June 18-23, 2015 Colorado to ONE THE ROAD AGAIN to Oregon

 

I did a marathon visit to my Dr’s.  5 appointments in 2 days, all at the Franklin/Skyline campus at Kaiser.Not bad scheduling. All routine visits and found out that I am healthy. Good news, but not a surprise. After my appointments I stopped at the Denver Botanic Gardens. This is a glass piece from the Chihuly exhibit last year.

I went to see these horses by Deborah Butterfield.  At first I thought they were just piles of sticks. But then I read on of the signs. These are bronze casts of pieces of wood, welded together and painted and patinaed  to look like wood. Really cool detail of the wood, and great kind of outline or skeletons of horses, that really look like horses.

I had dinner with Pam, Kathy and Linda who I used to work with at the Arapahoe clinic before I retired. It was fun to catch up. I visited the clinic first and it has been remodeled, I hardly recognized it and I heard they now have twice as much work than when I was there. I retired at the right time. I also had lunch with Julie at the Franklin clinic, where I worked before Arapahoe. Finally we are on the road again!!!!! This is between Fort Collins and Laramie. Beautifully green after all the rain. We are taking the new (to us)  bus to Oregon to drop it off at Oregon Motor coach for some work on the house part of the bus. John had finished replacing all the parts that wear out in the engine and coach on the last bus, finally had it the way he wanted it, so we have to do it to the new one now. Updating and some repairs, perhaps a new wood floor. Getting solar installed, new batteries, inverter etc, etc. It will take 3-4 weeks for the work, so we will drive back to Colorado in our towed car, then drive back when it is done. It is so exciting.

 

Crossing the state line into Wyoming.  We stopped for the night in Rawlins, Wyo on I-80. This is historic downtown Rawlins.

 

This is the Old Penitentiary museum in Rawlins. It was built in 1901 to replace the territorial prison in Laramie.  and was in use till 1981. It is after hours so we did not take the tour of the inside.  Here is the new bus with the new car at the RV world campground in Rawlins.  First night camped on the road in it!! This bus is the same year and model as the last bus. We liked the last one. We know how to work it and put everything away in the same places. Feels like home already.

 

RV world campground in Rawlins, Wyo. The next day we drove through the corner of Utah into Idaho. This is the bus at the RV park in Mountain Home, Idaho. High 90’s and not much shade. They had a pool, but it was not open until they put up a fence. I almost rebeled and used it anyway.

Our neighbors in Mountain Home, watching TV on the outside of their bus and they have 3 HUGE German shepherds. Three more states. Utah, Idaho and Oregon.  Way too many miles in not enough days. . .

When we went into Oregon we got off the divided interstate highway onto a two lane, not divided highway. First time since the accident for more than a short distance. It was a little freaky.  First thing two separate incidents of  people passing us on curves over the solid line. That and another car passing us just missed hitting an oncoming motorcycle. The cycle pulled over to the shoulder and averted disaster.  Morons.  Maybe it is miraculous that we went 5 years before we got hit head on. . . but the rest of the trip there were no incidents.  Scenes in Oregon from East to West. Mahler river valley, corn fields, mountains by Bend.

 

Beautiful tree tunnels  along the McKenzie river into Eugene. The bus at the Armitage State  park in Eugene, Oregon. We are going to drop the bus off at Oregon Motor Coach tomorrow for more work. It should take 3-4 weeks, so we will drive back to Colorado in the car and when it is done drive back again.