Budget Host Inn Dodge City

... The little old laidies that ran the place were so sweet and couldn't have been more interested in the boys in the colorful shirts and lycra shorts. It was well worth the time. Back at the hotel my room still wasn't ready so I dropped into the pool in my riding outfit to do some stretching. Tonight we are going to "Miss Kitty's" for dinner and some real western entertainment? Maybe some pictures tomorrow.

... to spend as much time in the museum as possible because she avoided being headline news in the local paper (again !) it seems a visitor from outside the US to Dodge warrents a story in the local paper but if they come back a second time it could be headline news !! So naturally we milked the sightseeing as much as possible and turned up at her Dad's just in time for us to go out for dinner and ...

... the seed, a couple of Cotton paddocks, but the new one for us was Red Wheat fields. This is a breed of wheat introduced by Russian immigrants to the country and has a lot of acres dedicated to the crop around here. It has plant similar to a corn stalk but has a high head of red wheat growing out the top. Really interesting, also we drove past a lot more of the oil Monsters sucking the black stuff out of the ground. We diverted off to a place called Greensburg, this ...

... my tongue starts to gag with conflict - what is the meat taste with oatmeal consistency? I swallow and smell closely. Dang that smells like sausage. The clerk has returned to the desk in this lobby so I ask what is this in the pot? She smiles, "Why it's gravy for your biscuits, ma'am." Wow. I discreetly bin the bowl and finish the biscuit with jelly. I know if I spent more time here I'd learn so much more.

... in the fields. This would be the place to have acres of windmills. In Dodge, the motel is OK and just a couple of blocks away I finally had a switch from regular fare at a Thai restaurant that was welcome, tasty relief. A shower, aspirin and the Sox game while I roll those Chinese balls to relax my hands is the order for the evening.

Thursday 29th May Well WHAT a night it was !!! wow!! It was ridiculously windy. We were rocking!! The vents were all rattling, the windows were shaking, we were hot and it was not nice. Holly was awake at 4 and we were soon after. The VW in front suddenly took off round the carpark, not sure why but we thought they might have panicked and left. But they came back shortly after and re-parked so maybe they just went to use the loo ...

... which last about 5 minutes. Whinge aside, today was gorgeous, beautiful clear blue skies with a slight breeze in the air. Left Colorado for good today and entered the flat plain which is known as Kansas. We normally take a photo of the State sign as we pass them but Kansas was so plain and uninteresting we only saw it at the last minute, the adverts for road safety were bigger.

I left Meade today and I am sitting in the truck at a gas station... My eyes burn. I couldn't keep myself from actually crying when it came time to leave... I tried to be strong, but you know, it's not easy telling these 4 kids who i have watched grow up these past years goodbye. I love my nieces and nephew. and when it got to telling the last one, Gage, goodbye, I lost ...

... here, and we took the Mountain Route. It's also called the Raton or Bent's Fort Route. Longer and more difficult than the Cimmaron Rt., though it is considered safer. Then we stopped at Bent's Old Fort in Colorado, a National Historic Site. It is completely restored and replicated. Our last two stops were Trinidad, NM to the Kit Carson Memorial, which provided a beautiful scenic overlook of the city at dusk, and finally, Raton, NM.

... disintegrated, with the wire nowhere to be seen and dead cattle in the fields flipped upside down waiting for someone to take them away. It was very distressing. After four very tense hours I made it to the hotel - which just opened two weeks previous. The hotel owner gave me a beer, and I headed to my hotel to call home and let them know I arrived safely there.