April 19, 2016 - Lakewood, CO to Cheyenne, WY

Edith thought Erwin was teasing when he told her it snowed this morning.  She did not believe him and looked out the bedroom window.  Her eyes widened at the additional snow that came during the night we slept.  

The sun started to come out, but the clouds were still thick.  The clouds were hovering above the mountains at Red Rocks Park.  What a beautiful sight!  The bright glare from the white snow almost blinded us!

We checked out of Bear Creek Lake Park, but Erwin went to the dump and water stations while Edith went in the Jeep.  Edith wanted to check and see if owlets are out of the nest and to see if Mama Owl is around.

The owlet was inside the nest and it was not a photo shot.  Edith waited about 15 minutes to see if there was any activity. There was none and Mama was not around. She left to go visit with Carmel for a while.  

Erwin arrived at Carmel's house about 15 minutes later.  We three chatted for a bit and we thanked Carmel for what she had done for us. She was a wonderful hostess, a tour guide and a fun person to hang around with.  We hope to come visit her and her family again. Next time we will stay in Denver area 2 weeks or longer. There are still so many things to do/visit that we did not get to finish.  

Great uncle Erwin giving Carmel a good good-bye squeeze

Carmel, Erwin & Edith

Left Carmel’s house at 11:15 am.  According to GPS the estimated time arrival to Casper, WY was 4:45 pm.  We decided to use the main highways instead of using backroads because we were worried about the road conditions from the snow.  much safer to use highways. We took I-70 from CO 470 going toward  I-76 N then to I-25 N.

Not much snow as we traveled further away from Westminster and Thornton.  The mountain range is now far away from the interstate.  More farmlands, few oil derricks.

We got off at Exit #257, went to Benson Sculpture Garden on 29th Street in Loveland, CO. We visited the Garden 3 years ago. Few new sculptures were added to the Garden.  It would have been a better photo shooting if the sun was out a bit.  It started to get colder and it was a good thing we put extra layers on before we went out for a walk around the Garden.

We were going to stay on US 287 after leaving Benson Sculpture Garden, but decided to go back to I-25 N after checking the map.  Edith wanted to stay in Cheyenne, WY tomorrow as there are places to visit for the day or two.

From I-25 N we took Exit #265 in Fort Collins to check out one roadside attraction: Swetsville Zoo.  The entrance to the “Zoo” was too narrow for our Lil’ Home, so Erwin made an U-turn to go to Costo, which was next door and across the road from the “Zoo", and parked it there. 

Bill Swets started making metal creatures in 1985.  He has now over 160 sculptures.  Bill was working on an old tractor when we walked up to him, introduced ourselves.  Bill started to tell us a story about his passion. His wife, Sandy, died 6 years ago.  He told us about his hearing loss, tried to learn American Sign Language (ASL) , but there was none in town for him to use ASL.  “You are special people, I’ll show you special stuff”, Bill told us.  He motioned us to follow him to a private property where there is a garage.  The purple dragon was used in Nissan commercial years and years ago.  Zimmer, when purchased new, was $100,000.  It does not depreciate in value.  The other Zimmer that Bill knows of is displayed at Liberace museum in Las Vegas.  

Zimmer - 1920's or 1930's neo-classic motor car
It was kept inside the garage and Bill doesn't usually show it
to tourists, but he wanted us to come see it
He liked us!

We don't usually stick tongues out for pictures,
but we did for this one 

Costco had gas station on the premises and we stopped to get diesel fill-up.  $1.79 per gal, the cheapest we have seen in weeks.

Back to I-25 N toward Cheyenne, WY. It was 4:30 pm when we left Fort Collins, CO. It started to drizzle a bit.  The rain clouds can be seen in the distance.

We made it to WY state line at 5:10 pm.  We decided to spend the night at Flying J Truck Stop (Exit #7 from I-25).  The clouds started to darken some.  We hope there won’t be too much noise during our sleep tonight. 

Edith fixed spaghetti for supper.  it was quick and easy, nothing fancy to prepare.  

A semi truck parked in front of us, but did not leave enough room for us to get out tomorrow morning. We're hoping the driver leaves before we do.  

It started to hail, about the size of a bb pellet.  It did not last very long. It was cold and we had to wear windbreakers when we walked to the Flying J store.

We spent a bit of time browsing inside the store. Erwin picked up T.J. Cinnabon and Edith got Magnum Caramel ice cream bar. On way back from the store Erwin stopped by the Truck Wash station to get information on RV wash.  It is open 24/7 days a week. Tomorrow morning we might take our Lil’ Home in for a badly needed bath. 

More semi trucks are arriving to settle in for the night. The parking lot is almost full.  Let's hope we get a good night's sleep. We will let you know tomorrow how our night went.

Since leaving Jacksonville, FL on March 4th we have put on 2,900 miles on our Lil' Home.