Heading east

Every trip like this seems to have a point where we say- ok, let's start home. So this morning we left Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park and headed east. Have stops planned in Denver, in Kansas, and in Missouri, and perhaps Tennessee,  but generally speaking we have turned around and are headed back where we came from.

We took a different route back from Rocky. Highway 34, along the Big Thompson River. We saw a lot of repair work being done, fixing up damage done last fall in the flooding.  Saw a lot of houses along the river that had partly or totally been washed downstream when the river rose.

Even today the river was flowing fast and powerfully, so I can't even imagine what it was like in September. Many houses still had their walls and roof intact, but the foundation and floors were partially or totally washed away. Saw floors dangling down towards the river, with furniture halfway slid off.

A lot of heavy equipment and such were in the area. I am sure work is being done as quickly as folks can get the bulldozers and such to their property, but surely it's going to take years to get back to where they were before the floods.