Kansas to Colorado

Tuesday morning (Nov 4^th) after the long walk around the lake and beach, the kitties craaaaashed.....

We had to wake them up to put them in the truck and leave Assaria.  

We don't know what this crop is...
but there was a lot of it!

Kinda looks like Alberta!

We headed out and took the “Prairie Trail” which is Kansas Hwy 4.  Not surprisingly, there were a lot of prairie vistas.

We had to stop at La Crosse for a very quick kitty pee stop as Tawny was howling, which is unusual.  We were stopped for less than 15 minutes – the time it took her to find the perfect grassy spot to pee, and chase and eat 2 moths... unfortunately, she also ate grass and we had to see those moths come back up later in the back seat. New Rule: no grass-eating at rest stops!

We got to Scott Lake State Park a little after 4:00 pm and got set up and took the kitties out to explore.  What a beautiful setting!!  It feels like we’re in New Mexico (not that I’ve been there, but it looks like I would “expect” New Mexico to look). 

Gorgeous reflections in the still lake water

The moon rising above the hills, also reflected in the water

There are even Pueblo ruins from the 17^th century!  The hills and the landscape are absolutely beautiful, and we were out at sunset which was a bonus.  The moon was bright, the air was still (and warm) and we ended up being outside for almost 2 hours with the cats.

Sammy had his most energetic mousing yet in a bushy field where he leapt 3 feet in the air many times in a row (no mouse though).  Tawny was stalking birds in the greenery near the shoreline.  She was very patient, but alas, no birds either (thank goodness).  What a glorious evening we had.

These were the coolest bushes - they look like carrot tops

Wednesday (Nov 5^th) we remarked how nice it was to wake up to bird song versus traffic noise!  We slept great at Scott Lake – we were the only ones out there!  The cats had another 90 minute walk around the park – this time they did a long “road” walk around some of the loop trails.  It was very “scrub-brushy” and we even saw some paddle cactus growing along the road. 

After the cat walk, we put the cats in the truck and hiked out to the pueblo ruins – El Cuartelejo – which are the most northerly pueblo ruins in North America.

We headed north to the I-70 and crossed into Colorado at Burlington, stopping at the Visitor Centre to get some maps and camping information.  Tawny (and I) got into the nastiest burrs of the entire trip.  Thankfully, John & Sam somehow avoided the bushes – we never did figure out what they looked like, but the burrs are about as big as my baby fingernail and look like spike balls.  The spikes are razor sharp and imbed in skin and hang on for dear life.  John and I managed to pull out all Tawny’s burrs as she would have ripped her tongue trying to deal with them herself.  I certainly hope we don’t encounter those again!

We pulled into Seibert, CO just before dark, and we’re finding now that we’re past the end of October, it’s getting harder and harder to find campgrounds that are open still.  The one we found in Seibert was still open, but no water (not a big deal) and no Wifi (which means no blog update).  We’re hoping we don’t have a lot of trouble finding open campgrounds on our journey home.