This adventure begins before
we left home! 36 hours before departure,
Pete discovered we had a huge hole in our fresh water tank. He thinks he must have hit something on his
60th Iowa high school reunion trip and didn’t realize the damage. This means no running water in the sink or toilet
for 3 months unless we can get this fixed.
“Ok Google” came up with Gramps RV repair in Morrow 11 miles away. Gramps had us fixed up in three hours so we’re
ready for the road.
One last stop at Carrie’s to
kiss our little girls good bye and make them promise they will not grow while
we are gone!
We thought it was hot in
Loveland but across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, it was worse! 98 degrees and so humid! Getting out at Rest Stops was like stepping
into a sauna! Our usual travelling
overnights are in National Forests or parks which are beautiful but no
electricity. This is fine in the winter
but Pete figured we would need some juice to run our air conditioner in order
to survive! He booked nice parks along
the way and that saved us from frying!
So two and a half days of
driving and eating delicious road food—we upgraded to Arby’s, Chick Fil A and
KFC—and we are in Colorado Springs!
The Air Force Academy was our
first stop and our favorite! The grounds
are huge and back up to a pine forest against a mountain. The chapel is iconic and is home to four
separate churches within its walls.
Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhism. I can’t even tell how large the parade
grounds were. Pete says at least two
football fields long and wide. It was
fun to watch the new recruits learning to march and do workouts! It was SO worth seeing!
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| Chapel Ari Force Academy |
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| Stretching and calisthenics |
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| First year students just beginning |
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| View from Cracker Barrel near Acad |
Garden of the Gods was
next. It is an area of beautiful red
rock formations that we drove through and stopped to hike a bit. Visitor center very nice but crowded.
We are spoiled because we
always travel off-season and few people around.
It reminded us of Sedona but with beautiful pine trees.
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| Garden of the Gods |
Pike’s Peak is over 14,000
feet and Pete felt that was a little too much for The Bailey Buggy’s transmission
so we went to the top with a tour company.
SO glad we did! Much less
stressful and Pete was able to enjoy the view.
It was 45 degrees up there! You
can see for 300 miles at the top but not on our day—cloudy. I could really feel the lower oxygen and felt
a little short of breath. The guide taught us proper breathing technique which
really helped. Breath deeply in AND out. Deep expirations empty the lungs which
makes room for more oxygenated air. Pete was fine as usual!
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| Bigfoot sighting on the way up |
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| Carol's feet are so petite |
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| Colorado Springs from the top |
We’re now in a National
Forest campground South Meadow. It is
lovely. Colorado is so dry and there are
two forest fires burning right now…. But not within range of us. The rangers have shut down all campfires and
no PROPANE devices even allowed until
further notice. Microwave to the rescue
to cook those camp dogs! If the
microwave conks out, we might have to come home—I’m that dependent on it!
We hiked beautiful trails in
Red Rock park which was right up the road from our campsite. The red rock formations were stunning and the
weather perfect. We are at 8,000 feet so
it is so much cooler!
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| Trail to Red Rocks |
We drove north through Winter
Park which is a big ski area in Colorado.
Lots of people there enjoying a music festival. A large elk was holding up traffic as he
walked across the road. Today is the 4th
of July and we didn’t know how busy the National Forest campgrounds would be,
so we pressed on to Denver Creek park to find it deserted except for one other
RV. At $10 a night, it’s perfect!
On to the Wind River area and
planned to stop at Boysen State Park in Wyoming. It is on a lake. We didn’t have reservations so stopped to
talk to a fellow camper. When I rolled down the window , a swarm of
mosquitos jumped us in the RV. We turned
right around and decided to keep going to Cody.
The drive through the mountains along a river was beautiful but we are
still swatting mosquitos!
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