| So, the rest of the day did not exactly
turn out like I planned. |
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| I intended to go to the ghost town of
Caribou, but the road that Google Maps wanted me to take was closed
off. It may be on private property. |
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| Oh well, I came down out of the
mountains through Boulder (I did not look for Coach Prime) and
Denver. |
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| Colorado east of the Rockies is flat
and under a mile high.
It looks a lot like Kansas. I was on my way to Fort Morgan. I
thought I had seen online that there was a fort out there, or at
least a reconstructed one, but I could not find one. |
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| All I came across was a small museum in
the local library. |
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| On an earlier trip to Iowa, I saw where
Glenn Miller was born. He spent his high school years in Fort
Morgan. |
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| Looks like Coca Cola had more sway than
Pepsi. |
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| Another stop I had planned was at
Dearfield. I would write something about it, but you can read. If
you cannot, long story short. It was established as an
African-American agricultural community in the early 20th century.
It had over two hundred residents by 1920, but after the Dust Bowl,
it never recovered and in 1946 had a population of one. |
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| There are some old structures, some
more broken down than others. |
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| I saw signs mentioning the state
historical fund and NPS African American Civil Rights Grant Program,
so hopefully there will be some restoration work happening. |
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| This one might be beyond fixing up. |
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| But maybe they can do something to make
this place a place worth visiting. |
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| The strong smell from this massive
cattle ranch was absolutely terrible. |
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| The last thing before heading to the
hotel back in Denver was Fort Vasquez, which I thought was
something. It was one of the only forts in the west that served free
coffee. |
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| It is oddly situated between the
northbound and southbound lanes of US 85. |
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| There was a museum here once, but the
guys inside told me that the state closed it. |
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| Now it is just a small welcome center.
There was a fort here, established in 1837 and was originally a post
for trade in buffalo robes and beaver skins with Arapahoes and
Cheyennes. |
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| I did learn that the paving stones mark
out where rooms in the fort used to be. It's not really all that
interesting, but it's all I've got. |
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| The Crowne Plaza near the airport is
also a convention center. It took me a while to find where the hotel
entrance was. |
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| I waited until I go to the hotel to buy
a ticket for my last visit of the trip. Since it would be a very
early departure in the morning, I was not sure I was going to do it. |
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| But I did. I went to the Colorado
Rapids match against Los Angeles Galaxy. Dick's Sporting Goods Park
was only a seven mile drive from the hotel. |
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| To be honest, the stadium is not much
to write home about. It was one of those early soccer-specific
stadiums that were built in the early 2000's. The roof resembling
the mountains is probably the most interesting feature. |
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| My seat was over in the corner on the
right, but it was a bit windy and cool, so I watch the second half
standing on the other side where the wind was blocked by concession
stands and stuff. |
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| And I am now 6-4-0 (W-D-L, as it should
be) in league matches when I travel and support the home side. Still
unbeaten! |
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| My flight left at 5:00 AM, so I
woke up and left the hotel at the crack of 3:00 and drove to the
airport in the dead of night. As the sun creeps over the horizon, I
was on the way home. |
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