Reluctantly we left Estes Park yesterday morning. The curvy road from Loveland to Estes Park had been rather intimidating when we saw it on the map before visiting the area, but as we drove from the park, we were in awe of the engineering feat and the beauty of the cliffs and crags. This lap of our trip was definitely a highlight, and to think we almost skipped it.

Monday was a long day on the road. John drove well over 500 miles. Much of the time we witnessed a lovely rainbow that stayed ahead of us for quite a while. We didn’t make it to Lincoln, Nebraska, until about 7:30 p.m. When we reached Moose Lodge #175 we were tired and hungry. We met Kathy and Rick. Rick, was working in the kitchen. He made us a couple wonderful hamburgs while his wife, Kathy, quenched our thirst and made us feel welcome. They sure are great host and hostess of a lodge that was definitely the nicest we’ve seen as well as one of the friendliest.

As we were finishing up our meal, a thunderstorm hit. The rain came down in sheets, but Rick fixed me up with an “improvised raincoat” and we spent the rest of the evening in our trailer, safe and dry.

John apparently had fixed the leak which had dampened things a few days earlier. It was perfectly dry and as hard as it rained, that was a test, if there ever was one.

Now we’re in Iowa. We just ate lunch in a rest area. Surprisingly it had free wifi available to travelers. Other states should follow that lead.

The scenery in Nebraska had been flat and boring, but Iowa has a lot of rolling hills.

Tonight we’ll overnight in Davenport (Iowa) at (you guessed it) a Moose lodge. We hope we run into more nice folks. The people who have welcomed us, have truly been one of the best parts of this trip.