Wild West day 4 & 5

OK, OK, I know I'm cheating logging two days at once but... Now I've got to put my brain in reverse which some might say is a gear my brain should be accustomed to. Let's see, we spent Friday night at a RV park in downtown Cripple Creek. Linda was right, not much there but gambling and beautiful scenery. Oh, there was a rodeo starting Saturday, but we couldn't stay. Saturday morning I had to wash the windshield. The bugs were getting so thick I didn't need my sunglasses. Anyway, while working at it, the couple next door to us were in and out of their trailer cleaning it like crazy. I spoke to the woman (very native American) and she said she and her "other" worked at the gold mine, then pointed up the hill behind us. She said many in the RV park did, also, which explained the large propane tanks, trailer skirting and "permanent looking" stuff around their RVs. Made me feel almost naked. All I had was a satellite dish. Here's some parting shots of Cripple Creek. Mom says don't ever say she has poor taste. Both these shots were taken from the RV park. The 2nd one directly across the street. I finished the windshield and we packed up and left, heading north toward Pikes Peak. Looking back at Cripple Creek as we climb out. Pikes Peak is by far the greatest highlight of our trip so far. It's roughly 19 miles seemingly at times straight up! The road is virtually carved out of the mountain with no guardrails or anything between the edge of the road and NOTHINGNESS! If you haven't made the trip to the top of Pikes Peak, we highly recommend it, but it is not for the feint of heart, going up on coming down. It's not for a questionable vehicle either. Going up you could overheat, going down could kill the brakes. In fact, going down, you must stop at a checkpoint halfway down where a guy uses an infrared thermometer to check the temperature of your brakes. Going up! On top of the world. You are warned to take a heavy jacket. They aren't kidding. The wind cuts through you like a knife when up on top. And the air is very thin at 14,000 ft. so don't plan on jogging much. Then, you drive back down. And this is what happens if you drive too far up. When we got back down from the mountain, I was exhausted. I guess between the thin air and scary road and wrestling Lil Pumpkin in the wind and along the obstacle course of a road, it just did me in. I knew there was no way I could make the next several miles to my intended next campsite. So, shortly after leaving Pikes Peak and heading west on hwy 24, we started looking for a home. I saw a sign that said something about trail rides and other horse stuff, but it also said "RV park". I pulled into the gate onto a dusty dirt road and not being too sure this was what we wanted, I pulled over to the side of the lane to check the map and Internet to see if there was anything better nearby. About then, a truck came in pulling a nice, rather long camp trailer, so we decided to just follow him. It was a little over a mile down into the M Lazy C Ranch. As we followed along, the guy with the trailer stopped and moved some pylons that had been placed across the road at a turn. We just followed and as we approached what appeared to be the office, there were pylons blocking access to the office, so we kept following the trailer on past the office. Then I was beginning to get concerned we were not where we should be. So, as we approached another building with some cowboys hanging around, I pulled up and a young cowboy came out to help. I told him we were looking for a campsite for one night and he called back to the office. We were granted access and the kid had us follow him in his Jeep back to the RV sites. As it turned out, the reason all the pylons were in place was to direct traffic for a big 50th anniversary bash being held for someone. I guess we sort of crashed the party. But, we got parked next to a huge 5th wheel and settled in. Before we knew it, there were other trailers and 5th wheels pulling in. Interestingly, most were pulling horse trailers with living quarters and most were older women. The only man I saw in a camper was the guy in the big 5th wheel next to us. And, these were some rough tough looking old broads. Two parked a big 5th wheel next to us and instead of horses, they unloaded a couple of mules. Here's a couple of shots from our campsite. Then, this morning Ditto and I watched Mellisa Harris Perry while I shaved. Today is Father's Day and I have really enjoyed it. We stopped at the office to pay for our night at the ranch. While talking with the lady running the office, she told me the ranch often had the military there. Then she said they were expecting some Special Forces next week. They came to learn to ride and shoot from horses. Holy cow! What a place! The rest of the day was a pleasant drive west on hwy 24 then we dropped down to hwy 50 and on into Montrose, Co. Some beautiful scenery all the way. We're now camped at Ridgeway State Park just south of Montrose. Nice park and amazingly good Internet service - otherwise, you wouldn't be reading this. They have two levels of campsites here, some down along the shores of a small lake and some up high above it all among the trees. We chose the trees. Tomorrow should be Arches National Park.