Day 8 - Pike's Peak

With all the work that Gigantibeast will be doing in the mountains for the next several weeks, there was no way I was going to torture him with driving up Pike's Peak Auto Road.  So we took the Cog Railway instead!  Hour and fifteen minutes each way and not for nothing, we all could feel the effects of 14,110 ft.  Pretty amazing, but I was pretty shocked to learn that there are 54 peaks in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet and Pike's Peak is smaller than 19 of them.

Getting close to the top

The little engine that could

At the top!

Olsen's with a view

Annalise and Graeme are appalled that this little girl is stepping on the plaque

Quite a view

Young Bighorn Sheep

Annalise was a little sleepy on the way down

At the train station after spending way too much at the gift shop

By the way - I was finally able to upload the mountain biking video to the Mountain Biking Mania post from yesterday so you can go back to that post to see it!

Mountain Biking Mania!!!

Ready to ride!

A full day of mountain biking wasn't what we had planned while here in Colorado Springs (although Daddy would have enjoyed that immensely) but our original plan to head down to the Royal Gorge Bridge had to be changed - the wild fires have devastated that park.  There is no access to the bridge, 48 of the 52 buildings in the park were destroyed and they don't anticipate opening until the fall.  And even then on a very limited basis.  Really sad - Lisa and I were looking forward to sharing that with the kids...

Palmer Park - great trails with great views!

But, if you're looking for things to do in Colorado Springs, mountain biking would be at the top of the list.  In the morning, we headed to Palmer Park in the northern part of the city.  We parked at the wrong end of the park for Annalise - her training wheels were no match for these trails.

Lunch time!

Maribeth and the girls explored a little, but then headed back to Gigantibeast for lunch while Lisa, Graeme and I climbed a trail with a great view of the city.  Fantastic trails with the right balance of technical sections and geographical beauty.








I decided to put together a little video - it is a combination of our ride in Palmer Park and then "Date Night" for Lisa and I which was a ride through Garden of the Gods (on the road) and then a trail ride in mountain biking section of the park.  We can't thank Maribeth enough for allowing Date Night to happen - she stayed back at camp with the kids.  The did a combo "pool and laundry" night.  Thank goodness the pool and the laundry are right next to each other!

So here's the video - the strangest thing about Date Night was that we waited out an hour and a half rain squall, unsure of whether or not we would get to ride or not.  But the sun did shine and the crowds all left the park so our ride was in relative seclusion for a Saturday evening at Garden of the Gods.

One last thing - after you watch this video, you may see why Graeme is my hero.  That kid can ride!  Nothing phases him and he makes great decisions on the trail.  Fun to watch as a father.  And a passing hiker summed it up pretty well.  "That little guy is tearing it up!"

Finally!  Enjoy!

Mountain Biking Colorada Springs

Day 6 - Garden of the Gods

Time to do some hiking!

Garden of the Gods is small enough and certainly beautiful enough for the kids to enjoy it the entire time.  We drove through the whole park, hiked the Siamese Twins trail and had a picnic lunch all before noon.  Siamese twins is a 1 mile hike - a perfect starter hike for our trip.  We just love the things they say - Graeme pretending that he's a miner under a rock overhang or all of them gazing in wonder at a rock face with climbers perched on it.  No worries on the trail, that's for sure.

There's still other trails to hike there and we want to go back just for the mountain biking trails.  We'll see if we can fit that in one of these afternoons...  Luckily, it's only 2 miles from camp, so we can go there on short notice.

Beautiful morning for a hike

Mickey Mouse cactus that Maribeth spotted

Have to drink lots of water!

Not quite to Siamese Twins, yet.

At Siamese Twins

The kids under a rock overhang - can you find Graeme?

It get's tiring out on the trail...

Don't be surprised if this shows up on our Christmas card this year!

The Rockies!

Yesterday, I basically got out of the truck, set up the camper and fell asleep - I think it was 7:00 or so.  Now, it's hard to believe we've actually made it to our first "real" destination.  Woke up this morning and prior to leaving:

• Procured a necessary bolt for our tow package from the very nice owner of our campground - she's a retired teacher and I could have talked to her for days.  Turns out most of the wheat in Kansas is dead - too many hard freezes once "spring" came so it never recovered.  Her campground is usually full of seasonal workers, but it was fairly empty due to the lack of harvest.
• Lisa and Maribeth got some groceries so we didn't have to stop before camp in Colorado Springs for food.
• Hooked up the camper and weighed it - I've always been curious what the camper weighs after we load it up.  For those that may care, it weighs 6600 lbs - that's 500 lbs lighter than max gross weight and 1500 lbs lighter than what the Suburban can handle.  Just peace of mind for me...
• Washed the Suburban and the camper - love RV/truck wash centers!
• Played a little lacrosse with the kids (Annalise sat in the grass an wrote in her journal).
• We left Goodland, Kansas at 1:00 p.m. since it was basically a 4 hour haul to Colorado Springs.

Crossed into Colorado in less than an hour

Our campground is magnificent!  Very clean, plenty of room for the kids to bike around and the lobby reminded me of some hotels I've stayed in.  I think Steve would like it here, lol!!!  And Mommy took some great shots on the way here - the way the sun was shining through the clouds was breath taking as we came up on Colorado Springs.

Kansas

Day 4 started in Columbia, Missouri.  I was able to get 5 hours of sleep and then we set off.  Couldn't leave Columbia without a "drive-by" college visit to the University of Missouri.  I just know that my Guidance chair (Hi Linda!) will smile about such dedication, lol!

Then it was off to Kansas!  What a state.  The eastern side was hillier than I thought and the Kansas that I always envisioned appeared west of Junction City.  Flat farmlands.  And circular fields.  We learned that irrigating in a circular pattern is a more efficient means of irrigation - if you Google Earth'd Kansas you'll see these fields - pretty neat.

I did find Kansas beautiful - the low, rolling hills - the cattle against amber waves of grain (it is July 4th people!) and having smooth roads was an absolute dream.

I think I also enjoyed Kansas because the kids were awesome!  We've now had two hauls of 10 hours each and the back of the Suburban is general calm aside from the randomness of Graeme - that kid can talk!  We wish we could video him the entire time because it's good comic relief.  Just this morning when I couldn't remember my YouTube log in, Graeme says, "Don't get mad Daddy - there's always a solution"  And lo an behold, 5 minutes later, I had a solution.  So wise, that Graeme!

I gave Laryssa the Go Pro to take pictures along the way and Annalise singing...  well - she could make any trip full of smiles!

Through the night... and 4 states

So the end of day 3 worked out (I'll give you the long story in a minute).  We pulled out of Ohio at 4:00 p.m., drove through Indiana and Illinois and into Missouri.  We arrived to camp at 1:30 a.m. and there were times when I felt like I was driving through a black wasteland - nothing but darkness and long, straight roads.  Someone once told me that you are generally driving with tractor trailers on the interstates in the Mid-west.  They were right.

Lisa was able to get a picture of the Indiana sign - she's been a little mad at herself because she missed pictures of the New Jersey, West Virginia & Ohio signs.  Of course, in the dark pictures of the Indiana and Missouri signs were impossible...

So what I didn't share from our tire blow out issue in PA was that in my haste to get us off of the turnpike, I stripped the end of one of the studs so I was running with four lugs instead of five.  They do it in NASCAR sometimes (as Julie well knows) so I was OK with it for that short haul, but while we were waiting for the Suburban to get fixed, I made some phone calls to RV repair shops.  None of them would touch it, but I found a tractor trailer repair place that would and they were pretty much on our route here to Missouri.  The agony was really in waiting for the Suburban - it was finally being repaired at 11:00 and they were hoping to have it done by 2:00.  We got the call at 2:45 so getting all the bikes mounted and the trailer loaded by 4:00 is a record.  The guy that could fix the stripped stud closed at 5:00 so we got there at 4:30 not really knowing if he was going to have time to fix.  The owner turned out to be an awesome guy - when I asked him if he had the time to fix it, he answered with, "us camper guys have to stick together!"  10 minutes, $5 and three beers out of the fridge later and we were on the road.  Turns out that they just needed to, "chase the threads" instead of replacing the entire stud.  That's good fortune and we needed it!  That's why I love camper folk - pretty giving people and fun to be around.

So we're about to hook up and leave our campsite here in Columbia, MO.  Going to hit the University of Missouri which is right up the road and then on to somewhere in Kansas.

Day 2 & 3 - Time for repairs and Family

Nothing like breaking down camp AND setting up camp in the rain, but that’s exactly what we did on Day 2.  At least the drive from Donegal, PA to Lebanon, OH was without any mechanical failures!  Before leaving PA, we had the tire work done – the spare that I put on was a Class C (no good) so we had that and a new spare put on the back in Class D.

While the tire work was being done, I made arrangements with a Chevy dealer in Lebanon, OH to order the fuel pump and maybe get us in to get the job done.  As I write this at almost 1:00 on Day 3, we might have the truck back by 3:00 p.m.  If it does happen, we are still on track to make Colorado Springs by July 4th.

Also happening while I was calling for parts – Maribeth was working over that iPad and found us an immaculate campground – there’s a rig from Alaska in front of us!  If you guys could hear the amount of information flowing from Maribeth in the backseat when we're on the road, you would be amazed!  Having 2 co-pilots for this trip is just awesome since I am the neediest pilot you’ll ever meet!!

Our campsite in Lebanon, OH

So why did we pick Lebanon, OH?  Because Uncle Chris is nearby!!!  So great to see Chris – the kids loved being with him.  In his always honorable and giving way, he treated us to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  Thank you so much, Chris – we love you!  We also got to see his new place while we were here.

At Outback with Uncle Chris

Graeme had to get some "baby back ribs".  I'm not sure that "baby back ribs" are associated with Outback Steakhouse, but he had to have them!

Annalise had to do chin-ups at Uncle Chris's apartment

Alright - let's see if gigantibeast is ready to roll!