Mission Trip to SLC- Castle Rock Co to Salt Lake City, U

Friday morning we left Wal-Mart in Castle Rock at 6:45 am to go to Camping World. We arrived there about 7:45 am after taking I-470 West around the city. The Tecnition at Camping World could not figure out what was wrong with our refrigerator and finally decided to call Norcold, the manufacturer. As a result we found that the problem was the door switch on the right hand door. They said to put a piece of tape on the switch to hold it down, like when the door is closed, and see if that is the problem. Sure enough, that was the problem! Hoorah, we now can ride down the road without the fear of the refrigerator shutting off!

Do you think you have heard "the rest of the story"? Well you haven't. But you will have to "wait on it,.. wait on it"! :-)

This balloonist was near the Denver mountains at 6:45 -7:oo am! This was on I-470 going west. Wonder what time he/she got up this morning?

Thisis a road scene on I-470 on the western side of Denver. On the eastern side it is a toll road! Later on, before we exited, we saw an accident which slowed traffic down on our side of the highway.

Here is a Colorado barn seen just off I-470 on the West, near Quincy Avenue.

Another beautiful road scene near Denver on I-470 near Route 285

This is an interesting old Colorado house on I-470 near mile 237

We have now fixed our refrigerator, have circled Denver, and caught up with I-25 North to head for Wyoming and I-80 West to SLC. By the way, thanks to a reminder from a missionary friend Harold Collier, we took a short cut from Fort Collins over to Laramie, Wyoming & I-80. It is Route 287 and is very scenic. However, I drove it so there are no photos. :-(

This is the first view of snow-capped Rocky Mountains as we head west on I-80 out of Laramie near mile 303.

Here is a Wyoming Ranch on I-80 near mile 303. What a view they have!

Here is another Wyoming Ranch on I-80 West near mile 294.

We saw all kinds of snow fencing from these old fashioned wooden ones to those of rows of shrubbery and evergreen trees. Maybe in Wyoming they do not get enough rain to support a living fence.

Here are rock buttes on I-80 West near Rock Springs, Wyoming.

We are getting close to Flaming Gorge, exit 91 on I-80 West. This is an area I want to be able to return to to explore!

Now we get to go through some tunnels in the mountain near the Flaming Gorge Area.

This shows some mountains that have been eroded.

Mile 61 on I-80 West shows these interesting double pyramid-like mountains.

Now we are in Utah entering a beautiful gorge area on I-80 West near Echo, Utah & I-84 which goes Northwest to Ogden, near mile 169.

This photo shows more of the gorge area mentioned in the previous photo.

This is an Utah reservoir lake near Coalville on I-80, near Mile 162

This is an old Utah barn just south of Coalville. See the cows heading into the barn area?

This River Run Ranch has Llamas, near mile 155 on I-80

Here I-80 West and Eastbound splits, going through a canyon.

This barn is near Parley's Summit at 7120 feet before descending into Salt Lake City. The next photo gives the warning for truck drivers about Parley's Canyon and the steep turns. I was glad that Jim drove this part of the trip!

Mission Trip to SLC- Russell, Kansas to Castle Pines, Co

Wednesday night, August 17, we stayed at a Passport America (half-price) Campground in Russell, Kansas called, Triple J RV Park. It had gravel pull-throughs and lots of trees. It was neat to see the sunset from the park that night. I had to go to a Dollar General store to buy bread; there was no supermarket nearby in the town. Again we left on Thursday morning , August 18, about 8:20 Central Time.Oil pump west of Russell, Kansas, near mile 180 on I-70 West. There are lots of these oil pumps around this area.These grain elevators are near a RR line near mile 175 on I-70.

This neat Kansas farm was near mile 156 on I-70

We saw lots of these fields of sunflowers in this part of Kansas.

This old Kansas barn was near mile 170, toward western Kansas.

We think they were oil drilling here in western Kansas, near mile 74 on I-70 West

See how flat western Kansas is? It is so different from Eastern Kansas. This is a typical road scene for this part of I-70, near mile 72

What an interesting old barn, here in Kansas near mile 69!

They really seem to treasure their sunflowers here, near Colby, Kansas.

This style of "Welcome to Colorado" Sign has been around for many years. Jim took a photo of this style in the 1950's when he went out West, from Chesterland, Ohio, with Ed Post at age 14.

This is flat farmland in Eastern Colorado, so different from Western Colorado!

This looks like a busy Colorado farm, near mile 419 on I-70

This is a typical road scene on I-70 in Eastern Colorado. You can really see for miles. It sure isn't as green as Eastern Kansas!

This farmer's windmill pumps water for the cattle, near Limon & mile 361. We will soon take a short cut over to I-25 & Castle Rock, Colorado

This is where State Route 86 leaves I-70, near Limon, and heads directly west to I-25 . This is our shortcut.

This is what the two-lane road looks like as we head west, going through Kiowa toward Castle Rock.

I call this a ribbon highway beacause it looks like a ribbon unfurled. Note the up and down hills ahead.This is a cowboy corral where they round up the cattle or horses into the corral and then load them onto a truck, using the ramp.

Here is another Colorado barn, off Highway 86, near Kiowa.

This pretty barn is between Kiowa & Elizabeth on Highway 86.

The color of this barn matches the house, also between Kiowa & Elizabeth on Highway 86.

This cute litte house is in the town of Elizabeth on Highway 86.

This Colorado Barn is near Franktown on Highway 86.

If you are wondering what this is, it is our refrigerator being held closed by a chair with all sorts of books & food storage to weigh it down. We had so much trouble with this refrigerator! First of all, we had a new cooling unit put in it just before we left Georgia to the tune of $2200.00! Then on the trip, the refrigerator door kept buzzing that it was open, even though it really wasn't, and then would shut OFF! Once we arrived in Castle Rock, we called the nearest Camping World, since it was still under warrenty, for an appointment at 8 am Friday morning to fix it.

You will have to wait ...for..."the rest of the story"!

We arrived in Castle Rock or Castle Pines about 2:30 pm Mountain Standard Time. This was a planned stop to see Jeneane Elliott, our friend from the Crystal River area of Florida, who had since moved back to Colorado. Jeneane had returned to Florida, from a two year mission to Italy, in March or April of this year. We had dinner with her and saw her new house. It was so good to see her! We then stayed the night in a nearby Wal-Mart parking lot, so that we could drive across Denver in rush hour traffic to make our 8 am appointment.

Mission Trip to SLC- Fenton, Mo to Russell, Ka

Wednesday, August 17, 2011, we left Fenton and headed north to get onto I-64 West which eventually merged into I-70 West. We left the Wal-Mart parking lot again about 8:15 am Central time. Our heat has been in the 90's for the entire trip so far.

The cool "twin" briges are on I-64 headed West going over the Missouri River. I also like bridges! :-)

I think they are dredgeing the Missouri River, downstream from the bridge.

This, to me, is a rather typical road scene in Missouri on the interstates, heading West. They have these rock walls in various parts of Missouri.

Here is an unique Missouri Barn with open sides on one side of the barn. This is on I-70 West of St. Louis.This looks like a prosperous farm, on I-70 West of St Louis, near Mile 60

This is a Missouri Farmhouse on I-70 West about Mile 60

Do you recognize the Kansas City skyline? This city is in Missouri and in Kansas, with the Missouri River making the state line.

Now to show you some barns in Kansas. They are more properous farms than in Kentucky.

This Kansas farm is obviously very prosperous, near mile 365 going west on I-70

This is an older barn in Kansas, near mile 347 on I-70

One really gets a western feel, looking at the distant road ahead, here in Kansas, near mile 343.

Another old Kansas Barn near mile 343.

I did not know there was an Oz Museum. But if you want to go there, it is in Wamego, Kansas, exit 328.

This farm shows the green of Estern Kansas. Eastern Kansas is also hilly. Western Kansas is mor flat and not nearly as green.

These green hills remind me of the movie,"Dancing with wolves", near mile 316.

Some of the cut-away hills, necessary for the builing of the interstate, show striations of color.

Interstate I-70 West near exit 304 shows the great viewing distance.

Another view of the striations.

This shows the striations in the cut away hill on the right.

I guess I was right about the green hills & "Dances with Wolves" movie. Evidently Custer & the US Calvary were located nearby Exit 301.

This cannon was on a bluff opposite Fort Riley, Kansas. The hill or bluff appeared natural.

We think these are Black Hawk Helicopters at Fort Riley.

Here are some Army trucks at the Fort.

This farmer is making the rectangular bales of hay, near Salina, Kansas.

This farmer is making the modern, large rolled bales of hay mile 244

Farmer's field of corn which goes on forever, near mile 240 on I-70 West.

Wind Mill farm near Ellswoth, Kansas, Mile 225 on I-70 West. These wind mill farms are now in many states, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho for example.

Fort Larned & Fort Harker Museum are also at Exit 225 near Ellsworth. In case you didn't know, both Kathleen Ellsworth Speidel, Rusty's wife and Dan Ellsworth, Katy's husband have Ellsworth Pioneer Heritage. I wonder how this town fits into their ancestry?

This is an unusual old barn in Kansas, near Mile 194, not far from our destination of Russell. We arrived at Russell about 6pm. This was another 500 plus mile day!