We had a long haul on Thursday from Jackson WY to Ft. Collins, CO. Off to a later than anticipated start (due to the great sleep in the log cabin), we headed out on 86 east through Dubois, WY. We’ve hit very active road construction along the whole trip thus far as the states are scurrying to beat the fall snow. Did you know that the flaggers are all women? Who knew this was a career option! We’ve often sat in the car for 30 minutes watching the activity until we are escorted through a precarious roadway that is often just dirt. The upside is that we are in beautiful country, and we have plenty of food and chocolate in the car.

Out of the Teton park area, the mountains changed to treeless mountains striped with reds, golds and even purples. We drove through cowboy towns and past many, many ranches. It was interesting to also drive through a small town and store groupings that are now abandoned. It makes one wonder what happened, and realize that someone’s dream died with the town…which is now for sale.

We passed miles and miles of endless pastureland with a small house off in the distance. How do these people live so removed from everything? No running out to the store for ice cream here.

We arrived in Ft. Collins to visit Mike and Midge and the ‘girls’ George and Gracy for the weekend. Greeted with BBQ ribs, we were quite happy to get out of the car and visit. Mike, who takes folks on hikes during the week, took us on a 3 ½ mile walk around a lake at the Indian Peaks wilderness area near Estes Park, CO. A beautiful location at over 10k feet, it made us huff and puff to do the climbs. But those little Yorkshire terriers didn’t slow down at all!!

Off to the Budweiser brewery to see the Clydesdales. This is a BIG horse. Then of course we had to try the assortment of beers just as a quality control process.

Food and Drink: Beer!! Of course. Beach Bum beer was fun, but so was the Pumpkin Spice beer (seasonal). Both from Budweiser.