We set out from Madison on our vacation trip west on June 26 in my red Valiant station wagon. Its rear seat back folded down to make a nice flat area large enough to sleep in, and we had our sleeping bags. The first day we made it as far as the Council Bluffs area in soutwest Iowa and parked in a rural cemetery for the night. The next day we reached northeast Colorado and spent the night on Red Lion Road near where a bridge over the South Platte River was out.

The following day took us through Fort Collins to Roosevelt National Forest. I took a gravel road to Crown Point Rd which got us to a logging road where we camped for the night. We were at and elevation of around 11,000 feet and there were still spots where the snow had not yet melted. On day 4 we hiked some 4 miles along a 4-wheel drive road to Brown's Lake, climbing to the top of what may have been Crowns Point on the way. Returning to the car by early evening we were pretty exhausted. We drove back down to Bennett Springs and continued on a gravel road almost to Pennock Pass. We spent the night in an old logging camp with a nearby stream. The altitude there was 9200 feet.

On day 5 we continued through the little town of Masonville to the highway along the Big Thompson River which we followed to Estes Park. From there we headed into Rocky Mt. National Park, taking Trail Ridge Rd to Granby Reservoir. At a stop along the way we met the marmot in the photos. We took a gravel road into Arapaho National Forest. Stopping at a meadow we found the mosquitoes too thick, so we continued up a road that gave us a view of the reservoir. We camped at a road construction site with a nearby stream.

On day 6 we stopped at the Dinosaur National Monument on the Colorado-Utah border. That night we ended up at a trailer campground on Strawberry Reservoir, Utah, after taking a wrong road while trying to get into the national forest.

Day 7 saw us through Salt Lake City to Winnemucca Nevada, dealing with a flat tire, and on to Klamath Falls Oregon. Somewhere along the way we aquired the McNab puppy Shala before visiting Crater Lake. Then pushing on through Merlin, with Debbie helping with the driving, we managed to reach her brother Steve's farm by 4:30 AM.

My notes are skimpy after this, but the photos show that our next major stop was at Yellowstone National Park.