the big adventure . . .

this has been a dream of mine . .  . to travel the great rocky mountains and camp along the way . . .

a dream that i have had since my first trip to colorado when i was 12.

i love the mountains and everything out west . . .  cowboy hats, boots, rodeos . . .

hiking, skiing, just to name a few.

but this dream never happened in my 20's because i went to school

never happened in my 30's because i was raising a family

never happened in my 40's because i was busy working . . . 

fast forward . . .  in my 50's it's finally going to happen.

my nephew is getting married today in silverthrone, colorado overlooking the mountains. WOW is all i can say . . . 

so i purposed this idea to my husband . . . why don't we go to the wedding and then afterwards go camping to see the west . . . he jumped at the opportunity.

you see for him, he has never seen the beauty of the rocky mountains . . . 

we then put forth our best ideas . . . he being the engineer . . . had a plan . . . to create a space where we could live out of our pick-up truck for the next ten days . . . yep . . . that's what i said . . . 

so here is what he built . . . 

platform over the wheel wells

bed from camper to sleep (noticed the small touches of the comforts of "home")

trip begins . . .

day one of the trip

this horse provided much laughter along the way . . . as each time a car would pass he had to look out of his trailer to check out the car . . . (this photo was taken going 70 mph)

first stop for dinner was in Iowa City . . . college town . . . ate at the atlas (found by using the iphone and the urban spoon application)

the food was fantastic!

appetizer

husbands meal

my meal

that evening we stopped and "boone-docked" at the local Cracker Barrel Restaurant 

learned a few things doing this:

don't park by the flag pole

make sure you are not close to any sprinklers

close to a bathroom facility

don't park at a restaurant that opens early in the morning . . . 

learned that the state of nebraska is very long . . .  did i mention long . . .

we have always stopped off the beaten path for vacations so why stop now . . . 

took a look at the first pony express . . . 

then drove to wild bill cody's museum, 

and then to his house that was built for only 3600.00 in the early 1900's

sorry photography was not allowed inside the house . . . but i so enjoyed seeing many of the treasures that were inside . . .

i was allowed to take photos of the hours stable and grounds . .  . including the buffalo.

for lunch stopped in paxton, nebraska to eat at the famous "ole"s restaurant. not as good as our first dinner from the atlas. however, the place was established in 1936. a rich businessman went on various "hunts". with his kills he then had them stuffed and put in the restaurant . . . very interesting.

more later . . .