The adventures continued in Colorado.

The Manitou Cliff Dwellers just outside of Colorado Springs gave us a glimpse into life in the late 1200s.

I was totally enamored with the discovery of the paintings on the 3rd story of this apartment building. Can you see it?

Garden of the Gods was another fun stop as we waited for our afternoon train ride. There’s a great trading post here and we enjoyed finding treasures to fill the back of the van to take home lol.

We took the cog up Pikes Peak and saw more snow than all of last winter combined.

We took a bag of Route 11 chips as an altitude experiment and it got tighter and tighter until it finally blew at 12145 ft. Wow

I got suckered into spending most of the day’s profit on fresh doughnuts and a hot tea. But snow days call for doughnuts and when they’re covered in heath bits- even better!

We had to stop on the way down because we were pushing snow… but eventually we rolled again.

Wolf Creek Pass was another snowy experience at the peak, but beautiful on the other side.

We took the time to hike Treasure Falls and understood how that chip bag felt as the altitude made us huff and puff to hike up the mountainside.

Some clouds, some snow, some rain, some rainbows… our travels through CO was a variety of weather. But so beautiful!

…and a variety of modes of transportation 🙂 The girls took the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail and I met them in Silverton with the van.

We enjoyed the Million Dollar Highway and the random sights along the way- including being able to explore the remaining homes at the Yankee Girl Mine.

We peered over the edge of the Black Canyon before hurrying to visit the Kennell’s of Delta.

A campfire and sleeping under the starry sky was the perfect ending of our short journey thru beautiful Colorado.

Ps 121: 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

I feel this Psalms when I think about my life and Colorado and our current travels.

But more on that later.

See you down the trail,

Kendra for the Out West Gang

The Adventures have started.

We skimmed the first number of states and slowed down once we hit Kansas. The following is a few but not all of the highlights:

Yoder, Kansas was amazing. Such fun little town. It was founded in 1889 by Eli Yoder as a central point for surrounding Amish communities. We enjoyed leisurely shopping the town.

We watched Amish ladies sail past on their tractors. This is the waitress parking at the restaurant.

We caught a DELICIOUS meal with a local ☺️ such a treat to be able to catch up with my sweet friend Susanna.

We stopped halfway, but continued westward

The combination of wildflowers and old barns distracted us a time or two.

Dodge City was the next stop.

It’s hard to fathom this place then. Where life was cheap and they shot first and asked questions later. 🤔

We took our time going through the museum at Boot Hill and then compared stories later. I assume these newspaper articles knew what they were talking about. But it’s hard to fathom- Like the girl who was kidnapped by the Indians for 3 years and after her release, her father wouldn’t let her out into society. So when a potential suitor showed up on the front porch, he shot him and killed him 🤔

Or the write up about two prize fighters that squared up after the cops went to bed and “the only injury that the loser sustained in the fight, was two ears chewed off, one eye busted, the other disabled, right cheek bone caved in, the other broken, seven teeth broken out, one jawbone mashed, one side of tongue bit off, and several other unimportant fractures and bruises” June 16, 1877 ( 146 years ago today )

Western Kansas provided lots of entertainment for our agricultural loving hearts.

If you notice to the left of this pic, these 3 cowboys that worked at this feed lot just roped and medicated a sick calf. (Under more supervision than usual 😉 I’m glad they couldn’t hear the commentary in the van )

The sky grew more ominous the further west we went. And suddenly it opened up and POUNDED us.

We pulled off to the side of the road and prayed unto the storm let up. I wasn’t afraid for our safety, but I did wonder what the van would look like. PtL all is well.

One of the girls thought to pack everything… including a ruler and measured the hail at atleast 5/8th inch 😂

And so we hasten onward. Savoring the adventures as they come. The lady at the motel last night said “God must be on your side” as she checked us in and we got rooms that had been previously booked.

“He’s taking good care of us” I agreed. And for that I’m so grateful.

See ya down the trail,

Kendra for the gang

Bonus Pic:

Thanks to the Boot Hill museum for helping me update my van rules: 😂

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. – Benjamin Franklin

My buddy Uriah was hanging out with me one evening, chatting about this and that and suddenly I remembered that his twin Isaiah had gotten stung by a bee earlier that day, so I primed the story pump:

“So Ria, tell me about Isaiah getting stung by a bee!”

“Maybe Yater” he didn’t miss a beat.

“But didn’t he get stung by a bee today?” I still wanted a story.

“Yes, but I’ll tell you about it, maybe yater.”

Later still hasn’t come for the story. I don’t know if it was anticlimactic in his mind or what.

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I leave next week for a 21 day western tour. And everything that I’m thinking about that I want done before I leave needs to happen now:

The garage needs cleaned ✅

The freezers need organized ✅

Freezer meals would be super helpful for the Farmer left alone ✅

I’m discovering that I must have a “maybe later” habit. When I’m just taking care of jobs as I think of them, I’m can’t believe the mountains I’m moving.

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Uncle Steve’s cherry tree is an over achiever this year.

They kindly let us come pick and what a blast we had.

We rushed home with our full buckets and seeded cherries relentlessly. The clock hands flew and at one point we had to decide if we should call it a day, clean up the sticky and hit it again the next day; or if we soldier on.

Under my newfound “now not later” guidelines, we pressed on and soon the buckets were cleaned and drying and the jars of freshly canned cherry pie filling stood smiling on the shelf.

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We took the camper out on its maiden voyage. We’re in the middle of a super dry spring and the day that we finally decided to camp it misted/sprinkled the entire day. So I named the camper “The Raindezvous”

Kinda crazy that we waited until the last free Sunday before our chickens returned and I leave for the west, to head for the hills 😏 but better last minute than never.

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I’m challenged to pay closer attention to my “maybe yater” tendency.

It’s too easy for me to put off cleaning that extra room, or organizing that messy drawer because it will wait. It’s just as easy to put off spending time in God’s Word or having that hard conversation that need to be had, because “well, maybe later.”

Thanks 3 year old Uriah, for making me stop and realize “maybe yater” isn’t a good theory to live by.

Kendra

Bonus Pics:

Last week Mariah Joy turned 1. (I was going to post these earlier but thought “maybe later” 🤦🏻‍♀️)

My mother bought a cake pan at her cousin’s estate sale that she’d used for Deborah’s first birthday and when Nate’s surprised us the first of May, Emily and Mother remembered the cake pan and went into high gear pulling off a party.

Maria took her cake smashing very seriously. Love you, sweet girl ❤️

Birthday party July ‘96 . I’m holding the birthday girl. Does Maria look like her mother a little? 🤷🏻‍♀️