It was a good day for driving. Since it was the 4th of July, traffic was light. Actually, it was a good day all around. Alex and Daniel finally slept in past 6:30am. I woke them up around 8:30 Central Time. They are really getting good at helping out around our home on wheels too. They got up, cleaned themselves up and helped pack us up so we could hit the road by 9:15.
We spent most of the day driving. It was about 285 miles and another 2000 feet elevation gain from North Platte to Denver. We made only one stop today, at the Colorado Welcome center where the boys helped themselves to every brochure they could find and I had a nice chat with the volunteers that run the place.
The flat plains continued for most of the drive. Once we got into Colorado we started to pick up more hills, then we climbed one last decent sized hill and before us we could see a wall of mountains that were the Rockies. Despite the hot weather they have had in Denver we could still see quite a bit of snow on the peaks. We had to wonder what the first pioneers must have thought when they came over that last ridge and saw these towering mountains.
Above top: the Rockies in the distance with snow.
Middle: The boys at the Colorado welcome center.
Bottom: Alex discovers his "real" home town on the map of Colorado.
Our home base to explore the area for the next 3 days is the 5600 acre Chatfield State Park. This is a very nice, but well developed park with a 1400 acre lake to boot. The park and especially the lake and dam are here mostly as a flood control measure for Denver, which you can see off in the distance from the park. There were a number of bad floods along this stretch of the Platte River over the years until the flood of June 16, 1965, which did over $300m in damage to Denver and killed 13 people. After that the community banded together and built a massive dam here at Chatfield to hold back the next flood. Our campsite sits nicely on a bluff well above any potential flood...
This evening to celebrate Independence Day, the boys put out some flags around the site and we grilled steaks with fresh corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. Yummy. For fireworks we watched a thunderstorm roll past us along the front range. Denver had their fireworks on the 3rd for some reason. We also went for a short bike ride and quickly realized how much of a difference the altitude can make, except for Alex. He seems to have adjusted instantly!
We have not reached the end of our Westward drive. From here on we will either head south or back eastward. We have traveled around 1800 miles fom Philly, almost 2/3's the way across the country.
Early to bed tonight as we get adjusted to Mountain Time and look forward to another day of adventures.
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