Horace Greeley once wrote, “Go west, young man, go west!” Today it’s our chance to do exactly that as we board our motorcoach and travel across Tennessee and into Kentucky as we begin the tour of a lifetime. We spend our first night in Paducah, Kentucky.

This afternoon we visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. It was from this area that many of the early pioneers embarked on their journey into the unknown west. Climb aboard the specially designed tram that takes us to the top of the arch for an incredible view of the Mississippi River and lands beyond. We continue our journey to Independence for the night.

This morning we visit the Harry Truman Library and Museum. See a reproduction of Truman’s White House office, the United Nation’s Charter Table, and many of the late President’s papers and memorials. His grave is in the courtyard. Next, we travel across the fertile lands of Kansas, passing mile after mile of fertile wheat fields. This afternoon we visit Eisenhower Center. See the family home built on land plowed and planted more than fifty years ago by the six Eisenhower boys. The museum houses mementos, souvenirs and gifts received during Eisenhower’s career. The Library contains his Presidential papers, and the President is buried in the Meditation Chapel. We continue to Hays for our night’s rest.

It’s a lovely drive today as we continue across the great plains of Kansas, where the fanciful twister that Frank Baum created blew Dorothy and Toto into the Land of Oz. We stop at the Focus on the Family Welcome Center for a self-guided visit to see the heart behind Focus on the Family. Our next stop, Garden of the Gods, is especially dramatic in the late afternoon, as beautiful red stones appear to be balanced on their edges. We enjoy an included dinner this evening at the Flying W Ranch. (D)

Colorado is a state of scenic superlatives, and today we will see some of its spectacularly rugged splendor. Our first stop is at the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River near Cañon City. Your ticket includes an exciting gondola ride across the gorge. Motoring west across the Continental Divide and the spectacular Colorado Rockies, we visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, famed for its narrowness, its 1,730-to-2,725-foot depth, great expanses of sheer rock granite walls and rugged gorge formations. We spend the night in Montrose.

A thrillpacked day awaits us today as we travel the “Million Dollar Highway” through the Switzerland of the Rockies. Ouray, a rich 19th Century mining town surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery, is visited on the way to the former frontier town of Silverton. Have lunch on your own, then we have time to explore this fascinating town. Here we board the Denver and Rio Grande’s historic narrow-gauge train for an exciting journey down the scenic “River of Lost Souls” Gorge.

The largest, earliest, and the most important are among the adjectives that have been used to describe the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park. We spend the morning touring the ruins of this 52,000-acre park. See the 300-room Cliff Palace, Spruce Tree House, and other archaeological discoveries. We stop at Four Corners, the only place in the United States where four states-Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico- have a common meeting point. We travel through the Navajo Nation of Arizona to Kayenta for the night.

Today will be a long remembered highlight of our tour. For this morning, we travel to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. There’s no way to prepare for what we see as endless oceans of colors spread to the far horizons in everchanging waves of gold, crimson, blue and lavender sandstone. We travel to Page, Arizona for our overnight.

Page is home of the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. The dam forms spectacular Lake Powell, a 196-mile-long dazzling blue oasis in the middle of the desert. Dinner will be included today as well as a sightseeing boat cruise on the waters of beautiful Lake Powell viewing its majesty. We continue west for our overnight. (L)

This morning we travel to Zion National Park. The Mormons called this spectacular outdoor wonderland the “Heavenly City of God,” because its massive formations of extremely vertical rock looked like huge cathedrals and thrones. Lake West Temple rises to 7,795 feet. Driving through the park road, we are surrounded by the narrow, steep walls of side canyons, which branch out in all directions from the main gorge, showcasing a constant changing of colors. After seeing one of the park’s more noted landmarks, the Temple of Sinawava, a natural amphitheater surrounded by pink cliffs, we exit the park to the west. Located in the Dixie National Forest is Bryce Canyon National Park. Though much smaller than Zion, Bryce has its own brand of unique beauty, featuring weird-looking formations known as hoodoos. These formations undergo a constant change of color from the reflection of sunlight hitting at different angles. From the rim drive, the oddly shaped rocks and cliffs resemble castles, animals, people, and houses. Dinner is included this evening. (D)

Breakfast is included this morning. This afternoon we visit Arches National Park, a timeless, natural landscape of giant stone arches, pinnacles, spires, fins and windows, once the bed of an ancient sea. The power of erosion has laid bare the skeletal structure of the earth in Arches National Park. We spend the night in Grand Junction.

No matter which way we look, while standing in the middle of Grand Junction, we see incredibly beautiful mountain vistas. We continue east this morning passing through Glenwood Springs where Doc Holliday, the dentist of O. K. Corral fame, is buried. Later we make a brief stop in Vail, the glamorous international ski resort. Moving on to the “mile high city” of Denver, we stop at the capital for pictures and drive by the Mile High Stadium. Tonight, we have dinner awaiting us at one of Denver’s highly acclaimed restaurants. (D)

Today we travel through Nebraska, once called the “Great American Desert,” but now a farming and manufacturing mainstay of America. We parallel the Platte River on our drive along I-80 toward Nebraska’s most exciting new monument, the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument. The $60 million monument spans Interstate 80, and marks the spot where the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Mormon Trail intersected. Dinner is included tonight. (D)

Our travels today take us through Lincoln, Nebraska’s capital city, then to Kansas City, Missouri, where we visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum. Built in 1853, the Steamboat Arabia sank in the murky waters of the Mighty Mississippi in 1856. In 1989, the steamship and her cargo were rediscovered and resurrected in a massive excavation project, and today we can explore the past through this perfectly preserved time capsule. Our final destination today is the “Queen of the Ozarks,” Springfield, where we overnight.

This morning in Springfield we tour Fantastic Caverns. Board a jeep-drawn tram and ride through a myriad of majesty and history. Early afternoon finds us in Sikeston at the famous Lambert’s Throwed Roll Restaurant. Eat all the rolls you can catch, along with heaping helpings of corn, okra, beans, ham, roast beef, you name it! Continuing east, we cross the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers as we make our way to Clarksville, Tennessee, for our final overnight stay. (D)

If ever there was a tour on which to take pictures & more pictures, this has been it! What wonders we have seen. We arrive home this evening with enough memories to last a lifetime.