Independence, Missouri

We drove over to Independence, Missouri from Wakeeney,  Kansas on Wednesday and have spent two great days here just East of Kansas City.

We started our day yesterday with a visit to Harry and Bess Truman's home in Independence. We took a tour of the house and got some great insight into President Harry Truman.









From the house we proceeded to the Truman museum and library. Here we found a wealth of information on President Truman's over seven years in office. It's a great museum filled with insight into the man and his family. The issues he dealt with were astounding and to think he had no more than a high school education. Pretty impressive!






The courtyard of the museum was beautiful with a eternal flame and flowers.





Both Harry and Bess are buried in the courtyard. We stopped to pay our respects and continued to take in the rest of the museum.

After our morning we walked Independence square in downtown and found the courthouse where Harry was a judge in his early days.

We stopped to visit a museum that is dedicated to information relating to the trails west in the mid 1800's
We also found the train depot from the 1860's which has been restored and also is used as a museum. In 1860 a ticket from Independence to
Chicago cost $1.25.

Today (Friday) we visited the Lexington battlefield and toured the Anderson house. It was only a three day battle and not of major importance but the bullet scars can still be seen on the house as a reminder of the fighting.


Tomorrow it's off to Branson, Missouri to see some shows and enjoy the Ozarks.

Cripple Creek

We got in the truck and headed to Cripple Creek a little over a hour from our park.


Cripple Creek lies in a valley on the West slopes of Pikes Peak. Gold was discovered here in 1891 and the town swelled to about 15,000 inhabitants. Today the population is about 1,500. Gambling is the main industry with casinos on every corner.

The town was originally constructed of wood but after the entire town burned down in 1904 they passed a ordinance that all buildings within one block of main street be made of brick. Hence, red brick is seen in most of the buildings.



We took a 45 minute ride on a narrow gage steam train from the early 1900s. It was a fun little excursion and we got some information on the local history.





Along the way we passed several abandoned gold mines such as this one. Today there is only one large mine remaining but that one takes about 400 Million dollars in gold every year.


That concludes our sightseeing in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow (Sunday) is church, breakfast, shopping if necessary and getting ready to head East on Monday morning. The next major stop is the Truman library in Independence, Mo. More from there.

Colorado Springs ----continued

It's been a busy three days since we went to the Garden of the Gods.
Wednesday we visited the Air Force Academy just North of downtown.

The Academy is set against the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in the shadow of Pikes Peak. The campus is at nearly 7000 feet elevation and it's majestic and pristine.

The Chapel is one of the landmarks of the campus for good reason. The structure is magnificent and stands like a beacon.








The  inside was just as impressive. I would love to attend a service here just once.
After a self guided tour and watching a movie which took us through the first year of a cadet's life I have a better appreciation for our commissioned officers.










we spent the rest of the afternoon resting and at 5:20 pm caught the cog railway train bound for the top of Pikes Peak.

The cog train is one of only three in the US and runs from Manitou
Springs to the top some 9 miles.
The trip up took 1 hour and 10 minutes and gained about 8000 feet.

The propulsion is Diesel over hydraulic driving a gear under the train which fits into a gear (cog) in the middle of the track as you can see here. At this point we are on a 25% grade meaning we are going up 1 foot for every four feet we go forward.

To give you a idea of a 25% grade consider that while going up the first seat on the train ( ours) is three stories higher than the last seat.... we got there first!
You can see the track as it heads to the top.




We made it! Walking at 14,114 feet is slow and we were careful not to over do it




We had 40 minutes to look at the view and of course visit the mandatory gift shop. You can see Colorado Springs way down there.
Then it was back on board for the trip down the mountain. What a great trip!




Thursday we drove down to Royal Gorge and found this water clock at the visitor center.





The gorge is cut by the Arkansas River and runs some ten miles from end to end. It's about 1100 feet from the bridge to the river below.

We walked across the  bridge and viewed a movie in the theater on the other side. Back across the bridge and then off to home. Tomorrow our excitement is laundry and grocery shopping. Can't wait!

Colorado Springs Day one

We arrived in Colorado Springs Monday afternoon and after setting up we headed to the Garden of the Gods park about a mile away.

The Garden of the Gods park is a local park but is a Natural National landmark. The rock formations are incredible.

The rock formations we see were formed when the Rocky Mountains were created. Time, Wind and rain eroded the softer sandstone around the harder rock leaving the amazing sculptures.

There was beauty every where we looked. The rocks changed as we walked around them and the sun changed the lighting on them.






I climbed up into a crevasse and got my picture taken for the effort. It doesn't happen often thank goodness. And..... I didn't break the camera!

Rock climbers were plying their trade on one of the formations. We watch in amazement as they scaled the vertical face of the rock.




From the main formations we headed to the Siamese twins formation for mile hike. Nothing is level here so it was uphill and downhill as we did the mile hike. Not easy hiking but worth the effort.

The last formation of the day was Balanced Rock. Another example of how nature works wonders.

Lunch and a visit to Manitou Springs rounded out the day. Tomorrow we take the Cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak assuming it's running. Today all trips were canceled due to maintenance issues. We hope they get it fixed before we head up. It's time to put our feet up and call it a day.

Rocky Mountain National Park

We spent a great three days in Estes Park, Colorado  visiting RMNP.
The 7500 foot altitude of Estes Park got our attention but we went slow and acclimated to the lack of oxygen.

We arrived at Elk Meadow RV park and we were amazed. This was our view from the campsite in the park.

The next day we drove the trail ridge road through the park from
East to West. The road was 50 miles one way and climbed to elevations of over 12,000 feet. The drive took the entire morning with a little hiking

As we neared the top snow became prevalent with a little still on the road. Cold and windy was the order of the day up there.






There wasn't a lot of snow on the road but since it's June it was more than I anticipated.




On the way to Grand lake at the far West side of the park we stopped for a little hiking at Timber Creek and found this guy along the trail. He didn't seem to mind us being there.... guess he's seen people before.


We stopped at the visitor center at the top and were rewarded with this awesome view. What a wonderful natural area.




 After a short lunch we set off to the Bear Lake area for some real hiking. We rode the bus up to the Glacier Gorge trail head and set off for Alberta falls. It was about two miles round trip at over 9,000 feet but it was worth it. That ended a day that started at 6:00am with a drive and ended with a two mile hike. We had a little dinner and crashed.

The next morning we drove to the Wild Basin trail head and set off for a four mile hike along the St Vrain and Ouzel creeks. The amount of water in the creeks was just incredible.

We stopped on a bridge and one of our fellow hikers offered to take a picture so here we are.

The turnaround point was Calypso Cascade on Ouzel Creek. It was a tough climb but well worth the effort.





We were  amazed as we hiked along the creek at the amount of water and force of nature. With Sunday to kick back and visit Estes Park we bid a farewell to RMNP on Monday and headed to Colorado Springs.

RV trip 2017 has begun

We left home Friday June 2 and spent a night in Winnemucca, Nevada. Then it was on to Salt Lake City to visit some long time friends and spend a couple of days just hanging out.
Then it was on to Rawlins, Wyoming where we are at the present. Tomorrow is a day exploring the old Town and just looking around the area.
Today we're in Rawlins, Wyoming  a little town of about 10,000 souls right on interstate 80. We took a day since we don't like to travel two days in a row so here we are.

We visited the Wyoming frontier prison which was built in1888 and opened in 1901. It was used from then till 1981 housing numerous "bad guys".




The three cell blocks each housed 124 convicts in two person 5' X 7' cells. We walked the prison with our guide including the gallows and gas chamber used in executions carried out at the prison.

After lunch we strolled the old downtown and were amazed at the murals found there. Pretty great for a small town.




Another large mural on a side street caught our attention. We wandered the downtown for a while then back to the KOA for some rest. Tomorrow we travel to Estes Park, Colorado to visit Rocky Mountain National Park for three days. More from there.