Folks-on-Spokes (Gulf Shores) Fall Rally, West Des Moines, Iowa

High Trestle Bridge

So why would you call a group of 50+ people with bicycles getting together for 8 to 10 days to ride their bicycles a rally?  Me, neither, but that's what we do. 

We're actually in Waukee, IA at Timberline Campground for the fall rally.  We're not volunteering this year, so we could actually make it to a fall bicycle rally.  Unfortunately, the dates fell right on top of a 50 year high school reunion for me.  This means you can be fully retired, living a nomadic life style and still have schedule conflicts.  Life happens, I guess.

We're riding the walk-bicycle trails around the Des Moines area.  The trails are in great condition.  With the exception of Saturday, we've been on our bicycles everyday since Tuesday.  Donna's loving it plus she's around all her winter friends from Gulf Shores.  We're eating more meals out than usual, but the increased activity seems to be keeping us steady weight-wise.

There's still more trails to ride.  We leave for Elkhart, IN on Tuesday.  Friday starts the fall trailer service rodeo.  What gets repaired depends on what parts & appliances are there when we arrive.  Should be fun?

Anyway, that gets you up to date with us.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Pictures are of the High Trestle Bridge near Woodward, Iowa.  They light a section of it at night.  It's pretty cool to see.  It's to the north of Des Moines and crosses the Des Moines River.  The blue light is used so as to not hurt your night vision.  

 

West Des Moines, IA

One of the many covered bridges of Madison County

We're in the West Des Moines, Iowa area for this summer's Folks-On-Spokes (Gulf Shores) summer rally. We'll be here until the 20th when we head over to Elkhart, IN for our autumn trailer service rodeo.  We're fine.  This part of Iowa is dusty & dry.  Suppose to rain later this weekend.  They need it!

We had a great time in Sioux Falls, SD.  We got in a couple of game nights with Ken & Susan and a couple of bicycle rides along the Sioux Falls area Greenway.  On one trip we actually made it all around the city of Sioux Falls for a total of just over 19 miles.  We now know we'll be riding with the slow group for the bicycle rally!

I know - not a lot of news or pictures.  Thanks for dropping in and checking up on us.  More later, David

Sioux Falls, SD

 

After a week of travel we're back in Sioux Falls, SD for Labor Day weekend.  We gotta be somewhere and this is as good of place as any.  Stops along the way from Laramie, WY were Sidney, NE; Kearney, NE; and Omaha, NE. 

Sioux Falls is sunny, windy and warm.  We'll be here until the bicycle rally in Des Moines, IA in mid September.  Plan on moving down on September 7th. Thanks for dropping in and checking up on us. We'll write more once we're in Des Moines.  David

Laramie, WY Week 2

Mirror Lake, Snowy Range, Medicine Bow NF, WY

Week 2 continues week 1 as we returned for another hike/walk in the Snowy Range.  This week we also got out Cheyenne, WY and Saratoga, WY.

For the Snowy Range, the Mirror Lake area is the prettiest to me and always worth your time.  It can be crowded and was the day we were there, but we'd be there before and knew areas to park that most people drive by without a thought.

Cheyenne, WY is the metropolitan area of Wyoming.  It's a mixture of blue & white collar employment. It's the eastern plains of Wyoming and, to me, boring.  We did get a walk around a lake and a great visit to the botanical gardens.  Pictures are below.  Donna was able to get a new Kindle while we were in town.  We also got to stop and eat at a new Chick-fil-A that was packed the whole time we were there.  Traffic never stopped!

Other than the drive over to Saratoga, WY (which is a scenic byway), I was disappointed in Saratoga.  From what I had read and been told, I thought Saratoga would be a small Jackson, WY or small Whitefish, MT.  Nope.  Just a small, high-desert Wyoming town with great Mom & Pop restaurants.  We ate at a small Italian restaurant and it was great!  We still don't know what people who live there do.  The town's museum was really nice.  It's another western town museum and information overload for me.  I took no pictures of Saratoga. 

So that takes care of last week.  We continue east tomorrow.  We're planning to stay in Sioux Falls for Labor Day.  That's the plan, anyway.

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Puppet Garden for kids

Botanical Gardens for Kids

 

Laramie, WY Week 1

Lakes Trail 295, Snowy Range, Medicine Bow NF, Wyoming

We're back in Laramie, WY for a couple of weeks.  So far we've restocked, gotten snail mail, completed the 100,000 mile service for the truck, walked some of the Laramie Greenway (which you can reach from the Laramie RV Park (old Laramie KOA), visited the University of Wyoming Geology Museum, walked  some of the Lakes trail in the Snowy Range, and experienced two complete, multi-hour city-wide power failures (apparently not weather related.)  We're talking intersection signals completely dead, business shutting down and restaurants closing type power failures.  Put about 10 hours on the generator this week alone.  It's warm to hot temp wise, and we're currently in the afternoon thunderstorm weather pattern.  When it rains, you get a bucket load of water with some pea-sized hail. Most of the time the storms go around us.

So that's the week that was.  Pictures are of the UWY Geology Museum and of the Snowy Mountain Range.  We still want to make it Saratoga, WY just to see it...maybe this week.

Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Lander, WY

 

After a windy Tuesday night in Rawlins, WY we arrived Wednesday in Lander, WY for the rest of the week.  Lander is one of those towns that we've driven through several times and said we needed to stop and check it out.  This year was a great time to do that.  

We got in two nice hikes:  one is a trail through Sinks Canyon State Park; the other is Popo Agie Falls (video above.)   We also had a chance to visit the local Museum of the West and given that we'd seen the Museum of the West in Cody, WY earlier this year, it became info overload for me quickly.  The local Pioneer Museum was located by the museum, but it was just too hot to get out and check it out.

Sinks Canyon State Park is just south of Lander off Wyoming Highway 131.  It had three campgrounds (dry) and held mostly tenters and small RVs.  The park itself is built around the Popo Agie River (flowing northbound) that enters a cave (the sink) and then reappears somewhat further north (the rise).  Interesting fact about that sink & rise is that after years of study, people have determined that there is more water coming out of the rise than going into the cave (the sink).  

Popo Agie Falls is a trail just south of the state park that takes you to a water fall.  I was expecting a water fall similar to a hanging-valley water fall (think Yosemite Falls), but instead saw a water fall that seems to crest a hill, cascade down that hill, and then split into two separate falls.  Definitely not what I was expecting and made for just a stunning hike.

Of course I've got a gazillion photos. The best are below.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  We're now in Laramie, WY for a spell.  Time for the truck's 100,000 mile service.  David

The "Sinks"

The "Rise"

First view of Popo Agie Falls

Full view of Popo Agie Falls

Popo Agie River looking north into Sinks Canyon

Popo Agie River as it passes through Sinks Canyon State Park

Vernal, UT

Flaming Gorge Natl Recreation Area

After a few days at Hill AFB visiting the towns of Ogden, Eden, and Willard Bay State Park, we've moved over to Vernal, UT for the weekend.  This puts us pretty much in between Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area and Dinosaur National Monument.  I selected this area just to go see Flaming Gorge. Overtime, I became aware of how close we'd be to Dinosaur Natl Monument.  What I didn't expect were the state parks that are nearby.  So we need more than a weekend.  We'll have to come back.

First up was an early morning trip to Red Canyon Lodge to watch hummingbird banding,  After that, we walked the Red Canyon Trail up to the visitor center.  From there we made it to the dam for a picnic lunch and shared a picnic table with a couple from Wyoming.  After a return and quick break at the trailer, we drove over to the Dinosaur Natl Monument's Quarry Visitor Center just to find out what's there and any hikes we'd like to do.  That pretty much took the rest of the day.

So, lots of pictures, yesterday.  First up:  How to catch a hummingbird, followed by Flaming Gorge and, finally Dinosaur Natl Monument.