July 6 and a little bit of 7

I think it must take me at least a day to process what's going on... I think there should be something more to write by way of explanation but I don't know what it is. That will have to be enough...

We got back on route 30 yesterday- it hadn't been open due to flooding. I-29 was still closed when we came to the exchange between I-680, I-29 and RTE 30. After stopping in Missouri Valley, NE for food and fuel, we headed out to cross a very flooded Missouri River. I don't know what it normally looks like, but it was about 3" below the road surface on either side of the bridge that normally spans the river. And the smell? I feel horrible for the folks living there because the sewage must be all kinds of backed up!

Also in NE, high octane fuel is less expensive because it contains ethanol! We saw all kinds of signs about using green energy- if they are accurate, NE is on the ball and maybe we should look into investing.

This morning started off as a haul-ass kinda day but after we looked into it, we decided to take highway 34 to Yuma, CO. There were supposed to be thunderstorms, so we didn't want to be hauling butt on the interstate nor did we want to push 400 miles so we settled on Yuma with the idea that it would only be another hour to the interstate if we couldn't find a place to stay. (There are no KOAs on the eastern side of CO!) 270 miles to Yuma with a few stops for road construction and we fueled up and decided to push to Ft. Morgan- not much happening in Yuma.

NE was all kinds of corn until we hit the western side, then we came up on a grip of stockyards. The eastern side of CO also had a grip of stockyards with a few cornfields thrown in. It's like they wanted to blur the state line and leave us confused. I will say that about 50 miles from the CO border, the landscape changed- it looked more high-deserty and we could tell we were getting close.

And staying out of the rain? The bikes and Paco Loco Llama have been out in the rain but we have been ridiculously lucky! We hit some rain for about 15 minutes today but managed to stay out of it, otherwise. We got in to our room at the Super 8 in Ft. Morgan, unpacked and left to take the Kew outside... within minutes there was a total deluge! We got soaked and Kewpie couldn't get back to the room quickly enough. Fifteen minutes later it was over and the sun was out. We headed out again. After we got back to the room, it settled on a steady rain for a bit.Welcome to summer monsoon, right? Gosh and I high-fived a couple times about our luck!

We ordered dinner from Acapulco Bay- chilis relleno and a stuffed sopapilla- and devoured it in mere moments and spent the evening watching the clouds from our window. Our bellies fat and happy after a great day of riding!

BUT WAIT! This morning Kewpie and I ventured out in the other direction and came upon the most FABULOUS park! On the South Platte River, we found baseball fields, a pond full of ducks, geese and swans, campsites, and a wonderful river path. Kewpie says we can come back ANY time.

A final note- we saw yesterday morning that our Phoenix friends survived and even laughed at the haboob that hit. What a crazy thing to see! Shouts out to Phoenix desert rats and their ability to laugh at the title of the crazy weather thing they got to see. Haboob?

Kewpie's morning hunt in Grand Island

Happy Puppy!

Lissy stopped for road construction

Gosh adjusting ear buds(volume is not working right on the stereo)

SheNayNay and Fancy Pig (the itty bitty blue dot) chiilin' in the room in Fort Morgan, CO

Cool bridge over the South Platte River

Lissy self portrait at the park in Fort Morgan, CO

OH! AND there I was trying to take care of some banking and i couldn't! My bank changed hands and everything has to be re-entered! Talk about frustrating! Poor Gosh got an earful about how angry I am. Thanks to this blog, I have let go and realize no matter how angry I am at the inconvenience, there is nothing I can do until I get home. Ha!