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September 24th - 28th: Arizona

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Tuesday - Sept  24 Travel from Gallup NM to Camp Verde, Arizona Distant Drums RV Park.   The grasslands gave way to even more rugged cliffs, rocks and ledges.   The skies are gray and the clouds are hanging so low you can't discern the clouds from the mountaintops.   There is not much along some stretches of this drive so we decided to stop at the Painted Desert National Park Visitor Center.   We have already visited here years ago but we have learned that Visitor and Information Centers have great restroom facilities.   There was snow in the distance up on Humphries Peak, the highest point in AZ, 12,633 ft.   Karen sent a message the other day that Snow Bowl, AZ got its first snow of the season this week.    J & H RV Park is a place in Flagstaff where several people from Trilogy spend the summers.    I wanted to check it out.   They were totally booked for the next couple of week since their seasonal campers are still there, but we did stop and check out the facilitie
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September 20th - 23rd, Colorado and New Mexico

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Friday Sept 20 Travel day to Ft. Collins Colorado Well, mission accomplished!   All 49 states covered that we can drive to and camp.   We figure we drove over 500 miles this week in and around the Black Hills and all of the scenic routes.  Of course about 70 miles was the trip to the dealer in Rapid City.  Today's drive was one of those where you shake your head in wonder and find it hard to believe that there are still areas so vast, open and unpopulated in the United States.  Heading west out of Hill City South Dakota, south through Custer we paralleled the Mickelson Trail, (named one of the top 10 most beautiful trails in the world), for a long way.   It is a 114-mile trail that follows the old Burlington Northern rail line. There must have been some event going on this weekend as there were hundreds of riders on the wide, hard packed gravel trails.   Supposedly the trail is a max 4% grade throughout with a few long uphill climbs two of which are going North and South
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September 14-19 Hill City SD, Part 2

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Sept 14-19   Hill City, SD (Horse Thief Campground for 6 nights)   Tuesday Sept 17th The drive to get to Spearfish Canyon took us up through the city of Lead and past Cheyenne Crossing. We learned later that the restaurant at this crossing has pretty good food but we did not know that when we passed. Since our destination was the canyon drive we did not stop in Lead (1 mile high, 1 mile wide and 1 mile deep), founded in 1876, the same year as Deadwood during the gold rush period.    The Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway is a 19 mile route north on U.S. 14A and one of the top six scenic drives in the Black Hills Area.   It goes down into the canyon through four eco systems at a steady 3% grade which is why bicyclists like it.   Spearfish creek parallels the road and there are many trout in the stream but they are not native.   They were introduced about 100 years ago which makes them almost native by now!  There are several beautiful overlooks with places to gaze up at the lim
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