06/15/24 The coffee was appreciated this morning, as it is every morning. Before we left camp we noticed a theme in our clothing. Then it was off across the lonely prairie.
06/15/24 There is lots of new oil drilling infrastructure here. We passed a large new-looking school building, called The Prairie School. We learned later that it is pre-school through 12th grade, and that some of the students came from more populated areas due to the low student/teacher ratio.
06/15/24 We ate lunch at the Pawnee Station in New Raymer. The food was great, and we met the ex-mayor and his wife who taught high school business classes. They told us a lot about life on the prairie. We also entered the National Grasslands areas.
06/15/24 We stayed at a primitive forest service campground (pit toilets and no water). People were trying to put up their tents in a stiff wind. The area was known for the birds, and we saw lots of orioles, doves, and other flying friends. A tiny bunny almost let me pet him!
06/16/24 As we left the campground, we saw the most unusual ornaments on fence posts. We saw the mountains yesterday but could photograph them today. We saw a sheep feedlot with thousands of sheep. And we learned about how irrigation led to Colorado becoming an agricultural state.
06/15-16/24 And then we entered Fort Collins for a well-deserved day off. This town has food and beer and lots going on. We plan to come back and stay in the area for a week sometime soon. Our friend Pat and her daughter, Erin, came up from Boulder for breakfast. They have a Trader Joe’s!!
06/17/24 We left Fort Collins and took one of their beautiful bicycle paths to LaPorte before we started up the Cache la Poudre Canyon. Rhe’s Dad went to CSU for his DVM degree, and her family lived there from 1964 to 1967. She was happy to see the house is still standing.
