My husband & I have taken six trips to Colorado's Great Plains this year and have enjoyed every one of them immensely!  Dave mapped out three different trips to the Plains encompassing as many small towns and attractions on each that we could possibly do in a long weekend.  We've done each trip twice, and I'm happy to say we saw every one of the museums and attractions on the Journey ticket.  We especially enjoyed the Kit Carson County Carousel & Old Town Museum in Burlington.   Besides all the attractions, we enjoyed just driving on the Plains, experiencing the solitude, and taking in the wide-open expanses of grassland and fields.  We loved seeing all the windmills and old buildings along the way, too.   We met some very wonderful people as well. We spent time with Bob & Shirley Coulson in Arriba, and really enjoyed their little museum.  We met Lyle Stone in Flagler and spent part of an afternoon with him in the Second Central School Museum, and we met Curtis Schrimp of Wild Horse. Curtis told us all about the old buildings in town.  He's ninety two years young and been there since he was twelve years old.   Many of the locals say the Plains keep calling you back.  We'd have to agree.  I'm sure we'll be back to visit very soon!

-- Dave & Beth K., Longmont, Colorado

Our son drove my husband and I out to Burlington to visit and RIDE the Kit Carson County Carousel in Burlington. Did you know that this wonderful Merry-Go-Round was in Denver until 1928??. In 1926 when I was five, my father took me to Elitches and I rode the lion. How delighted I was to get to ride my lion again. What memories it brought back!! I feel like a little girl again. Thank you Kit Carson County for taking such wonderful care of my lion and all of his wooden friends.

-- Ethel S. Denver, Colorado

Old Town is the best museum I have visited. I RV and have been travelling for years. I also learned things new when I just pushed a button and listened to the audio.

-- DJ, Texas

Hi! I really enjoyed my visit to Cheyenne Wells. The volunteers in the museum were very friendly and helpful. They told me about many other things to see and do in the Cheyenne Wells area. And they told us about all the crops that we were seeing in the fields. I didn't realize the sunflowers got so BIG or that the wheat was so golden and actually rippled in the wind. The wheat was beautiful! We stopped at Medicine Arrow Park and let the kids stretch their legs in the playground while we enjoyed the walking path around the park. This is great community with friendly people! I'm recommending it to my friends.

-- Carol W., Loveland, Colorado

Our Old Town tour was very interesting and informative. We will be sure to come again. Thank you for preserving history so well!! It was a treat. Thank you.

-- Deborah, Iowa

We really enjoyed seeing the jail, both from inside the cell and from the sheriff's view up on top. When I was a small kid, the grade school was right across the street and we could see the prisoners looking out the windows at us on the playground. It was kind of creepy! Now we can see what the jail looked like from the inside without actually being "in jail".

-- Rayetta P., Cheyenne Wells, Colorado

I put my kids in jail at Cheyenne County Museum, but then I made it up to them at the Soda Fountain at the Old Town Museum in Burlington! We drove around Colorado’s Central Plains for the day, spent the night at a great B&B, and returned to Denver after lunch the next day. It was a lot of fun, and something for everyone. I recommend the Limon Railroad Park for anyone with kids into trains. We took a whole roll of pictures, and my kids are writing the captions.

-- Locksley D., Denver, Colorado

I’m writing to tell you about my journey to Colorado’s Central Plains. We ended up spending lots of time Burlington at the Old Town Museum, and I’ll tell you right now – we’re coming back again with friends! I didn’t know there was anything like this in Colorado. My wife and I felt a strong connection with our past generations, who probably lived life just like they do at Old Town – simple, solid, and dusty! We know so many people who would love this place. We’ll be back!

-- William J., Denver, Colorado

The audio was VERY helpful. I enjoyed visiting Old Town so much. Thanks for all your hard work at preserving history.. It is worth it!

-- Kim, Ft. Worth, Texas

Thank you for the "Our Journey train tickets"...my husband scheduled a 2 day trip around the info in the packet and we throughly enjoyed the sites of interest at the towns we have passed by all these years!  I would encourage everyone to take a step back into Colorado's Central Plains history and find a wealth of information on how our great state got started.     

--  Sincerely, Ken and Catherine R., Littleton, Colorado

PS The Carousel CD is very special....we have listened to it several times already!  Thanks again-----

- Since the first time I camped out at Bonny Reservoir, the high plains have become our destination of choice for camping and hunting trips. We hunt land north of Vona for deer and doves.  I enjoy the vast panoramas and breathe taking landscapes that the eastern plains of Colorado offer. The hospitality of the people there is always friendly and first rate.

-- Bill E., Parker, Colorado

That cast-iron clown bank that fed itself nickels made the clown museum fade away, momentarily, and all I could see was my grandmother’s window ledge, where the identical clown kept us…her grandchildren…entertained for hours. Grampa Jerry regretfully admitted that his bank was a replica, a newer model of the antique, but the difference was lost on me. For a few magical moments, school was out for the summer, and I was at Grandma’s house again!

-- Susan F., Trinidad, Colorado

A couple of years ago, as we traveled across Colorado, we took a “stretch break” at Genoa, and wandered into the Tower Museum to help us wake up. We never got past the first room, where we were mesmerized by thousands of Indian artifacts, geological specimens, and even mammoth bones! We hit the road again regretfully, especially after the owner told us he had another dozen rooms to look at! Next time, we won’t take a break at Genoa. We’ll take a vacation there!

-- James & Anne K., Salina, Kansas

My first ride on the carousel was at the Kit Carson County Fair in 1976. A college roommate of mine was from Burlington. He told us about the carousel and the restoration work that had been done on the animals and the organ. So I drove out for a visit. I loved it!   Fast forward 30 years to Sunday, August 6, 2006. As we are coming back from our vacation I pull off in Burlington for a well planned break in our travels. Me, my wife and our 4 kids take a time trip back 100 years and ride the carousel. The restoration work done to the carousel was great and it looked absolutely wonderful. The big Wurlitzer sounded grand too! Thanks for keeping such a wonderful piece of Americana alive.

-- Bill E., Parker, Colorado

Our Journey was our second adventure of our newly formed Red Hat Society Group. We traveled from Denver on a Saturday morning, August 5th, and returned about 9:00 in the evening.  We made every stop on the Central Plains tour.  Both places in Flagler were closed, so we missed them. None of us had been east of Denver on I-70 for about 30 years.  All the stops were enjoyable.  The people were very friendly and helpful.  We learned so much about the history of our area.  It was a very fun, educational, and interesting excursion.  

-- AC, Denver, Colorado

Living on the great plains of Colorado myself, I was interested to read about the "Our Journey" promotion in the AAA Magazine. As a school counselor with my summers off, this seemed like the perfect adventure to embark on and then share with my students in the fall.  

My sister in law, Deb, and her husband own the high school building in Arriba, and Deb was my partner on the first half of the journey.  We met in Arriba, and started at the clown museum- a real treat for me as my father was a clown!  From there we traveled to Flagler where Lyle Stone met us and opened the School Museum.  We really enjoyed the pictures and the school memorbilia, but mostly Lyle's commentary.  He even gave us lots of information about our next stop, the Hospital Museum and Hal Borland room.  

Next we headed back to Genoa to the Tower Museum which is so full of things to look at, it was almost overwhelming.  I did manage to climb all the way to the top of the tower and experience the view, and the WIND! Deb wisely skipped the final ladder, preferring the less windy and more enclosed view from the level below.  

Next was lunch in Hugo, then we went to the Hedlund House Museum and discovered that we had failed to note that it was only open on Saturday and Sunday.  There was a number, but I didn't have signal for my cellular phone.  Disappointed that it looked like we weren't going to get our 5th stamp of the day, we went back to the main highway where we stopped in at one of the shops with a lunch bar and antiques and crafts.  The owner was happy to contact the museum proprietor who also happened to be one of the artisans with work on display in the shop.  She wasn't available, but arranged for her husband, Terry Blevins, to open the museum for us! This was the highlight of the day- Terry was very knowlegeable and fascinating to talk to.  We asked him what he thought was the most interesting article on display and he got out a hand cranked razorblade sharpener and even had us try it out.  It was an ingenious little device with a clip to hold the blade against the sharpening stone at the correct angle, and after so many spins, the clip raised, turned the blade over and put the opposite side against the stone to be sharpened.  Imagine picking up and trying out display items in one of the big city museums!  

After leaving Hugo, we headed to Limon for our 6th stamp of the day.  I had been at the Limon Museum before during the James Dean Days Car Show, so was expecting to be familiar with the exhibits, but the museum has build a great new facility to compliment the train station and railroad cars that I had seen on my previous visit.  We especially liked the displays of the mercantile store and weather station, and again the curator was very congenial and made the visit a pleasure.   When Deb and I had first talked about this we had only planned on doing enough to get the disc of carousel music, and between 10 AM when I arrived in Arriba, and 3:30 when I left, we met our goal.  However, I was hooked. I just couldn't send in my ticket without seeing what the final four stamps would look like. Each stamp had been specific to the attraction it represented.  

My husband, Laurence, joined me for the second day of "Our Journey."  We started in Burlington at Old Town taking in several of the buildings, then catching the wagon ride over to the Carousel.  They have a new building there for display that is really a great addition.  We both rode the carousel, then took the wagon back to Old Town where we finished touring the buildings. Laurence was impressed with the outside of the large barn, but there was a reunion going on inside, so we didn't go through it.  That might have to be something we go back to do another time.  

Next stop was the Cheyenne Wells Jail Museum but when we arrived there was no one there to let us in. We were afraid that we were going to miss it, but as we were leaving town we noticed a car parked beside the museum that hadn't been there, so we tried one more time and it was open!  There was lots to see there, but I admit to being most amazed by a large wasps' nest that had a card indicating that it had been brought from Ohio- I just couldn't imagine why anyone would want to drag something like that across the country.  The lady who had opened the museum didn't seem to know either, so it will remain an unanswered question.  

Our final stop of the day and of "Our Journey"  was the Kit Carson Museum housed in the old train depot.  It also included a caboose and a collection of machinery and vehichles across the street.  Even though this was the 10th stop, we still saw things we hadn't seen before!   We had a pleasant drive home through Siebert, and I had all 10 stamps! The Prairie Development Corporation was kind enough to return my ticket to me along with my disc of Carousel music, and it is now displayed along with all of the materials that came with it, including how the towns all came to be named, on my bulletin board at school.  I am looking forward to sharing my adventure with my students.  

As I said in the comments section on the back of my ticket when I sent it in, "What a great promotion!"  

-- Shirlie F., Yuma, Colorado