9/26/08 12,318 Feet above sea level

9/26/08 12,318 Feet above sea level
36 degrees at 8 am! What a huge change from the plains. The day temperature didn’t require a sweatshirt, but the nights do require that extra blanket and socks in bed. Matty and I watched more elk and heard more bugling while we huddled in blankets on the couch in the early morning. Yep, 8 am is early now that we are in mountain time. My bodies clock doesn’t mind up until midnight or later and then sleeping until 10 or even eleven when we were in eastern time, but now that we are closer to home, I am back to getting up at a more normal time for me. Terry’s body seems to be more tuned with the clock. Up until late no matter what time zone we are in. Sleeping in is determined by check out time where ever we are.

The Rocky Mountain National Park (http://rockymountainnationalpark.com/ ) is truly amazing with the highway being the highest major roadway in the nation at over 12,000 feet. Our bus chugged right up the mountains without a problem and Terry is so good about pulling over to let the faster traffic pass us that we didn’t hold up traffic. Finding a place to park the bus on the little pullouts proved a challenge, but we got to see most anything we wanted. At the Alpine Visitor’s Center at 12,000 feet or so we walked up the pathway which took us to a place with a 360 degree view. Wow! Terry walked up it. It was a challenge that he wasn’t going to let pass him by and he did it. )

We camped at a KOA in Fort Collins. I was disappointed to have no cell phone and no wireless so catching up on the blog and with family was impossible. We were out of touch for several days, which hasn’t been the case until now. Back east we had showers even in most forest service campgrounds and almost always had cell service. Not so in the rugged west and I’ll bet that surprises folks from the east when they arrive here for a visit.