Greeley, Colorado Agriculture
June 30th through July 4th 2006: Greeley,
Colorado (50-miles north of Denver).
We are in Greeley RV-Park N40° 23.590' W104° 40.311' phone:
970-353-6476. They have gravel interior roads and gravel pull-thru
sites with mature shaded trees; 50-amps, water and sewer, $24.00 per-night.
We like to stay in PPA (Pass
Port America) Campgrounds for their 1/2 price savings but
we did not see one near Greeley.
We have chosen Greeley
as our place to "lay-low" over the 4th of July when everyone
that has an RV in North America decides to use it. We have found that
on national holidays if we are not safe and secure in an RV-Park we
will find ourselves without a place to stay. We knew Greeley
was having a Stampede and thought it would provide some entertainment
over the 4th but had no idea how much entertainment.
As we headed north out of Denver we quickly encountered agriculture
on a grand scale. By the time we approach Greeley
we are firmly ensconced in agriculture, later at the local history
museum we learned they were one of the top 10 agricultural counties
in the United States.
I think this wheat field was in Ault
a small farming community north of Greeley.
Away from downtown you are as likely to encounter farm machinery
on the road as you are another vehicle.
At one time Greeley
was the number one agriculture producing county in the world then
they dropped to number one in the United States and now reside as
number seven. According to literature in the history museum they are
the only non-citrus producing in the top ten agriculture producing
counties in the United States.
Years ago sugar beets was the top crop now the sugar refinery has
closed and sugar beet production is on the wane. Beef is what keeps
them ranked at number 7. The local Swift slaughter house is supposedly
processing 8,700 head of cattle per-day in a 24/7 operation. Wow!
That is a lot of beef going through a single slaughter house in one
day. There is also a sheep processing plant in town.
The individual that was providing the slaughter house information
used to work at the plant and knew a good bit about it. They said
all cattle entered the plant via 18-wheeler cattle trailers with 40
head in each. My mind quickly determined that would be 218 truck loads
of cattle per-day entering the plant and unloading. That would mean
that in a 24-hour day they average unloading 9 semi-truck loads of
cattle per-hour every hour of the day and night.
Greeley did not hold much significance for us except that it was the
setting for James Michener's epic Centennial from the 1970's which
was made into a movie or TV-series in the mid-late 1970's. On one
of our earlier trips we listened to Centennial as a book on tape and
it was so fascinating. Now we are experiencing some of the places
and things that we read about. We even visited the Centennial
Village & Museum in Greeley and it was a really good stop.
No matter where you drove you could see the unmistakable evidence
of agriculture. Check out our Travel Adventure covering Greeley
Grain Elevators.
Here are some of our other Travel Adventures near Greeley:
Ault,
Colorado Agriculture ** Greeley
Parade in 2009 ** Greeley
Stampede Parade 2009 ** Commanche
Peak Wilderness **
Fort
Collins and the Poudre River ** Poudre
Canyon Scenic Drive ** Poudre
River Scenic Drive ** Greeley
Agriculture **
Greeley
Feed Lots ** Greeley
Grain Elevators ** Centennial
Village ** Longhorn
Cattle in Greeley Parade ** Greeley's
2006 Parade
Until next time remember how good life is.
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix
Mike
& Joyce Hendrix who we are
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Until next time remember how good life is.
