Who knew we would be off on a cross-country trip just one year after we thought we were thought with that kind of nonsense. But a granddaughter wedding changed the planning.
Supper with Tim's family. Sarah had arrived with the balance of the family the same day to complete their move from Connecticut to Ohio.
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| Outbuildings along a country road in north east Indiana. Two views |
Overnight with Matt, Theo and Luc.
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| Milkweed and Mullein in the Tall-Grass Prairie | An Abandoned Homestead |
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| The church at Virginia Dale, Co | Prickly Pear blossom in the church yard |
Breakfast with Gale and Judy, Kay and Mike at Denny's in Fort Collins. I can recommend the multi-grain pancakes.
Gwen and Ryan get married:
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| Jordan River Temple | Ryan and Gwne |
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| The great grandchildren: Idris, Artemis, Maren, Connor, and Daniel at the reception. | |
A tired butterfly at Dinosaur National Monument:
Dust devils on a dry Nevada lake:
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| A camp ground in the Redwoods |
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 Naomi and Amy |
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The headlands at this beach were amazing. Here's a couple of views:
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Along the bottom of the cliffs and up the sides in rocky areas were amazing flowers:
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| Travel #1 | Traveler #2 |
If like me, you grew up going to Sunday School at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you heard the story of the Miracle of the Gulls. Early in the settlement of Utah, a horde of so called, Mormon Crickets (Anabrus simplex, actually a kind of katydid) descended on the crops threating the pioneers food supply but then seagulls appeared and consumed the insects saving the crops. In Nevada, we came across the same crickets:
There were masses of mashed crickets on the road with the surviving crickets eating their fellows. Every time a car went by, the tires would crush a new bunch and then the survivors would rush in to starting eating until the next car came by.
Much of Nevada is part of what is called the Basin and Range Province where mountain ranges alternate with flat stretches. This geomorphology is the result of faulting that raised portions of the earths crust and lowered other portions. (Look at a map.) Here's a kind of panorama (Photos taken from one spot but I couldn't get them all to stitch.):
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 A view of the Colorado River |
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 Two views of an old farm in southeastern Utah |
I wouldn't normally comment on lodging but this small motel is amazing. The furnishings included Native American rugs on the floors, baskets on the walls, and the bed frames were native timber. Breakfast included puff pastry burritos and a pudding with fresh fruit that I have no ideas what it was but it was delicious. If you are ever in Blanding, UT, stay at the Stone Lizard Lodge! (https://www.stonelizardlodge.com/)
We went to the rim of the Dolores River Canyon, spent a couple of hours with Charlotte in Dolores,
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and then on to Craig.
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Dorothy noticed this unique folding in the layer of a mountain along the Crystal River. From left to right:
It appears to me that there was a soft layer between harder layers and, when everything was compressed, the softer layer flowed toward weak spots causing it to fold.
My grandfather, Herman Ellgen, homesteaded southwest of Craig, CO in 1909 on the Yampa River. The area in which he started a ranch is known as Round Bottom for the bend in the river. Here's a Google Earth view of the area and then a closer look. Arrows point to Round Bottom and then the Ellgen Ranch:
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My uncle, Lorence, took over after WWII and then my cousin, Gary, after my uncle retired. Over the years the ranch has grown to 6500 acres. Gary raises cattle and irrigates about 250 acres to grow hay to feed them in the winter. That's the green in the second view. Here's a view of the ranch:
The building in the left center is the cinder block house my grandfather built and, in which, four generations of Ellgens have lived. Amber Ellgen, Gary's niece by marriage is the current matron and she in turn is cousin to the wife of our former bishop's oldest son here in Pennsylvania—small world. The small dark building is the original house from 1909. The next large structure is the concrete barn my grandfather built and further to the right is the concrete silo. The original homesteaders raised wheat thus the silo but no one raised wheat in this part of Colorado any more.
My cousins regularly get together in Craig, CO and part of the reunion always takes place on the ranch that my maternal grandparents homesteaded. The original house, the second cinder block house, the concrete barn and silo that my grandfather built all still stand. The second house has been home to five or six different families over four generations.
This is the first house lived in, 619 Colorado St. in Craig. I remember cosmos growing outside my window. Lots of pictures on this front stoop:
We were anxious to get home and the only pictures I took were of the Lincoln Memorial at the summit between Laramie and Cheyenne, WY in honor of Lincoln and the Lincoln Highway:
The speedometer read 8000.8 miles went I parked in our drive way. We averaged about 23 miles to a gallon of gas and paid about $0.22 per mile—twice what it cost us last year.
