2017 Travel out West

On Thursday September 14, 2017, we went to the Royal Gorge which was located about 20 miles from Colorado Springs and our RV park.  The gorge is famous for the bridge that was build across it in the 1920's.  It is the longest span of bridge across a gorge in the world.  You can now cross the gorge on a tram or use the bridge.  It is about 950 feet tall and will hold a couple of ton.  It is about 1250 feet long.  They let vehicles cross the bridge, but it is not used as  a public vehicle crossing only Park equipment can cross.  Bobby loved the bridge so much that he ran across it looking at each board on the bridge to make sure that it was not going to break or fall while he crossed.  Most of the people cross on the tram and then walk across the bridge on the way back.  It saves walking up hill. The wind was so high that we had to reverse the travel and do the bridge first.  We did this and then they have a movie that last about 17 minutes and describes the building of the bridge

On September 15, 2017 and September 16, 2017 we visited Pikes Peak and did the train ride up the mountain to Pikes Peak.  We rode the COG railroad up the mountain. Description in the photos below.   Melanie, our sister in-law was with us and we enjoyed her company and the visit up the mountain.  The elevation is 14, 110 feet and when Bobby and Cindy got off the train they got altitude sickness and that was not much fun for them.  The ride is 3 1/2 hours with a 30 to 40 minute stop at the top of Pikes Peak.  From my perspective it was better than riding up in the truck because I would not have seen as much and Cindy does not like the height of the mountain road with no guard rail.  One thing is for sure it is cold and windy at the top of the peak.  We had jackets and it was still cold.  I needed long johns, remind me to pack a pair.  The Garden of the Gods was ok, but there were a lot of people there and it was hard to find a parking place to take photos or to get out and walk the

We left the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Forrest on Wednesday and traveled to Colorado Springs and the Mountaindale RV Resort.  We had a great site that was big and had a lot of space.  It also had a great fire pit but I was not able to use it because it rain the first night and threatened the next night so I gave up.  We had Melanie come for a visit on Friday morning and she stayed until Sunday morning and went home.  More on that later.  The below photos are of the welcoming committee that came to welcome us to the neighborhood.  We had about 6 to 10 deer come through the area that was just behind the RV and they were close.  That one big boy was something to see.  He is an Atypical which means his horns are all screwed up and not the symmetrical.  These are the types that make all the sporting mags and get the  hunters all stirred up about hunting.  His horns are still in velvet and he will work the next few weeks scraping them to get it off.  We also had a flock of turk