Home safe and sound. Beautiful day. Lunch at Turkeyville and back in St Johns by 1:30. We had a great trip, all 5,665 miles of it!

Silly string.

DAY-36.  338 miles from Mount Vernon IL to Anderson IN, via Jeffersonville IN/Louieville KY.  We did a little shopping in Jeffersonville at a very interesting shop that the owner describes as "the only real trading post east of the Mississippi".  The shop is packed with neat and rare old stuff, ranging from Native American artifacts to railroadiana and even some movie props, such as a WWII machine gun modified for use in a Star Wars movie.  We bought several unusual items including a big bell.  A huge bell, actually!
     The traffic in and on the outskirts of Indianapolis was intense.  Nasty.  The beltway was 6 lanes across.  We even witnessed an accident  that occurred right in front of us as a car entering the jammed interstate forced its way on without yielding causing another car to broadside a pickup truck that was then forced into the median.  The car that caused the mess just kept going.
     It has been a wonderful trip  We've loved every day but tomorrow we head home, and we look forward to that as well .

Dandelions gone to seed.f

Traffic signs can be so confusing.

Day 35. 513 miles from Salina, KS to Mt Vernon, IL. We passed through the beautiful Flint Hills and tall grass prairie and crossed the Missouri River twice and Mississippi River once. Stop and go traffic through Kansas City and for an additional 40 miles heading  east- miserable.
We passed several small groups of motorcycles and one very large gathering of several hundred at a truck stop. They call their trip the Run for the Wall. Temperature in the low 80s and feeling the humidity for the first time.

Raindrops?

Welcome to our Hampton Inn in Salina, Kansas.

DAY-34.  418 miles from Colorado Springs CO to Salina KS.  A smooth 6.5-hour trip with just a quick lunch stop.  The only downside was reserving a Hampton Inn that turned out to be 5 miles off the interstate and is totally under construction...a real mess. I at least got them to give us a discount and free points.  Fortunately, we're only here for one night.  Tomorrow we continue heading east but not sure how far.  It's good to have thick air again!

Alice and friends

Kissing camels, local deer, Dad with Pikes Peak hidden in clouds behind him, can you find the animal in the last photo?

Drove 20 miles today to visit Garden of the Gods and Old Colorado town; walked 3.8 miles. Garden of the Gods  looks bigger than we remembered it and is so spectacular. Pictures just do not do justice to the place. We stopped at the Trading Post at the park and enjoyed their opening season specials for lunch. Two buffalo burgers for less than the price of one and two ice creams for $1. Then on to Old Colorado town (1859), a small community between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs with 3 long blocks of all kinds of interesting shops. The weather was overcast and cool but no rain so it was just fine for us.
We woke up just in time to see the royal wedding and plan to watch the Belmont horse race later today. We plan to leave tomorrow morning heading east.

Views from today. Can you spot the Capulin volcano?

DAY-32,  248 miles, Taos NM to Colorado Springs CO.  We took Rt. 64 and then I-25.  Rt. 64 east from Taos is an exceptionally scenic drive through the mountains, rising to near 8,500 feet.  The beautiful forest vegetation (mainly evergreen) begins within 3 miles of town.  The 2-lane road is excellent but winds continuously like a snake, requiring the driver's full attention every second.  But there was virtually no traffic and the drive, all 94 miles leading to I-25, was delightful.  There were deer right beside the road and antelope resting in the tall grass.
     In contrast, traffic on I-25 was very heavy near towns and became stop n' go as we approached Colorado Springs.  In my experience from previous trips, I-25 is always crowded and slow the closer you get to Denver.  We stopped at a Burger King in Pueblo CO for lunch.
     Arrival at our hotel in Colorado Springs was not pleasant.  The Hyatt is just off an extremely busy highway in a complicated tangle of service roads with no signage.  But making it even more unpleasant was a thunder storm, followed by a hail storm and then back to pouring rain.  Our phones received emergency flash flood warnings.
     But we're settled in now trying to figure out where to get some grub.
     Hopefully the weather will calm down by tomorrow when we plan to visit Garden of the Gods, a spectacular area of other-wordly rock formations on the outskirts of town.  We'll be here for 2 or 3 nights.
     Please take care folks.  Miss you all.
   

This is a cliff bordering the Rio Grande ten miles northwest of Taos.  Can you spot our jeep?

Rio Grande Gorge abd bridge. Kit Carson house.

La Fonda de Taos. Our balcony on the third floor.

Rio Grande Gorge. Kit Carson house.

Started the day with a free cup of Starbucks from our hotel, then a great breakfast at a local cafe.  We drove 10 miles to the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, 650 ft above the river. The river cuts a deep slash into the volcanic rock of the area west of Taos. After lunch we visited the 1828 home of Kit Carson and his Spanish 3rd wife. He lived in Taos about 20 years and is buried here. We did more walking around the shops this afternoon, 3.6 miles total, and are now relaxing after an ice cream in the square. Taos is much smaller and less hectic than Santa Fe. Tomorrow we head over the mountains to I-25 and on to Colorado Springs.

Our room in Taos. View from our balcony of the square.

Loretto chapel. Dad at La Fonda. Drive to Taos. Rio Grande Canyon just south of Taos.

Breakfast next to the fountain at La Fonda.  Staircase light. Loretto chapel staircase - originally it had no railing. Add in Patagonia  store window in Taos.

In Santa Fe we visited the Loretto chapel this morning to see its amazing staircase supposed to be built without nails. Then drove 70 miles to Taos through desert, then rocky mountainous areas that were beautiful. Our hotel is on the old town square with a balcony; very nice for reading. Walked around the shops and had a delicious eggplant parmigiano at a nearby Italian place for dinner. We will be here for one more day and then will go directly to Colorado Springs.

This is an authentic Navajo rug from the late 1800s, extremely valuable and yet it is just one of hundreds of amazing art works and artifacts hanging in the hallways at this historic La Fonda Hotel here in Santa Fe.

We have decided to establish a chain of candy shops in the southwest, starting here in Santa Fe!  Do you like our sign?

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi; it's bells ring on the hour (1851). Loretto Chapel (on the Santa Fe trail).

La Fonda on the square. Restaurant and our hallway, decorated with original art and some pieces from the original hotel furnishings from about 1922. I love the original tile work.