Hello again all......We're here in Colorado Springs. What a huge city. It has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. There is lots of building going on, as you can see new construction everywhere. No slow economy here.
This city has the Air Force Academy here, which we plan to visit tomorrow. How I wish I could have been here when our nephew Jason was there......but it was not to be. We'll think of him though, as we tour it tomorrow. It is set against the Rocky Mountains in the background.....absolutely as beautiful a setting as there could be.
Today we went up to the top of Pike's Peak in our truck. Whoa......that was scary. It had snowed up on the mountain the day before, so the summit was closed off for a while, due to black ice on the road. We were able to get to the summit, as we took our time going up
there, stopping off at different turn offs. By then, the ice had melted, and the final summit area was opened. It was spectacular to see. The aspen were turning now and were just beautiful. With an altitude of 14, 110' above sea level, Pikes Peak ranks 31st among Colorado's fourteeners (mountains with peaks 14,ooo' or more above sea level).The mountain roads were steep, with many switchbacks. With our big truck, we had to go carefully around some of these, as it takes up more then one lane on the curves. Going down was even worse. With no siderails, it wouldn't take much to go off the side, to be seen nevermore! I didn't want to wear my seatbelt, in case I had to hop out! Tony is such a good and careful driver, that I was never worried about him, but the other drivers!
We spent about a half hour at the summit. There is a house up there, which has a gift shop and snack bar in it. I didn't spend much time in it, as I was feeling woozy in there. Tony said he did too. The fresh air outdoors (27 degrees!) made it ever so much better. The
oxygen level at that height is half what you would normally breathe down at the bottom. We hope to leave Colorado on Friday, and head down to New Mexico. Our loosely put together plan is to travel west thru northern New Mexico, with stops at Taos, Sante Fe, and Albuquerque, into Northern Arizona, and then make a U-turn, going down into southern Arizona, then east thru that state, into southern New Mexico and ultimately into Texas. We'll most likely stay at these places at least a week.....as much to get to know the area, as to give us some relief from the high gas prices. We may even do another work camping stint, if we find something that suits us. We did have a job offer in Austin, Texas, which we're considering. We'll see what the area is like before we commit.
That's it for now. We have another few days here, and will be on the road again. We'll see you there.
Love........Kathie
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