Week One- Proposed Itinerary

My dad is going with me for this portion of the trip. He has traveled with me before.He was with me in Spain & Portugal in 1999 (also with my mom), We spent two days seeing Washington, D.C. in 2005, and he spent three days walking around Boston last year. He's a great traveling buddy, laid back and completely agreeable, even putting up with my crazy schedule.
Ok- So here's the plan right now.
I am leaving on Friday morning, June 5th early in the morning. Our plan is to spend the evening with my friends, Matt & Lisa Stueber in Lincoln, Nebraska. That's 800 miles of driving, with only one stop, The Ronald Reagan Birthplace in Dixon, Illinois, between Michigan and the plains of Nebraska.
Day two starts at Homestead National Monument in Southern Nebraska, followed by one of two Pony Express Stations, either Rock Creek in Southern Nebraska or Hollenberg in Kansas. I haven't decided on which on yet. I'd love to visit both, but the day is already pretty packed. We will be stopping at the monument makrking the Geographic Center of the lower 48 States near Lebanon, Kansas. Nicodemus National Historic Site is next, followed, time permitting, by Cottonwood Ranch, a Kansas State Historic Site. Then the 275 miles to the suburbs of Denver where we will spend the night.
Sunday will be entirely devoted to Rocky Mountain National Park, which is probably the most famous and well-known park on this trip. We have both visited here, but not this throughly. we'll be spending the night in the home of the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs.
On Monday, we will visit both Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Great Sand Dunes National Park, spending the evening in Farmington, New Mexico. Between the two parks we'll be driving through some of the most scenic parts of the Rocky Mountains.
Day Five, Tuesday, finds us at Chaco Culture National Historic Park, a series of Indian ruins in New Mexico that come highly recommended. In the afternoon, we'll see Aztec National Monument before heading to the Four Corners Monument. The plan for the evening is to stay in Cortez, Colorado.
One of my favorite National Parks, Mesa Verde, is on tap the next day. I hope to get on a tour exploring one of these ancient cliff dwellings. We'll be driving the Million Dollar Highway during the day, finding our way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, a park I visited on my 2003 trip, but only took 5 photos due to inclement weather and it being the last park on the trip. Our evening destination is Grand Junction, Colorado.
Following the great pictures I got of Sunrise over the Atlantic last year, I vowed to do the early morning at least once per trip. On Thursday morning, we'll be rising early to take pictures in Colorado National Monument. After a stop at both the Colorado and Utah districts of Dinosaur National Monument, we'll be camping at the Strawberry Reserivior located in the beautiful Unita Mountains.
The next morning, we'll be visiting Kirk & Denise Stueber in Salt Lake City, before I take my Dad to the airport and I head North to Idaho to begin the second week of the trip.