COLORADO 2014 Preview

Hello Friends and Family!

Help us finish our license plate.  What should it say??

Once again we are about to head west to Colorado!  And, once again, Fran (my Mom) is traveling with us. 

We will be seeing a little different country this trip, as we are taking an alternate route out (how many times have we seen Nebraska from both directions???).  We will pick up I-39 in Stevens Point, head south to Springfield IL, then west on I-72 to Hannibal, MO.  There, we will visit the river town that is home to both Mark Twain and Molly Brown (of unsinkable Titanic fame).  We will then push on to Columbia, MO for the night.  Columbia is about halfway between St. Louis and Kansas City.  From there, we will head west on I-70 to Colby, Kansas on the western edge of the state.  We plan to stop along the way to see what the small towns of Kansas have to offer.  We'll spend our second night out in Colby, aptly named "Oasis on the Plains". 

Our third day out will take us west across Colorado, through Denver, across the Rockies, and to our final destination, Grand Junction.  We will spend our third night out in GJT, then we will part ways with Mom for the week.  She will stay in GJT and visit with friends, and we will explore the Rockies up close and personal on our way to and from Colorado Springs. 

We will spend several days on the Front Range in the Colorado Springs area, seeing the sights, one of which will be a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak...14, 110 ft.  We will wind our way back to GJT on the weekend, heading over Independence Pass and driving through Aspen.  We will stay in GJT for several nights, and will spend our last full day in Utah viewing the red rock splendor of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Utah's Dead Horse Point State Park.  Memorial Day we will reluctantly head eastward toward home.  We will stay our last night out in Grand Island, Nebraska.

We will be posting to this blog every night with highlights and pictures of our day's travel. 

Come back often and check on our progress.  Our first post will be from Columbia, Missouri.  See you then!!