Farewell to Romo!

I'm spending tonight at the New Frontier Campground in Presho, SD. Zuni and I drove about 650 miles today and have about 200 more to Sioux Falls. I woke up at 4:20 this morning and we were officially on the road at 5:50. It was windy and some of the roads (I-76 through eastern Colorado & US Hwy 83 north through Nebraska to about halfway) were AWFUL! So bumpy they nearly rattled the rig to pieces! But I enjoyed the trip anyway.

Central Nebraska has the most interesting hilly terrain. I kept imagining how the Indians would hide behind the array of hills ready to ambush the settlers pressing westward. (Must have read too many cowboy and Indian books as a kid?)

As I left RoMo, elk crossed the road in front of me with total disregard of the 30,000 pound rig bearing down on them. As we advanced through Nebraska then South Dakota I was treated to Pronghorn and pheasants galore.

The last few days at RoMo were very busy and filled with storms that marched through daily. In the first deaths in the park since 2000, last Friday 8 people were felled by one lightning strike and one of them died on the Ute Trail. Saturday 4 more people were felled and one person from their party died from the lightning strike at Rainbow Curve. The storms were predicted today as well and the volunteer potluck scheduled for tonight was cancelled.

I heard from my boss, Jen, that the excitement continued when a lady in labor showed up at the Grand Lake Entrance station in labor and insisted on crossing to the Estes Park side. Her contractions were 4 minutes apart and her water had broken but they made it across with an escort from LE. No word on whether she had a boy or a girl! People do some nutty things, huh?

My mind is finally quieting down a bit, but this evening as I relax and blog a little I keep hallucinating the sound of the radio from RoMo! Jep and Renae will certainly empathize with that! Lastly, here are some photos from Jen. By the way, I have "camera envy". Jen has the next model "up" from mine and hers takes THE MOST AMAZING CLOSE-UPS!!

Here are some of her favorites of our Bear Lake Hike on June 26th:

LL

On Wednesday, July 9 Jen, friend Michael (who worked fee collection last year) and I hiked 5 miles up to the Shadow Mountain Lookout tower. It has not been used since 1968 but is still a magnificent structure. It rained like mad that night long after we had returned from the hike. We had a great time and totally avoided the storms.

One last image - the geraniums live!

The End! Sweet dreams!