Dieter.us

Honestly, it's been a more difficult week. There's been too much driving and not many exciting highlights. Clearly, I've been spoiled. I don't want to make northern Texas look too bad, but the drive from Amarillo to Wichita Falls was not very eventful, although driving 75 on a road that in NC would be 55 at most was helpful. Yes, there were a few State Parks.... and I finally saw a rattlesnake and scorpion (in the campground sink) and best of all I got to closely inspect an oil well. It took hundreds of miles in Minnesota and North Dakota for the forest to turn into prairie. It seemed this was almost instantaneous driving from Texas into Oklahoma. Very strange. Driving on US-40 in Oklahoma, Arkansas or Tennessee looks just like North Carolina. Also, the humidity and crickets at night are back. I tried to do some sightseeing. Went to the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, saw the presidential library in Little Rock (disappointing), the Little Rock Nine museum and h

The red sandstones in the west, the black rocks at the Black Canyon and the aspen groves just turning from green to bright yellow really made Colorado come true to its name - Colorful Colorado! After a nice mountain bike ride in Moab - maybe the rider and bike could've been in better shape - I went back to Colorado and stayed the night at Colorado National Monument close to Grand Junction. Very beautiful place. Next day a ton of bikers went through that area as I was heading south to the Black Canyon National Park. The photos don't do this park justice. It is definitely worth seeing! Then headed east and north towards Leadville where I camped two nights in the "wild" at Twin Lakes to summit Mt. Elbert the second highest peak in the lower 48 behind Mt. Whitney in California. Then drove past Copper Mountain where I biked some and Fresco where I visited the brewery and ate fantastic asian fried chicken. I stayed for two hours at Hot Sulphur Springs in varous pools of dif