2016 Trip -13) Cheyenne, WY to Colorado Springs, CO

Sun. 7/10…  (Cheyenne, WY) Last day in Cheyenne. We decided to drive into the city to the Frontier Days Old West Museum.  I thought the admission price ($8.ea) was steep (for what you got) but we went in.  We got pics outside of Lane Frost’s statue. He was a famous bull rider who died in the arena at the 1989 Cheyenne Rodeo.
 

 

Once inside we took advantage of the props and took some pictures….

 

Here are other shots from the museum…
 

 

Afterward, we drove back through old town but its Sunday so everything is closed.  (that’s just the way it is outside of money hungry California!).  We made a short stop at Safeway on the way home.  Lydia got her mac & cheese and ham casserole going so we could eat later. We hung around and rested and I walked Bailey. This time we walked down to the fishing pond and guess what! 

Yep, she jumped in. No problem – no one was there and the water was really clear (until she stirred up the mud on the bottom! Oh well, she was happy (and cool)!
 

 When we got back I hosed her off and dried her and up and she was good to go again.  Later we watched the Tour de France and enjoyed the casserole. This is one of my favorites!  It was good as always. Janie came over for dinner without her sling!  She is trying to exercise as much as she can.

 

Later, Bailey and I made a few rounds of the park (rabbit checks!) before going in for the night. Tomorrow we head into Colorado.  

Mon. 7/11…  (Colorado Springs, CO)  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!! We woke up about 2:00am this morning because the winds really picked up. I went out and closed all of our awnings and we put the slides in on the left side. Plus we stowed our satellite dish. It was still blowing when we got up and ready to leave but once we got out of Wyoming and closer to Denver it calmed a lot. No worries! Our drive today was 188 miles so we left about 9:00am.  Rick was going to move out earlier to stop and fill up on propane. We use very little propane (for the stove when we cook and for the fridge only when we are driving) so we didn’t need any and I passed on the $4.00 per gallon charge.  He ended up checking his tank and it showed more than the readout in the rig.  So he passed as well. Once on the road we called Jeff and wished him a happy birthday. He was working so we didn’t talk too long.  We’ll call later.  We made the beautiful drive through Denver and down through Columbine and the Air Force Academy and finally into Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods RV Resort (tl$54x3). 
 

 

We are here for three days.  Once we got parked and set up we rested while Rick and Janie went back to the office to request another space which was more level and had a better satellite shot. No luck. They had to make their space work. They finally got settled in and I helped Rick hook up his remote satellite dish. I had called a week ago and got tickets for the cog train which we will do tomorrow but we chose to drive around Manitou Springs and checked out the little village and show them the rv park we were in last time plus check out parking for the train. Afterward we drove back to the interstate and found a Cracker Barrel for dinner, which was very good.  We came back and walked the dogs and talked with fellow rv’ers in our park before going in for the night.  

 

Tues. 7/12…  (Colorado Springs, CO) Our plans today were varied.  We took off about 10:00am and headed off to our first destination which was actually about 1 ½ miles from our campground – The Garden of the Gods.  We didn’t do a lot of walking around but stopped and walked a few trails to get some pictures….
 

 

 

After that we went down to the Air Force Academy for a tour.  Again, we decided not to go on the guided tour but we did go to the visitor center and drove around the cadet area and chapel. Rick and Janie were as impressed as we were when we toured here a few years ago.  We hit the BX while on base and Lydia and Janie both found some nestable food containers for the rig. We stopped for a quick lunch at Taco Bell and then at an AT&T store so Janie could fix a glitch on her phone.  We stopped by the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs (which we will do tomorrow) and then came back to camp and walked the dogs again before heading out for our Cog Train trip.  We had reservations ($38x4) on the 4:00pm train and we got there and waited a few minutes before boarding. 

The weather was clear and 85° at the bottom in Manitou Springs but it would be 46° and a wind chill making it 38° at the top.  We knew that and brought warm clothes.  Our tour conductor was just out of high school and working her first summer here.  But she was very good and energetic and we enjoyed her very much.  We took pictures of the scenery on the way up and once at the top we bought the obligatory Pikes Peak mountain donuts which we enjoyed while trying to catch our breaths.  We were at 14,115 feet!  But we all did ok with the elevation, walked around and viewed the scenery, visited the gift shop, plus took a few pics. 
 

 

While we were outside at the sign, I kept getting asked to take pictures for other families. But that was fun! After about 40 minutes we headed back to the train for the 1 ½ hour ride back down. We made our way back to the car and drove the 10 minutes back to camp.  Again, I walked Bailey and talked with neighbors for a bit.  Lydia went right in and relaxed.  She didn’t sleep much last night so after this day I’m sure she will be out early tonight!