We’ve had a great couple of days on the road. I’ll get to the statistics and other info in a moment, but first, check out these photos of some of the highlights:
The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO.
Toby in Kansas City, MO. :)
A year after seeing the World’s Largest Cow and the World’s Largest Buffalo in North Dakota, I pose with the World’s Largest Prairie Dog at Prairie Dog Town in Oakley, KS. Heh.
Another prairie dog, though not the world’s largest, at Prairie Dog Town. (We also saw a five-legged cow and a six-legged cow there.)
Also at Prairie Dog Town: pigs!!! (Click here for a video!!!)
Becky and I stand in front of one of the “Monument Rocks” near Oakley, KS, a remnant from the long-ago days when the Great Plains were underwater.
A wider view of the Monument Rocks.
Becky stands on the world’s highest suspension bridge, more than 1,000 feet over Royal Gorge in Caņon City, CO.
Here’s a look down into Royal Gorge. We were there in the middle of a thunderstorm, which was very cool (and a bit scary)… more on that below.
Becky also has a whole ton of photos over on the SHA-girl blog. Check ‘em out!
Yesterday (Saturday), we drove from Terre Haute, Indiana to Oakley, Kansas — 759 miles in 10 hours and 39 minutes of driving time, an average speed of 71.3 mph. If you include the mileage from later that evening, when we did a round-trip drive from our motel to Prairie Dog Town to the Monument Rocks and back, our total comes to 827 miles in exactly 12 hours, for a 68.9 mph average.
Today (Sunday), instead of driving on I-70 through Denver and Grand Junction and into Utah, as originally planned, we decided to take the scenic, slower Route 50. As a result, our speed was considerably less than previous days: an average of 56.5 mph. We also didn’t get very far (359 miles), nor did we drive for very long (6 hours, 21 minutes of driving time), partly because of our route and partly because, in mid-afternoon, we encountered this:
It was a big thunderstorm, dead ahead, and we decided to stop in Caņon City, CO — slightly less than halfway across the state — instead of trying to make it to Montrose through the rain and lightning. But before stopping, we went to the Royal Gorge in Caņon City, where we walked across a giant, 1,000-foot-plus-high suspension bridge, while lightning flashed a few miles away. Ah, yes, now that was an adventure… as was trying to keep the cameras dry. But at the same time, it was so cool. :) Here’s a sound clip of the thunder (which sounded awesome, echoing off the nearby mountains).
Lest you be misled into believing that we were standing out, all by ourselves, on a giant metal bridge in the middle of a huge thunderstorm, you should know that this Royal Gorge place is actually a big theme park / tourist trap (it charges admission and such), and it wasn’t closed or anything, and there tons of people there, so we figured it must be relatively safe… right? :)
Anyway, yeah, that’s the update. Tomorrow, we’ll keep crawling west toward Utah, possibly making a side trip to Telluride along the way. Again, don’t expect many updates; cell-phone signals are extremely rare out here.
Oh wait, before I forget, here’s a video of me feeding pigs at Prairie Dog Town, and here’s a video of the car kicking up dust as Becky drives down a dirt road toward the Monument Rocks.
Okay, that’s it for now, time for bed. :)
