(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Road Trip from Colorado to Illinois [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-10 Noble Fur (2015-2021). Taking a break after a walk, St. Louis, Missouri. This diary picks up where we left off last Friday. After four months of working in the Pacific Northwest, I was on the way home to Georgia, with Noble Fur as my co-pilot. Here’s the link to last week’s diary in case you missed it. PWB: Noble Fur Fridays - Road Trip from Washington to Utah Today’s adventure begins in the town of Dinosaur in far western Colorado, immediately south of Dinosaur National Monument. I stopped at the visitor center in town, and let Noble Fur lead me on a walk. That’s the way our walks usually were. She went in the direction that she wanted to explore. If she was going in a direction that would cause trespassing or otherwise lead to trouble, I’d either pull on the leash or pick her up, whatever the situation called for. Outside the visitor center, November 2, 2016. She always wanted to dive into the bushes. That’s where the interesting scents were. Inspecting a decorative bench. We continued east on US Highway 40. After lunch, I found a side road east of Steamboat Springs. Here is one pic that I haven’t shared before. It was early November, and the aspens had shed their leaves. The continental divide was a few miles to the east. Kitty wasn’t too eager to pose next to the busy highway. She wanted to explore the woods instead. She figured that’s where those Rabbit Ears were. Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado. We spent the night at my niece’s home. Her kids always looked forward to Noble Fur’s visits. Outside were chipmunks and birds, plus deer and elk. On my western adventures, saying goodbye to the mountains is a bittersweet event. I love the scenery, but entering the Great Plains means that I’m getting closer to the home that I haven’t seen in four months. At a rest area in Kansas, I found a quiet corner of the park away from the crowds. We had the place to ourselves. On the other side of the fence, the farm fields stretched on for miles and miles. Many miles farther along, in central Missouri, we stopped at an access point on the Katy Trail, a rails-to-trails project that follows 240 miles of old rail right-of-way. The trail is popular with hikers and bicyclists. I took a lot of pics at this stop. Getting started. Unlike so many of our other walks, Noble Fur headed down the trail with great purpose. She might have walked all the way to St. Louis if I’d let her. Crossing the bridge. Eventually we had to turn around. C’mon, we just got started! Inspecting the creek on the way back. One last picture before getting back in the truck. A short distance to the east, I stopped at a point where the road overlooked the Missouri River. One last set of pictures, taken at a rest area on Interstate 57 in Illinois, south of Mount Vernon near Rend Lake. This picture has been posted before, but it’s one of my favorite pics of Her Nobleness. Thanks for following along on the journey. See you somewhere down the road next week! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/10/2151859/-PWB-Noble-Fur-Fridays-Road-Trip-from-Colorado-to-Illinois Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/