Is there anything in the Eastern Plains? (Denver, Kiowa: houses, shop)

[Gunluvver2]

Good question VegasPilgrim. I think there is a fundamental difference in the thinking processes of people who grow up in urban environments versus thinking of those growing up in rural situations. By rural I don't mean living in a small town, I mean living on a farm or ranch where other family is your only human contact when not attending school.
I am 61 now and I grew up on a farm/ranch in Eastern Colorado. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to grow up in a crowded city where a kid can't even throw a rock without breaking someone's window. I don't know how many times my Dad blistered my butt when I threw a rock through a window when I was a kid. I never did it intentionally but somehow I always managed to do it. And that was on the farm. If I would have been in the city I would have been behind bars constantly. LOL.

GL2

[dynimagelv]

I am 66 and grew up as a "City kid" in Limon.....my family moved there in 1903 and are still there.....I didn't realize how truly beautiful the plains were until I left....

Probably the best description I have read of the plains is James Mitchners "Centennial"

[Gunluvver2]

An earlier poster mentioned the book PLAINSONG by Ken Haruf. Both CENTENNIAL by Michener and PLAINSONG are great books with accurate descriptions of the Plains. For anyone even considering moving to that area, these two books should be required reading.

GL2

[SheridanL]

Are you thinking about "tornado alley??" Just kidding!!

I like Burlington also. Limon is okay I guess?!!

BUT, La Junta?? This will be the FIRST time I disagree with Jazzlover.
IT STINKS. Pure and simple...pee uwwe!!
Although I have a frog from the gas station there, I can't stand it!!

Try off of Gun Club Road somewhere. I lived in Cherry Creek School District for 10 years....my first route was at Gun Club..( better known as the gateway off of 470.. ) my how things change!!

Anyway, I think that this area will increase in $$ because of the airport..hard to fathom,...but true!! ( Gun Club and I70) NOT, Gun Club and Smokey Hill Road.

Gosh I hate that "hindsight 20/20 thing!! I would sooo totally be a gazzilionaire by now!! DARN!!

[esya]

Ft Morgan is a great place; I have a lot of good friends there. Sterling is also nice but if you like to eat in restaurants it is the worst, but it has a wonderful historical museum and a great Best Western hotel. I'd rather eat in Limon, Lamar, or La Junta.
The towns of Yuma and the town of Phillipsburg are actually pretty, and Yuma has a great senior center, recreation center, and a lively civic feel. Phillipsburg is just very pretty, along the river, and a great place if you like hunting and that sort of thing.

Lamar is a commercial center for that part of the state, and there are a lot of interesting historical sites around La Junta, and a hospital. If you have any health issues be sure and check out that before you move.
Akron and the county seats in east central Colorado are all very basic ranch towns: everyone will know you and yours in the space of a few weeks and they are very decent people.

The eastern plains have the most exciting weather you can imagine. I will never forget a few hail storms and rain storms out there, the sunsets, the grasslands at dusk, or even a wind storm that piled tumbleweeds so high on the road that they had the snow plows out taking them off the road.

[livecontent]

It is not what is on the eastern plains ; it is what is not on the eastern plains, that makes it a special place to me.

By seeing what is not; you will see what is. You will be able to see the differences between the basic necessities and that which is not needed. You will appreciate the importance of the former, and the waste of the latter.

If you can see the truth in these statements, then you can see the beauty of the eastern plains and you will understand what not is.

For the understanding of what is not, you will gain the appreciation of what is, and you will come to Livecontent.

[Bob from down south]

Awwww, c'mon guys! Seems like I'm always being cast in the role of the contrarian on these boards lately...

I spent the first five years of my adult life in eastern Kansas, and I must say that the western plains of KS and the eastern plains of CO only served one clear purpose...to keep me as far as possible from my beloved Rocky Mountains.

I know there are good people on those plains, raisin' families and corn and cattle and what-not. Good God-fearin', Budweiser-drinkin', hoe-down stompin' folks that are as nice as anyone could ever be.

But they don't have anything in those plains that compares with a mountain range view from the dining room window...sorry, that's the truth! One can certainly live a good life in the plains, but once you've lived in the shadow of mountains, you'll always know you're missing something essential anywhere else.

[skoro]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

The Comanche National Grassland in SE Colorado has some nice areas. Unfortunately, some the nicest shortgrass prairie in SE Colorado is what the Army wants to use to expand their "training area" around Piñon Canyon--another hare-brained "turkey" pork-barrel project that ought to get stabbed in the heart with a wooden stake. Of course, no one dares raise opposition to that Army boondoggle these days (though the local ranchers are sure having fits about it) because to do so labels one as being "anti-military." Well, I'm not anti-military, but there are plenty of other already disturbed areas that the military can use for "desert" training. They don't have to expropriate and tear up one of Colorado's last remaining intact shortgrass prairies ecosystems to do it.

I wish you Coloradans well in your fight against the Army claiming so much of the prairie for training ground. I've been through eastern Colorado a number of times. And although I really like the mountains and the western slope, there's just "something" about the plains that seems very intriguing. I can't exactly put my finger on it. Maybe it's the sparse population and the semiarid landscape combining to give an impression of a slower, less complicated lifestyle. Whatever it is, I like it.

In any case, the Army has PLENTY of desert training grounds already. They certainly don't need to close off more scenic territory from the public that's paying the bill.

[dr. kenneth noisewater]

Originally Posted by Bob from down south

Awwww, c'mon guys! Seems like I'm always being cast in the role of the contrarian on these boards lately...

I spent the first five years of my adult life in eastern Kansas, and I must say that the western plains of KS and the eastern plains of CO only served one clear purpose...to keep me as far as possible from my beloved Rocky Mountains.

I know there are good people on those plains, raisin' families and corn and cattle and what-not. Good God-fearin', Budweiser-drinkin', hoe-down stompin' folks that are as nice as anyone could ever be.

But they don't have anything in those plains that compares with a mountain range view from the dining room window...sorry, that's the truth! One can certainly live a good life in the plains, but once you've lived in the shadow of mountains, you'll always know you're missing something essential anywhere else.

i respectfully disagree, but then again i was born and raised on the plains of western kansas, which are very similar, just more humidity, slightly more rain and a bit lower elevation. i actually prefer the plains to the mountains, though i agree with you about it seeming to take forever sometimes to get to the rockies.

the people are not my favorite, but the scenery is, especially when it's not frickin' winter.

the plains are where your mind can drift off unencumbered by anything but the horizon.

[dynimagelv]

You can only TRULY "SEE" the mountains from the plains......IMHO