<– Day 35 – Saturday June 2nd: Following the Western Cattle Trail | Day 37 – Monday June 4th: Up and Over the Rockies –>

Buffalo Bill shooting a Buffalo sculpture at the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, Kansas.

Day 36: On Sunday we drove from Garden City, Kansas, to Denver, Colorado.

Sunday’s drive from Garden City, Kansas, to Denver, Colorado.

Our day began unexpectedly. While driving to get some coffee Ann noticed a guy in a 3rd story hotel window changing clothes with his back/butt to the window, and I mean almost pressing up against the window. The morning sun was shining right on the window, so he wasn’t hard to see. What happens in Garden City, stays in Garden City?

As we drove to our first destination, Monument Rocks, I learned I was in trouble. It turns out, Ann had a dream about me accepting a job to do a reality show with Trump and Kelly Ann Conway. Kelly and I had to pretend we were married. For some reason, Ann wasn’t happy about this arrangement. Thankfully, her short term memory is awful and, once I found some caffeine for her, she’d forgot all about it.

We had a problem as we drove north. Neither my iPhone nor our Jeep’s nav system was giving us the proper turnoff road for Monument Rocks. I’d mapped out several times on my computer, so I knew approximately where the turn off was (there are actually two of them, but the southern one doesn’t have any signs along the highway). Fortunatley, Ann tried her Android and it found the turn off just in time. (for those traveling from the south, turn right on Dakota, just across from the Keystone Gallery. Dakota becames 450, then Elk, then Gove E, then turn left — north — on Gove 16).

This photo shows the drive up Gove 16 from the south:

Here’s what we saw as we approached Monument Rocks:

The chalk formations are on private land and several signs ask visitors not to climb the cliffs. The early morning sun and blue skies made for some neat photos.

The road on our way back to Highway 83:

And, the sign at the north entrance:

Back on the road, we traveled north to Oakley, Kansas. Roadside America had indicated there was a large sculpture of , Buffalo Bill shooting a Buffalo, but I didn’t expect to find an information center/Buffalo Bill Cultural Center. The sculpture was bigger than life, so I took a few photos.

There were multiple cars in the parking lot in front of the Center, with a few people leaving the building, so we drove up to the front door. As we entered, a woman hussled up to use to say that the building was closed on Sunday, but they had been there because they were holding church, which had just finished.

I was a little irritated by this, as it felt like it was closed for church rather than it was closed, so they held a church service in it. To be fair, the website indicates it is closed on Sundays, but a review of some travel sites suggests that I wasn’t alone in my frustration. I guess, if it wasn’t billed as a “travel center” I wouldn’t be as irritated, as it looked like a nice place from the pics. My advice, don’t stop there on Sundays.

After we left Buffalo Bill’s, we headed for Denver, where we planned to meet Gary and Dave, distant cousins and brother to Ron (who we stayed with in Philadelphia).

On Monday we head for Salt Lake City. The 5th is my 53rd birthday, so we will be spend some time enjoying the day with my sons. My daughter Kasia landed a fantastic internship in Walnut Creek, California, so we’ll be visiting her around early July. I’m hoping to make it co-incide with the Willys America open house, but I’ll have to see if that works with her schedule.

<– Day 35 – Saturday June 2nd: Following the Western Cattle Trail | Day 37 – Monday June 4th: Up and Over the Rockies –>