Week ending Nov 14, 2013

We were thankful that we had decided to stay 2 nights in Casper as it was extremely windy and the interstate was closed to all high profile vehicles.   Friday we washed our back window because we finally got tired of not being able to see through it, the result of snow and slush from Calgary to Milk River. After a few other housekeeping details we headed to Rotary Park to hike.  We discovered a really pretty waterfall and saw some great views of Casper. 

 

 

 

In the distance saw some more wind farms. Interesting we have seen  the army manning them with small artillery vehicles, and helicopters carrying artillery.   We weren't sure why the gov't is so concerned about the security of the wind farms.   One fellow we talked to figured it might just be training exercises. 

 

Saturday we woke to a sunny warm calm day.   Our plan was to get to the KOA in Limon, Colorado, east of Denver about halfway between Casper and Amarillo.    We knew it was a long drive, so we got moving by 8:00 A.M. We truly enjoyed the drive. The snow capped mountains on our right, the prairie on our left reminding us of driving down highway 22 from Edmonton to Calgary. 

 

 

 

The campground host in Billings had suggested a route that bypassed a great deal of the heavy traffic through Denver, but also avoided the toll road which rings the city.  Her suggestion was spot on. We arrived at our appointed destination shortly after 3:00 P.M.  The campground was almost empty, so we were assigned a great site close to all amenities.  We stayed a couple of days since Sunday is Nascar race day.  We watched the race as well as the football semi-finals, sometimes having to flip back and forth to keep up with both. We did laundry, went for a short walk, washed the trailer and generally enjoyed a nice warm day.

 

Monday morning we headed for Amarillo, Texas.   South eastern Colorado, Oklahoma, and north West Texas were the areas hardest hit during the "dirty 30's" and driving through this area it is easy to see why. The soil is sandy, trees far and few between and terrain flat. Most of the river valleys  we crossed had no water in them and this is not a dry year.    We did find one with some water, as we crossed the Canadian River. 

 

 

 

 We knew the area around Amarillo had to be reasonably flat as it has the largest wind farm in the world, so as we were driving along we wondered if we were crazy deciding to stay in Amarillo for a week. Good news though, as we got closer to Amarillo the terrain changed, and we started to see more hills and similar to the badlands around Drumheller. Much more interesting.   We also saw a cotton crop with fluffy cotton ripening in a field.

 

Tuesday we awoke to cold weather.  It had rained overnight and then frozen.  Our windshield and the right side of the truck were frozen solid, as well as the trailer stairs and bar beside the stairs.   After an hour or so it melted and was easy to clear. We headed off to the state tourist information centre. After having a long discussion with a very knowledgeable fellow who worked there we left with loads of information booklets. Our next stop was a GMC dealer. We had our oil changed in Calgary before departing, at which time they noted we had an oil leak that would take 2 days to take apart and repair, but under warranty.    We felt we would rather take care of it down here, where the weather is warmer and we could rent a car and continue with our plans, rather than delay our trip for a few days.   After stopping to look for a good grocery stores  we headed back to Amarillo Ranch RV Park. We enjoyed an afternoon swim and soak in the hot tub.   Brian and Kris, we found a swimming pool open in Texas even in November, because they have it indoors. 

 

Wednesday John dropped the truck at the GM dealer at 7:00 A.M.   They had to redo the diagnostics we had done in Calgary and should have that done by noon.   About 1:00 pm we called from the office (to save our roaming call time), and had problems because the service fellow who checked us in had gone to lunch, and then when we connected with him, found that he had passed it on to the lady who we had talked to the previous day was looking after it, and she was on a later shift so was off at lunch.   After finally connecting, they sent a shuttle and off we went to pick up the truck. It is booked in to have the work started on Monday, they figure it will take 2 days, maybe more if they find more problems when they take the motor apart. They are arranging for a loaner car for us for the 2 days. The good news is that this work is all covered under warranty. When we got back to the rv park we paid for another week. There is not a lot of things we wanted to do in this area, but this park has an indoor swimming pool, free coffee and donuts in the morning, so  there are worse places we could be stuck.

 

 Thursday we headed for Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which is the primary attraction near Amarillo. After buying our annual park pass, (gets us into 50 + parks) we headed for our chosen trail head. The canyon is beautiful, sort of a miniature Grand Canyon, but you can drive right to the bottom and then hike from there.   We headed for  6 mile round trip hike to the Lighthouse. 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail was fairly easy, really scenic and not very busy.  We got to the half way point  of the trail, had our lunch and then headed back. The weather was perfect for hiking, about 23 degree C. After scouting out some trails for the future hikes we took a short cut back to the trailer. Yes there are dusty gravel roads in Texas. Interesting and we made it back without encountering much traffic.