Heading West to Colorado and New Mexico

John and April on the gondola

We started our summer travels on June 7^th and headed north and east and had a wonderful time.  On July 5^th we arrived back in OKC for a few days as John had several medical appointments as well as a cancer injection.  We were thankful that our friends Mark and Donna had a spot for us in their RV park just outside OKC so we didn’t have to travel so many miles each day from Sulphur for the appointments.  All John’s appointments went very well and on July 16^th we headed west for another month of travel.

Turquois Lake

Hospital John was born in.  Condos now.

We spent two nights on the road during our trek to Buena Vista, CO for a week.  One night was in Dodge City, KS at the Gunsmoke RV park.  Dodge City was an interesting little town and the RV park was quite nice for a stopover.  Our second night was just west of Pueblo out in what felt like a desert at Haggards RV park.  We were at the base of the mountains and had quite a show of color and beauty with the sun, clouds and storms.  The following morning we made our way through Canyon City and along the Arkansas River up to Buena Vista.  This is a gorgeous drive that we never get tired of even though it is very curvey.  We always see lots of rafters along that drive. 

Off the regular roads

John holding up a structure

While traveling west we aren’t out to run and gun all the time but to just enjoy the beauty of the area as well as the much cooler temps.  We always enjoy a trek to Leadville (John’s birthplace), Cottonwood Lake which is buried back in the mountains and very peaceful, as well as the old ghost town of St. Elmo.  There’s an area in St. Elmo that is covered in chipmunks that eat right of your hand, which is always fun.  Many of the old buildings are still standing in St. Elmo and they are always doing fund raising to restore them.  We also drove up over Monarch Pass and rode the gondola at the top of the pass to the top of the mountain with the dogs!  I think the view from there was one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The store at this pass is quite nice and also serves food.  It was a fun stopping point.

Cottonwood Lake

St. Elmo

After a week in Buena Vista we headed south to Red River, NM.  Neither of us have ever been to this area and it is gorgeous once you get back into the mountains.  Other than a 7 mile climb at 4 and 5% grades out of Salida, CO, the drive to Red River was flat, flat, flat with long straight roads.  A quick and easy drive.  Coming into Red River from Questa, NM to the west was a pretty drive and the climb was easy.  We did go over Bobcat Pass to the east of Red River in the jeep and both agreed we would not consider driving the RV over that pass.  It’s quite steep on both sides and very long.  I guess the diesel motorhomes might do it easier than us in our gas rig. 

Top of Monarch Pass

We are parked in Roadrunner RV park which is the nicest we’ve been in all summer.  The park itself is very nice with the Red River (which is really a creek) running right through it, lots of trees and the setting between two tall mountains.  The temps have been in the 70’s and low 80’s during the day with lows in the 40’s at night.  Unfortunately, our heater is not working so we are quite thankful for our fireplace as well as a space heater for the bedroom and bathroom.  At least it’s not freezing so we don’t have to worry about frozen pipes.  Yep, another repair when we return home!  It’s always something.

I’ll write more about our time here in Red River later.

The Creation Museum and Ark Encounter

Our sole purpose for going to Kentucky was to see the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter and we were not disappointed.  The Creation Museum is beautifully done with gorgeous grounds.  They have a huge pond and the landscaping is beautiful.  This is a museum where you need to take time to read as you go through it.  The emphasis of the museum is creation versus evolution from a Christian perspective.  The displays are very well done.  We spent 2-3 hours here. 

The following day we went to the Ark Encounter and that was amazing.  The is built to scale and is  massive.  The grounds are gorgeous and it’s easy to move throughout the complex.  The Ark is a good distance from the parking lot and they provide buses back and forth at no extra cost.  All I could think about was how in the world Noah and his family were able to build something of this size and the only way was with God’s help.  The folks who designed the inside did a lot of research and did their best to display how Noah may have designed the inside with everything from how to contain and care for all the animals and his family to dealing with getting fresh water and air and dealing with waste.  They also had to grow food.  Noah didn’t know how long they would be on this ship so had to prepare for the long haul.  In the end, it was about a year.  The whole thing is an engineering marvel and only God could have supplied him with all that he needed to build and design the Ark.  They are planning to expand the park with other biblical settings so this is something we will definitely want to come back and see again.    They have numerous areas to get food on the property but we went to the cafeteria for the buffet.  For seniors the cost was only $10 and that included your beverage.  For a place like this, I consider that a really good price. 

I highly recommend taking the time to come and see these sights.  The Creation Museum is up closer to Cincinnati and the Ark is about 45 miles south of it in Williamstown, KY so both are easy to get to.  We visited them both in the mornings and had the afternoons to relax. 

Today we started working our way back to Oklahoma and will spend three nights at the Paris Landing/Kentucky Lake KOA near Buchanan, TN.