Fort Morgan, Colorado

 Along the banks of the South Platte River, twelve thousand people make their home in Fort Morgan. We’ve passed through here on Interstate 76 a time or two, but in keeping with our goal of exploring small towns, we’re going to stop here and check it out.

The sunset last night at Chimney Rock was awe inspiring, and the Rock seemed especially wonderful after the sun went down. We didn’t want to leave such a beautiful place.

The rock is an awesome sight at night.

As we prepared to leave Chimney Rock, a fierce, hot wind sprang up out of the south. In the truck the outside temp showed as a bit uncomfortable!

The wind blew into us all day at a reported thirty miles per hour. We didnt get very good fuel mileage today, but after a few hours we arrived at Emerald RV Park, site 12. This park is old, dusty, and of the eighty eight sites, there are four of us transients. The rest are long term residents in tattered and torn rvs. Manageable, but not our preferred choice. The only other rv park nearby is even worse, so we’ll relax and enjoy!

A late afternoon thunderstorm popped up, with lightning and thunder, much to Sashas dismay. After this pic was taken the wind increased, the rain fell, and we hunkered down. An hour or so later, all was calm and quiet!

Fort Morgan was the summer project for HGTV’s Hometown Takeover a year or so ago. The show chose a small American town that was struggling to stay relevant, and renovated parts of downtown buildings, painted murals around town and generally revved up the community. We don’t know what downtown must have looked like before the makeover, so a comparison isn’t possible, but we have spotted several of the murals.

All in all, Fort Morgan is representative of many farming communities in the midwest. While we hear that seven new businesses have opened in town since the high profile remodel, most businesses appear to still operate out of their original stores in downtown. On the main street through town, West Platte Avenue, a few buildings escaped the renovation focus.

But in residential areas, many lovely homes quietly rest on tree shaded streets.

Having seen most of Fort Morgan, we drove nine miles east to check out the little town of Brush, Colorado. This is also an agricultural town, mainly focused on the raising and processing of sugar beets. Our visit took about twenty minutes, but did give us a chuckle!

Having exhausted most of Fort Morgan, including a great dinner at a local BBQ joint,

We were stumped for something to do on our last day in the area. We soon found an attraction a few miles away, in Greeley, Colorado, which is only a half hour away through another few thousand acres of farm and ranch land. Oh, the thing we had to see?

Next to a splash pad in a city park, our canine friend wanted to play!

There are other interesting things to see in Greeley…the Colorado Model Train Museum and the Centennial Museum, but we elected to skip those. Maybe next time!

And so ends our stay in Fort Morgan, Colorado.