Laninga's Travel Blog

We found a nice park in Colorado Springs, about 3 miles from our campground.  It is set up for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking.  A big park, lots of trails and challenging terrain.  We did some geocaching (found 3) and in general enjoyed the day.  Tomorrow we head to Dinosaur National Monument for our 2 month tour of duty as volunteers – assuming the weather doesn’t delay us; the winds are horrendous this week!

Romola walking one of the trails; Pike's Peak in the distance

A view to the north with the peaks of Valley of the Gods

Since we were in Colorado Springs, we decided to take a run up Pikes Peak.  Unfortunately, weather didn’t cooperate, with more snow in the higher elevations.  But we did make it to mile 12, or, 11,450 ft. elevation.  It really is a spectacular drive.  And it is hard to imagine that there is a car race up to the top: winners do it in 10 minutes for the 17 miles, mostly on dirt!

On the lower parts of the drive, with the Peak straight ahead. Still pavement here.

At Crystal Lake, with the Peak enveloped in snow in the background

At the Lodge at 11,450 ft, as high as we could go

We're not alone, we had a visit from what I think is a red fox

On the dirt, on the way back down. Spectacular!

Back to civilization. Cascade, CO down below.

Too bad we couldn’t make it all the way to the top.  Maybe at some future visit to this area.

A view out the front showing storm clouds

Winter storm warning are all around us.  Not far from here there has been as much as 18″ of snow, snarling traffic and disrupting daily events.  Where we are there is no snow, but oh that wind!  We’re parked on top of a hill with a great view of Colorado Springs but that also means we are in the direct path of northerly winds.

We’re seeing sustained winds of 40MPH+, with gusts on top of that.  Last night, we pulled in our slides so our slide top awnings won’t get ripped off.  Our satellite dish is in the stowed position to protect it.  Winds are expected to continue today, then taper off tomorrow.  I hope so, this ain’t no fun!

We made it to Colorado Springs, although we had to drive through some rain.  As a result, our home is rather dirty, but I guess a good wash will fix that.  We’re parked close to downtown, a rather unique park, on a hill side.  Spaces are terraced so you can have scenic views over the units below you.

Our coach with Colorado Springs in the distance

In fact, we have a great view of downtown, but also Garden of the Gods (next picture) and even Pike’s Peak.

Sure sure the coach is nce, but that is Garden of the Gods in the background

However, the Peak is being mysterious and hiding behind some clouds but I’m sure we’ll have more pictures later.  If weather permits (but snow is predicted tonight) we’ll drive up to the top.  So I’m sure more blog entry will be coming soon.  There is so much to see and do here!

Whenever we travel from Texas to Colorado we try to plan it so that we can spend a night at the Cedar Rail RV park in Raton, NM.  Actually, it is at the very top of the pass (on I-25) between Raton, NM and Colorado.  The owners are friendly, and the scenery is great.  Here is a picture of our RV looking east:

Behind me, you can see Pikes Peak off in the distance.  However, today it is cloudy in that direction so not much to see.  Nevertheless, this is a great place to stay, but don’t go jogging until you’re “at altitude”… this is 8,000 feet up!

Well, we’re on our way to Utah.  But before then, we’re making a stopover at the Cummins service center in Oklahoma City, OK where we will have our annual service.  This includes oil and filter change, as well as lubrication.  This isn’t the most fancy place to spend the night (no hookups), and it’s cold here (45 for a low tonight) but hey I’m sure the service people will bill us an appropriate amount tomorrow.

Parked in front of the service center

There also is a recall for an ECM (engine computer) update, as well as a test for blow by (leakage past the piston rings during compression).  Let’s just hope that the blow by test is OK as if it isn’t it will be a long, long service call… failure means a major overhaul, possibly even a complete engine removal  Sure, it is under warranty, but I don’t want to spend that time now.

Who would have thought the day would come that my wife would be fingerprinted by the cops!

Romola being handled by the Hickory Creek police

Well, let’s be honest about it.  We are volunteering at Dinosaur National Monument this summer, which is a Federal Park.  Since 911 people who are requesting access to Federal Property (which we are) need to have a security check, including fingerprints.  I was fingerprinted as well.  But I just couldn’t resist the temptation of taking this picture….

Our time was up at the Lewisville campground, so we moved to Hickory Creek.  This is an Corps of Engineers park, so it’s cheap for us seniors ($9 a night).  There is no on site sewer, and only 30A power, but at $9 a night, who cares?  And the locations is great, just 5 miles north of Lewisville.  We’ll be here until next Sunday, when we begin our summer trip.

Our chairs looking over the lake, on the right side of our motor home

A view along the front of our coach

And, the same view from the back

And a view in the other direction, looking east

Uh oh....

Reason for uh oh…  the one negative about this place is that it is right under one of the landing patterns for DFW airport.  So, we’ll have to contend with the noise but it isn’t too bad.

Friends…. for some 15 years, Roland, Dale, and I rode bicycles together.  In our home city near Dallas, around the state, and nationally on a variety of weekly rides.  Multiple Pedal the Peaks, Grand Canyon to Mexico, and more allowed us to rack up some miles, an estimated 70,000 miles, give or take a bunch.  Some people called us the 3 amigos as we rode so much together. We’ve had some great times (and some severe mountain challenges!).  Several years ago we moved and our riding together reduced to when we happened to be in the same area.  Today was one of those days.

The Three Musketeers, ready to ride

We had a great time, although our stamina and speed it not QUITE what it used to be….

And here we are on Snowy Mountains in 2001