Day 6 (Part 1) - Prairie Land East of the Mountains

Today we drove a suggested day drive through the prairies east of Ft. Collins.  It was raining when we started so a drive was a good way to pass the day.  We took US Highway 14 east to Pawnee National Grasslands.  As we were driving on  Hwy 14, we saw several large groups of Christmas trees planted on the north side of the road in rows of two and three, 50 to 100 trees in a row.   The trees were obviously man-planted.  We think they must be used as a natural windbreak against the winter snows.  I think the trees are much prettier than the orange fences used in Illinois.

We made a stop at a campground in the Grasslands and discovered a display of old farm implements. The campground was primitive but the sites were beautiful.  It is perfect for tent camping.  We drove along the eastern border of the Grasslands to the last town on a paved road.  We were looking for Pawnee Buttes but after driving on the dirt and rock road for a mile or two, we decided to turn around and bypass the Buttes.  Every road that leads to the Buttes is dirt and rock.

We went south to Morgan, then west to Greeley and north to Hwy 14 back to Ft. Collins.  It was very different from mountain scenery but the fields of  native grasses on rolling hills was beautiful in its own way.  This is what we discovered about the prairie lands.  It is the home to a large wind mill farm, many oil wells, and very large cattle feeding lots.  We even saw a large sheep feeding lot. Here you don't smell the fresh outdoors but the aroma of thousands of cattle and sheep standing around eating and waiting for the final process of becoming our food to begin.

We enjoyed the day but I think the mountains are calling us so our next day trips will be west to the mountains.  We are eating supper at John and Linda's so I wanted to get this written.  I hear thunder in the distance so I'm sure more rain is in our future.

All the county roads we encountered were dirt and rock just like this one.

The washboard surface was teeth jarring.  We were thankful that the rain settled the dust.

This was a common sight along the road.

These pictures were taken at the farm implement display.

An old farm wagon having seen better days.

An old planter or drill.

An old combine.

Carol and Sandy enjoyed the short trail through the display.