After leaving beautiful Colorado, our next stop would be a brief one, only one night, but it did add another state, Nebraska, to Pearl's visited map (see right sidebar). Today we also lost an hour as we "sprung forward" from Mountain Daylight Time, our time zone since early August, to Central Daylight Time. Even with the lost hour, we pulled into Karrer City Park in McCook, Nebraska in the early afternoon, 2:30 pm. All sites in this small park are first-come, first-serve, so we knew we would need to get here early to have a hope of getting a free site. Sure enough, it's a good thing we weren't any later. We got one of the only two available sites, and about fifteen minutes later, another rig pulled in and took the last site! A few other rigs pulled in later in the day looking for a site but had to move on. This free city campground is conveniently located on Highway 34. The seven sites have electric hookups and accept only RVs, no tenters. There is a dump station, restrooms with showers (we didn't look at those), and a water spigot. Although there is a three night limit, we don't know how closely this is monitored. There were a couple of workers in one site with several vehicles, and we thought that they might have been exceeding this limit, but don't know for sure. The park was neat and tidy, grass freshly mowed, and seemed reasonably well maintained.
We got a good 4G LTE Verizon signal here for internet and picked up ABC with our over-the-air antenna, but no other TV stations. We found a nice grassy area to play ball with Paisley down the access road, a nice bonus. There were train tracks behind the woods in our site photo above, and our sleep was interrupted a couple of times with long trains coming through overnight, shaking Pearl a bit, but fortunately not blowing their horns. Truck noise started up early in the morning, but we needed to get up and get going anyway. Overall this was a a fine place to stay for one night. Although free, they do have a donation box by the bathrooms, so it wasn't truly "free" for us, but still a good deal. Stay tuned as we head into Kansas next -- another new state for Pearl (but not us!)
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I've got to admit, as much as I love the mountains, it was kind of a relief to head down into flat land for a bit. For one thing, we were overdue for warmer weather after the frosty Rocky Mountain temps. And for another, motorhomes and narrow, winding mountain roads can be a scary combination, especially for a nervous Nelly like me. I am actually more comfortable on my bicycle than when surrounded by tons of metal; go figure! Our next stop couldn't have been more different from the Rocky Mountains. We were in Crow Valley Campground in the Pawnee National Grassland in northern Colorado, near the very tiny town of Briggsdale, 35 miles east of Fort Collins and 25 miles northeast of Greeley in Weld County. If you haven't heard of Pawnee National Grassland, you're not the only one. We hadn't either, until we noticed it on the map, and the mileage worked out for a visit. This area is an internationally known birding area, and although we didn't do a whole lot of dedicated bird-watching, we still saw and heard a variety of birds during our several days here. The campground is small with as many double and group sites as singles. It's billed as a “family” campground, though in mid-September, was mostly just couples and singles. Most of the sites are reservable with a few walk-in only. We waited too late to reserve as you have to book four days ahead, but did nab an unreserved site when we arrived on a Wednesday, as all the single-sized non-reservable sites were already taken. We were surprised at this as it rarely happens when we arrive at a campground mid-week. Friday was the busiest night in the campground with no free sites by mid-afternoon and at least a couple rigs driving through that had to leave without a site. I felt bad for them as there weren't other campgrounds particularly close -- I guess that explains why this place was so full. This is a rustic campground with pit toilets, no hookups, no showers, and the closest drinking water spigot was at an educational site a short walk outside the campground. But it was a deal: we paid just $6/night (half price!) with Barry’s National Park Senior Pass. Our site was just lovely, with shade trees, good separation from other sites, and nice views out the back to the grasslands.
This was quite a different view than in the Rockies! We saw a lot of Pronghorns on our ride. And some cool old farm scenery. There's a driveable birding tour as part of the recreation area, but it was unpaved, so we didn't venture down. We did get to hike a nice trail from the campground, though, and there were plenty of birds to be seen there. More pronghorns. Their white butts are kinda cute, no? There was an exhibit of old farm equipment right outside the campground loop. It was a bit neglected, as you can tell from the windmill. Here's the hiking trail I mentioned. There are actually several in the recreation area, but this one was the nicest. It's called the Trail of the Mourning Dove. We didn't see any doves, but we did see other birds, including lots of Townsend's Solitaires, a new one for our life lists! Fall foliage was spotty here, nothing like what we'd seen in the high mountains. Next up we leave beautiful Colorado and add another state to Pearl's map!
This is likely something we will only attempt once. There's a good reason you don't see too many Class A motorhomes driving through the twisty, turning, often narrow and steep roads of Rocky Mountain National Park, with a lot more traffic than we expected on a weekday in mid-September. There are places where guard rails are lacking, and the hairpin turns are numbered, for goodness sake! But all that said, we are glad we got to see it, and doing this drive during peak foliage season just made it all the more spectacular. So please come along for the ride and see some of what we saw. First up, Milner Pass and the Continental Divide, elevation 10,759'. From our RV park at 8650' we'd already climbed around 2100 feet. Not bad for a gas-powered Class A motorhome. Go Pearl! We're up above the golden aspens here. Although the pictures through the windshield don't do him justice, we did see another big bull elk right by the side of the road looking down at us. Here's the highest elevation along the mountain road. We were up above the treeline at this point, and the scenery was pretty incredible -- blue skies would have made it even more dramatic. Still, craggy mountains with patches of snow, low-hanging clouds, and turquoise alpine lakes were amazing to see, even with overcast skies. I wasn't too fond of the lack of guard rail along here. Note the posts with extensions so their positions can be ascertained when the snow is deep. See the lake peaking through the center of the mountains? Here, I'll zoom in! These grazing elk managed to find something to eat even at this high altitude. I think we caught one of them by surprise! A bit of blue sky was trying to peak through. As we descended, we found ourselves in the midst of some of the most spectacular aspens ever. I can't imagine ever getting tired of this sight. At one point we rounded a bend and came up upon one of the most magnificent sights we saw during our time in the park (and out west overall): an elk procession across the road RIGHT in front of us. We were first in line for this amazing parade, and with our huge windshield, got quite a show. Note that the Mama Elk was wearing a tracking collar. It doesn't look very comfy, so I hope it doesn't bother her. I especially enjoyed seeing the juveniles following her across the road. Looks like Mama has told these two "Always look both ways before crossing." Safe to cross! I was happy to get down to lower ground so I could stop hanging on to the arms of the captain's chair with a death grip. Barry did a great job guiding Pearl through the park, but it was still a bit hairy at times. Next up, we head to a very different type of landscape and give Pearl a rest from the mountains: Pawnee National Grassland. Stay tuned!
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Emily & BarryWe're a long-married, early-retired couple who are currently traveling as nomads with no fixed home base. After years of living in North Carolina (Emily's home state), we spent 18 months living oceanfront on Ambergris Caye, Belize, a year road-tripping the US in a Honda CR-V, a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and are now roaming North America in our 32' motorhome, Pearl, following warm weather whenever possible. Archives
July 2019
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