Dear Friends and Family, 

We are on the move with our 32 foot RV named the “Beast” and our jeep which is towed behind the RV.  We are meeting our UK friends in Denver so we are off to make our rendezvous.  The photo to the left is our equipment in our first campsite Boomtown, near Reno, Nevada.  From there we did full day driving to Elko, Nevada. The second photo is of the Great Salt Lake.  Salt Lake City was our third stop. There we drove around the city and also made a visit to Susan’s mom’s grave in the oldest cemetery, The Salt Lake City Cemetery. We took some quick photos of the city and the Mormon temple there but since we were only in Salt Lake for one night, we were on the move to Green River for overnight. Finally from Green River we drove to Grand Junction, Colorado where we stopped two nights to visit some sights. Below are photos of the Colorado National Monument. The canyons were carved out by the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers.  We drove the Rim Rock Drive which is one of the grandest scenic drives in the American West. It is 23 miles one way offering stunning views of the rock formations and canyons. The whole drive we were reminded of the landscape around Mesa Verde and the cliff dwellings. There were none to be had, just wonderful columns of rock and steep canyons.

Above Grand junction towers the largest mesa in the country. It rises 6,000 feet above the city for an elevation of 10,600 feet.  We drove up the mesa where there are lots of beautiful lakes on top of the mesa.  One was called Island lake because there are islands inside the lake. The high meadows were still in bloom with wildflowers.  We visited the Visitors center and enjoyed a picnic lunch next to one of the clear lakes.  We watched a family fishing for trout and they caught their last one to make their limit of 6! After driving most of the mesa, we went to “Land’s End” for an expansive view over Grand Junction and the river valley.  Then we took the jeep off road from the mesa top down to the valley. The road was dirt/gravel , steep with tight turns but a lot of fun. We highly recommend the trip up and down the huge mesa.

We had a one night stop in Cripple Creek, Colorado to meet our friends Steve and Linda from Alabama.  We had dinner in a cute restaurant in town and got caught up  on our travel adventures. We will return to Cripple Creek later in our travels.  As we neared Denver, we stopped in Littleton to visit with Sara and Ann who we met in Viet Nam , 7 years ago.  They are some of the most intrepid travelers we know.  We vowed to meet up sooner than 7 years in the future.  Finally we made it to Denver East KOA.  We waited impatiently for our friends, Sandy and Keith to be released from immigration and customs. Then we celebrated our reunion at the campground with seared steaks and nice red wine.  We are all ready to begin our 5 week adventure together exploring the Rocky Mountains.

We hope our educator  friends are having a fun beginning of school. Until our next post, remember to be good to yourselves.

Cheers,

Susan and Jim