.
Earlier this week we had an enjoyable dinner of shrimp etouffe at Mark and Sue's. Both of them are fantastic Cajun cooks, and we had a great time.
We also did find time on Tuesday to get a reasonably good bike ride in -- and remembered the camera this time. Here are a few pictures of the trail route which starts about a mile from the park and extends about 12 miles from Altoona to Pleasant Hill and into portions of east Des Moines, near the Iowa State Fairgrounds. We also saw a historical marker along the trail and one of the creeks which bisects it -- looks like this was a pretty significant wreck! (click on any picture to enlarge it)
We're trying to find decent roads or paths to the developed bike trails in downtown Des Moines which follow the Iowa river for a number of miles -- as well as connecting into the Raccoon River Trail -- but no luck yet. Once we have those routes, we should be able to easily get in some 40-60 mile rides, mostly on paved trails.
Thursday was our first day off, and with Mark's planning we made like tourists -- we drove about 85 miles east of Des Moines along I-80 to Iowa's famous Amana Colonies. This area along the Iowa river was settled in the mid-1800's by German immigrants who formed the country's largest communal society. They were very successful at farming, furniture making, and other crafts, and the community eventually covered 26,000 acres. In 1932 they voted to disband, and the area is one of the top tourist attractions in Iowa.
We visited some shops, had lunch, went to Iowa's first microbrewery, and visited what is left of the woolen mills. We also found that the furniture factory, which was recommended in one of Marks books has been closed, but we were able to see another furniture factory nearby. All in all it was a great trip, and gave us the opportunity to be real tourists!
Our friends Vicki and Bob joined us all for dinner at Culver's Butterburgers after we got back to Altoona.
The coming weekend is looking pretty ugly weather-wise -- it rained most of the night, and the wind is blowing at 15-20 mpg -- not a great environment for being outside running rides. The next couple of days as we head into Memorial Day weekend are projected to be about the same. Sunday is calling for 80+ temperatures and some rain, and we're hoping that combination doesn't develop into some interesting storms. From what we've heard, the park doesn't shut down except for very inclement weather -- I guess we'll find out what their definition of that may be.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Our first week at Adventureland
This has been a good week, getting all settled in at Adventureland, exploring the nearby areas, and preparing for our work here running the amusement park rides. We joined a fitness center run by the city of Altoona, and because we're Adventureland employees, we get a corporate rate of $31 per month for the both of us -- and the center is really impressive -- lots of weights, resistance machines, stationary bikes, a huge swimming pool, and lots of fitness classes. Its one of the best facilities we've seen in our travels, and its only a short two mile bike ride away.
Speaking of cycling, we've gone on a couple of longer rides on the trails around Altoona, and are finding them very good. We've got to do a bit more research to find the connections to the rest of the large bike trail system in the greater Des Moines area, but overall the trail system here looks great for us to keep up on our cycling this summer. Mark and Sue are also really getting into the cycling around here, and we've found several other cyclists within the workamper group at Adventureland, so we should be able to get in a lot of riding.
We'd had a refreshment or two the other night, and were trying to decide what to do about dinner, when Mark and Sue suggested that we help them get rid of their MRE's that they had gotten when hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast a couple of years ago. We snapped a few pictures of us enjoying a gourmet dinner . . . . .
Here are a few shots of the Adventureland campground and the entrance to the park. We've been very impressed with the overall organization, facilities, and welcome that we've received here as workers.
Oh yes, the work -- we started our first full day on Friday. We're all on afternoon shift, and our first assignments were:
Mandy -- Carousel
Greg -- Der Flinger (a tilt-a-whirl type ride)
Mark -- Shooting Star (a 40 passenger spinning and looping ride)
Sue -- Bumper Cars
And . . . . . . here are the pictures of us -- in our official uniforms -- ready for work.
As of this evening, we've completed two days of work, and are all enjoying our tasks. We all have one more day on our assigned rides, and then we work Monday at our next assignment for one week. The management rotates the ride staff weekly through all the rides in the park, which will expose us to all the operations here and will keep things from getting boring or repetitive. Generally, we'll work 6 hours a day (afternoon shift) 6 days a week -- with Thursdays off. Our initial impressions is that they seem to be a bit short-handed here (maybe something to do with fuel prices . . . . . . ) so some of this could change as the season progresses. We also have both confirmed that we get the week off for our RAGBRAI ride. We've been unable to snap any pictures of the rides within the park, but should be able to eventually, to let you have a better idea of what we're doing.
Speaking of cycling, we've gone on a couple of longer rides on the trails around Altoona, and are finding them very good. We've got to do a bit more research to find the connections to the rest of the large bike trail system in the greater Des Moines area, but overall the trail system here looks great for us to keep up on our cycling this summer. Mark and Sue are also really getting into the cycling around here, and we've found several other cyclists within the workamper group at Adventureland, so we should be able to get in a lot of riding.
We'd had a refreshment or two the other night, and were trying to decide what to do about dinner, when Mark and Sue suggested that we help them get rid of their MRE's that they had gotten when hurricane Rita struck the Gulf Coast a couple of years ago. We snapped a few pictures of us enjoying a gourmet dinner . . . . .
Here are a few shots of the Adventureland campground and the entrance to the park. We've been very impressed with the overall organization, facilities, and welcome that we've received here as workers.
Oh yes, the work -- we started our first full day on Friday. We're all on afternoon shift, and our first assignments were:
Mandy -- Carousel
Greg -- Der Flinger (a tilt-a-whirl type ride)
Mark -- Shooting Star (a 40 passenger spinning and looping ride)
Sue -- Bumper Cars
And . . . . . . here are the pictures of us -- in our official uniforms -- ready for work.
As of this evening, we've completed two days of work, and are all enjoying our tasks. We all have one more day on our assigned rides, and then we work Monday at our next assignment for one week. The management rotates the ride staff weekly through all the rides in the park, which will expose us to all the operations here and will keep things from getting boring or repetitive. Generally, we'll work 6 hours a day (afternoon shift) 6 days a week -- with Thursdays off. Our initial impressions is that they seem to be a bit short-handed here (maybe something to do with fuel prices . . . . . . ) so some of this could change as the season progresses. We also have both confirmed that we get the week off for our RAGBRAI ride. We've been unable to snap any pictures of the rides within the park, but should be able to eventually, to let you have a better idea of what we're doing.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Across Nebraska to Iowa
We hit the road on Thursday, leaving Denver and the mountains behind, after a wonderful stay at Cherry Creek State Park. One very friendly deer came out to say good-by to us, and we were on our way.
Our route was up I-76 to Nebraska, joining I-80 just after the state line, and heading straight east to Lincoln, Omaha, and Des Moines. We'd planned on just a short day, only going as far as North Platte, and doing a Wal Mart stay there. Even though we lost an hour crossing into central time, we got to North Platte by 2:30, and it was just too early to stop. We called Mark and Sue - who we were going to meet up with on Friday evening, and found out that they were going to be at the Double Nickel RV Park near York, Nebraska in an hour or so --- so even though we were about 160 miles away, we kept going and pulled in there about 6 PM -- after traveling a "short" 425 miles for the day. It was a good day for traveling, even though we ran into a lot of rain -- and we posted a new record for fuel mileage -- when we filled up at the North Platte Flying J, our mileage since our last fill at Colorado Springs calculated out at 9.1 mpg!! We were able to snap a few pictures of our soggy stay at Double Nickel before we convoyed out on I-80 to Des Moines with Mark and Sue.
We arrived there mid-afternoon after an easy non-rainy day of travel, topped off fuel and LP at the Flying J, and found our way to Adventureland in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona. The campground is wonderful, with lots of grass, trees, and blacktop sites. We got situated and began unpacking for our summer stay here (and most importantly, Mark set up his Internet satellite dish) -- but before long we took a break and had a few refreshments.
As we were leaving for dinner at the nearby casino, we ran into (almost literally) Bob and Vicki, Tiffin Phaeton owners who we'd met at the rally in Murchison, Texas last fall. This is their third year here at Adventureland, and they showed us where they're parked, just around the corner from us in "Tiffin row" -- where we spotted about 4-5 Busses, Bays, and Phaetons all parked together.
We began our exploration of the Des Moines area on Saturday, by going downtown and going to the first Farmer's Market of the season. According to everyone here, this is the third largest Farmer's Market in the nation, only surpassed by Pike Place Market in Seattle, and the Farmer's Market in Madison, Wisconsin -- we're not sure if that's entirely accurate, but it was pretty good size, especially this early in the season.
We were also near the Polk County offices, including the county jail -- so we had to stop for a picture . . . .
We went back to Adventureland and went on a short tour in the afternoon and even rode on a couple of the rides - although the weather was turning nasty again with rain squalls and wind.
That night and the following day continued very windy, with occasional rain -- we did a bit of shopping, and running around -- but the big event of the day was celebrating Mark's birthday. Mandy baked a cake and made her famous chicken and bean soup (it really was a hot-soup-for-dinner day). We had a few drinks and a wonderful meal to mark the occasion of Mark's birthday and to celebrate their start at full-timing.
The weather cleared on Monday (although it was a bit chilly for those of us from the Sunbelt) and we all got on our bikes for a 13 mile ride, taking advantage of the bike trail network in and around Des Moines - but unfortunately did not remember to bring the camera. The weather continued nice through the afternoon, and we took the opportunity to do a bit of grooming of our sites -- I'd almost forgotten how to run a lawnmower, but it came back quickly after a lesson from Mark.
. . . . . all of which required that we have a break for refreshments . . . .
That evening we all drove 30 miles north to Ames to Hickory Park Restaurant for a great BBQ dinner with Bob and Vicki, and their friends Don and Margaret. Mark was able to take advantage of being within 3 days of his birthday to get a special dessert as well as being serenaded by the wait staff.
We are scheduled for orientation, training, and other pre-work activities Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with our first work day on Friday. There are literally hundreds of other workamper couples already here in the campground, getting set up and ready for the summer, so it looks like we'll be having lots of fun!
Our route was up I-76 to Nebraska, joining I-80 just after the state line, and heading straight east to Lincoln, Omaha, and Des Moines. We'd planned on just a short day, only going as far as North Platte, and doing a Wal Mart stay there. Even though we lost an hour crossing into central time, we got to North Platte by 2:30, and it was just too early to stop. We called Mark and Sue - who we were going to meet up with on Friday evening, and found out that they were going to be at the Double Nickel RV Park near York, Nebraska in an hour or so --- so even though we were about 160 miles away, we kept going and pulled in there about 6 PM -- after traveling a "short" 425 miles for the day. It was a good day for traveling, even though we ran into a lot of rain -- and we posted a new record for fuel mileage -- when we filled up at the North Platte Flying J, our mileage since our last fill at Colorado Springs calculated out at 9.1 mpg!! We were able to snap a few pictures of our soggy stay at Double Nickel before we convoyed out on I-80 to Des Moines with Mark and Sue.
We arrived there mid-afternoon after an easy non-rainy day of travel, topped off fuel and LP at the Flying J, and found our way to Adventureland in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona. The campground is wonderful, with lots of grass, trees, and blacktop sites. We got situated and began unpacking for our summer stay here (and most importantly, Mark set up his Internet satellite dish) -- but before long we took a break and had a few refreshments.
As we were leaving for dinner at the nearby casino, we ran into (almost literally) Bob and Vicki, Tiffin Phaeton owners who we'd met at the rally in Murchison, Texas last fall. This is their third year here at Adventureland, and they showed us where they're parked, just around the corner from us in "Tiffin row" -- where we spotted about 4-5 Busses, Bays, and Phaetons all parked together.
We began our exploration of the Des Moines area on Saturday, by going downtown and going to the first Farmer's Market of the season. According to everyone here, this is the third largest Farmer's Market in the nation, only surpassed by Pike Place Market in Seattle, and the Farmer's Market in Madison, Wisconsin -- we're not sure if that's entirely accurate, but it was pretty good size, especially this early in the season.
We were also near the Polk County offices, including the county jail -- so we had to stop for a picture . . . .
We went back to Adventureland and went on a short tour in the afternoon and even rode on a couple of the rides - although the weather was turning nasty again with rain squalls and wind.
That night and the following day continued very windy, with occasional rain -- we did a bit of shopping, and running around -- but the big event of the day was celebrating Mark's birthday. Mandy baked a cake and made her famous chicken and bean soup (it really was a hot-soup-for-dinner day). We had a few drinks and a wonderful meal to mark the occasion of Mark's birthday and to celebrate their start at full-timing.
The weather cleared on Monday (although it was a bit chilly for those of us from the Sunbelt) and we all got on our bikes for a 13 mile ride, taking advantage of the bike trail network in and around Des Moines - but unfortunately did not remember to bring the camera. The weather continued nice through the afternoon, and we took the opportunity to do a bit of grooming of our sites -- I'd almost forgotten how to run a lawnmower, but it came back quickly after a lesson from Mark.
. . . . . all of which required that we have a break for refreshments . . . .
That evening we all drove 30 miles north to Ames to Hickory Park Restaurant for a great BBQ dinner with Bob and Vicki, and their friends Don and Margaret. Mark was able to take advantage of being within 3 days of his birthday to get a special dessert as well as being serenaded by the wait staff.
We are scheduled for orientation, training, and other pre-work activities Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with our first work day on Friday. There are literally hundreds of other workamper couples already here in the campground, getting set up and ready for the summer, so it looks like we'll be having lots of fun!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
A good week in Denver
We're getting ready to leave Denver tomorrow (Thursday) and we've had a good week here. It started out with snow and cold, but got better over last weekend, and reverted back to some unsettled rain and clouds today -- and through tomorrow, so we'll probably get some rain as we head northeast into Nebraska and Iowa.
We've had a great time here during the week, seeing friends and relatives, doing a bit of shopping, and getting a few other things done. Mandy's sister Penny, and her husband Rex have been great hosts, and we've truly enjoyed our time at Cherry Creek State Park.
While we were here we had dinner at David and Jennifer's -- David is Penny and Rex's son, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting them and their daughters, Brianne and Nora. David was born within 3 months of our oldest son, Brian, and they were playmates for their first several years. Here's a picture of them all just before a lovely dinner at their house.
Mandy was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to find flowers waiting for her at the motorhome when we came back from some shopping. The card with them informed us that they were from our son Brian, and his wife Christy, and our grandson Garrett --for Mother's day. They're beautiful, and we'll do all that we can to make sure that they last until we get to Des Moines this weekend.
We had a great visit with Greg's brother Tom and his girlfriend Trish, who also showed us around some antique shops and downtown Denver.
While we were here we also met up with our cycling friends from Yuma, Sandy and Mark, and had a great lunch with them. We hope to be able to see them again this summer, as they will be in the Midwest.
The last item that was accomplished was the installation of a drop hitch extension for the tow bar that we use to tow the Odyssey behind the motorhome. We'd been concerned about the downward angle of the towbar between the motorhome and the car (which was at the maximum recommended by the manufacturer), and we'd also noticed some additional tire wear on the Odyssey. After checking with the experience of some other owners on the Tiffin RV Network website, we decided that the drop hitch was necessary, which dropped the towbar by 4 inches at the motorhome end and put it at a more level attitude. After installation, the towbar was virtually level, and we believe that our problem is solved.
It's back on the road tomorrow, up I-76 to Nebraska, linking up with I-80, and with a planned stop in North Platte for the night. We will meet up with our friends Mark and Sue in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area the next night, with arrival at Adventureland in Altoona on Saturday.
We've had a great time here during the week, seeing friends and relatives, doing a bit of shopping, and getting a few other things done. Mandy's sister Penny, and her husband Rex have been great hosts, and we've truly enjoyed our time at Cherry Creek State Park.
While we were here we had dinner at David and Jennifer's -- David is Penny and Rex's son, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting them and their daughters, Brianne and Nora. David was born within 3 months of our oldest son, Brian, and they were playmates for their first several years. Here's a picture of them all just before a lovely dinner at their house.
Mandy was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday to find flowers waiting for her at the motorhome when we came back from some shopping. The card with them informed us that they were from our son Brian, and his wife Christy, and our grandson Garrett --for Mother's day. They're beautiful, and we'll do all that we can to make sure that they last until we get to Des Moines this weekend. We had a great visit with Greg's brother Tom and his girlfriend Trish, who also showed us around some antique shops and downtown Denver.
While we were here we also met up with our cycling friends from Yuma, Sandy and Mark, and had a great lunch with them. We hope to be able to see them again this summer, as they will be in the Midwest.
The last item that was accomplished was the installation of a drop hitch extension for the tow bar that we use to tow the Odyssey behind the motorhome. We'd been concerned about the downward angle of the towbar between the motorhome and the car (which was at the maximum recommended by the manufacturer), and we'd also noticed some additional tire wear on the Odyssey. After checking with the experience of some other owners on the Tiffin RV Network website, we decided that the drop hitch was necessary, which dropped the towbar by 4 inches at the motorhome end and put it at a more level attitude. After installation, the towbar was virtually level, and we believe that our problem is solved.
It's back on the road tomorrow, up I-76 to Nebraska, linking up with I-80, and with a planned stop in North Platte for the night. We will meet up with our friends Mark and Sue in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area the next night, with arrival at Adventureland in Altoona on Saturday.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Eastbound from Meteor Crater
The wind finally died down at Meteor Crater, and we went up to the crater and see all of our friends there. Jim and Bunny had a barbecue for us, and we had drinks and dinner with them and with Eduardo, our good friend and the famous Head Tour Guide at the Crater. As you can see, we had a great time.
We left Meteor Crater and traveled leisurely into New Mexico on Interstate 40. The winds stated to pick up again, so we stopped for a night at Sky City Casino, before driving the additional 100 miles to Santa Fe the next day. We spent three days there at a wonderful campground (Trailer Village on Cerillos Road - highly recommended!), and relaxed and visited with a number of friends.
Greg's brother John has lived in Santa Fe for a number of years so he gave us some tips on biking routes to take --
we were able to do only about 18 miles before the 7000 foot altitude did us in.
Greg celebrated his 62nd birthday in a special way -- we met up with Brad, a fellow schoolmate of his from Wyoming, who he'd not seen for over 45 years. We had a wonderful dinner with Brad, his wife Kathy, and John, and even had a birthday cake for Greg.
We also visited the Pecos National Historical Site about 25 miles east of Santa Fe. In addition to seeing the very interesting ruins of the pueblo and the church that was once there, Greg exercised his new option as a 62 year old to get his National Park Service Senior Pass (aka Golden Eagle pass).
We also had a great visit with Tom and his wife Patty -- Tom is Greg's cousin and we had not seen them since we celebrated Greg's mother's 80th birthday in Santa Fe 9 years ago.
We'd planned on taking a couple of days to get from Santa Fe to Denver, but the weather report started to predict snow for the Front Range, so we put the pedal to the metal and drove 390 miles on Wednesday to beat the anticipated snowstorm. With the storm front moving in, we also encountered wind again, and had to cope with 35-40 mph easterly gusts as we drove north on I-25, but the Phaeton handled it well. By the time we got to Denver, and headed to Cherry Creek State Park, the weather was looking much better, but we only had to wait until the next morning for the snow to hit.
Mandy's sister Penny, and her husband Rex,
volunteer at the campground at Cherry Creek, and we plan on spending a full week here visiting with them and their family, as well as seeing Greg's brother Tom, and his significant other Trish. We also hope to get in some cycling around the Denver area with Mark and Sandy, our friends from Yuma, who are here this summer.
On a technical note, we've managed to average over 8 mpg for the 1100 miles since we left Yuma (despite the winds and altitude gain) which makes the higher prices on diesel fuel a little easier to cope with. Since its mostly downhill from here to Des Moines (and with prevailing winds generally from west to east) we hope to do even better -- we'll see . . . . .
We left Meteor Crater and traveled leisurely into New Mexico on Interstate 40. The winds stated to pick up again, so we stopped for a night at Sky City Casino, before driving the additional 100 miles to Santa Fe the next day. We spent three days there at a wonderful campground (Trailer Village on Cerillos Road - highly recommended!), and relaxed and visited with a number of friends.
Greg's brother John has lived in Santa Fe for a number of years so he gave us some tips on biking routes to take --
we were able to do only about 18 miles before the 7000 foot altitude did us in. Greg celebrated his 62nd birthday in a special way -- we met up with Brad, a fellow schoolmate of his from Wyoming, who he'd not seen for over 45 years. We had a wonderful dinner with Brad, his wife Kathy, and John, and even had a birthday cake for Greg.
We also visited the Pecos National Historical Site about 25 miles east of Santa Fe. In addition to seeing the very interesting ruins of the pueblo and the church that was once there, Greg exercised his new option as a 62 year old to get his National Park Service Senior Pass (aka Golden Eagle pass).
We also had a great visit with Tom and his wife Patty -- Tom is Greg's cousin and we had not seen them since we celebrated Greg's mother's 80th birthday in Santa Fe 9 years ago.
We'd planned on taking a couple of days to get from Santa Fe to Denver, but the weather report started to predict snow for the Front Range, so we put the pedal to the metal and drove 390 miles on Wednesday to beat the anticipated snowstorm. With the storm front moving in, we also encountered wind again, and had to cope with 35-40 mph easterly gusts as we drove north on I-25, but the Phaeton handled it well. By the time we got to Denver, and headed to Cherry Creek State Park, the weather was looking much better, but we only had to wait until the next morning for the snow to hit.
The weather is promising to clear and warm up by the weekend, but remember -- this is Colorado in the spring, so anything can happen.
Mandy's sister Penny, and her husband Rex,
volunteer at the campground at Cherry Creek, and we plan on spending a full week here visiting with them and their family, as well as seeing Greg's brother Tom, and his significant other Trish. We also hope to get in some cycling around the Denver area with Mark and Sandy, our friends from Yuma, who are here this summer.On a technical note, we've managed to average over 8 mpg for the 1100 miles since we left Yuma (despite the winds and altitude gain) which makes the higher prices on diesel fuel a little easier to cope with. Since its mostly downhill from here to Des Moines (and with prevailing winds generally from west to east) we hope to do even better -- we'll see . . . . .
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