Goodbye to the west

Although folks in Hays Kansas (our destination for tonite) would argue that they are in the heart of the west, today seems to be the day that the west gives snow loving, cowgirl Georgia a fitting send off. As you can see by these pics, we woke up to a blanket of snow in Denver. The problem is that it looks like we will be sharing the rain for the day with the rest of the midwest, so our planned 5.5 hour trip may get stretched a bit. If you've been mapping us (now who in their right mind would waste their time doing that?) you can see that we are only good for about 5 hours per day. That long trip across Nevada and western Utah really took a toll.

We did try to take a few pictures as we crossed from Wyoming into yet another state on the list for this trip; Colorado. Although the most Spanish I learned wass when our kids were taking Spanish in high school, I think Colorado means, "color red". If you can see (in the picture below) through the rain that followed us from Laramie to Denver, there is probably a reason for that name.

You may wonder why we only went about 100 miles yesterday. Georgia found a western store in Rock Springs, but we didn't have a vehicle to shop there. But... she also noticed there was one in Laramie. If you go back to the early posts, you will find that Laramie was a favorite. Seems like a lot of our favorites are places where we have been in one place long enough to see what is there; Selah! So we found the local Corral West store. It wasn't such a panic when we found that they have a website, so some things we had wanted to get there (but couldn't remember sizes) we can get on line if we want. (Greg and Melissa; you can ignore those phone messages from yesterday.) There is a "back road" from Laramie to Fort Collins, Colorado that cuts off miles, but the time is about the same as taking the interstate via Cheyenne. That road passed withing blocks of the Veterinary College at Colorado State University. As when I visited in Davis, California, I knew that other people actually had jobs, therefore I had no specific expectations as to who I would find. Georgia rested while I went in for a short visit. I got to visit with Radiologist Robert Wrigley who is retiring from Colorado this summer and returning to his home of Australia. I also found that another radiologist whom I consider a friend (and lived in Urbana, Illinois in the early 70's) was doing a partial retirement this summer. He was teaching a class, so I didn't get to visit with him. In a nutshell, Colorado State veterinary radiology is at a similar plight as the University of Illinois, going from 4 radiologists to one in a very short time. (who knows, they may need help in the future also). The surprise was to essentially bump into Dr. Klopp, a veterinary neurosurgeon who used to be at the U of I. So I had a nice visit with the 2 of them and we were on our way. Georgia remembered some things about Fort Collins from when we were there in '89. So off to Loveland (about 10 miles south). Why did we go there? On our '89 trip we were in Colorado in mid February. Somehow, we got booked at the Lovelander B&B in Loveland, Colorado on Valentine's day.. Hows that for romantic? This revisit, however was one of the most disappointing of the trip. The "quaint little town" had grown and we didn't recognize anything; could find no reference to the Lovelander B&B, it was raining, etc. etc. (Isn't that a movie line; etc. etc.... Maybe 3 Amigos, or something of that ilk?) Looks like I didn't do my homework after all. I just decided to look up the Lovelander and find that it is there, on 4th street. See, we thought we would just drive up to it, but the growing town foiled our steel trap memories.

So now what's the plan? After driving "all day" in the rain, we hope to rest in Hays Kansas. That should put us in Springfield, Illinois or home on Saturday. We have to connect with Briarcliff Connection to see which we do. Jan, I noticed that after I mentioned that you guys were charged with keeping the rabbits off our tulips, I haven't heard from you???? hmmm. Surely they can't eat all of them before Sunday when Elmer Fudd arrives on the scene... So relax. Glad to know some of the bulbs are peeking up. Having gone from Snowy Oregon to Sunny California and back to Snowy Colorado in a few days, I have no idea what to expect as we forge toward Illinois. I just can't get the picture in my head between what I'm hearing about the weather there and what I remember from mid-April last year. Again, thanks for keeping an eye out, we're REALLY ready to be home.