Places revisited

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you. You may remember that this trip combines stops at new places (like Rocky Mountain National Park) with a bunch of return visits to places we've stopped before (like our niece's in Del Norte, Colorado).  Well, tonight we are at one of those spots we've been before... the home of one of Mrs. C's former coworkers and her husband in Clarkson, Nebraska.

Clarkson is a town of,about 650 population located an hour and a half drive northwest of Omaha and about the same southwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's principal product is without a doubt corn. Second to that is hospitality. Our host and hostess greeted us with a great Nebraska day, a fantastic spot to relax with lemonade, lawnchairs and laughter and a great dinner followed by more lawnchair time. Now  we are relaxing in our own guest house (that's what we call the Airstream when it's parked in someone else's driveway) and getting ready to turn in.

We drove a bit over 4 hours east from North Platte with a mix of Interstate (I-80 eastbound) and State roads. The last time we were in Nebraska it was July and the corn was as high as an elephant's forehead. All day long we saw farmers planting the corn that will be that tall this July. They take their farming seriously here. Fields the size of eastern US cities are criss-crossed by tractors as big as locomotives pulling all variety of plows, sowing machines and 

spreaders. While we did see some feed lots today we were blessed by that fact that all were downwind.

The most striking aspect of today's trip was the fact that a long stretch of secondary road (US 30) became an exercise in navigating from beacon to beacon as we moved from Grand Island toward our destination. Here on the plains of Nebraska the beacons are not lighthouses, they are grain elevators. For about an hour we traveled bone-straight US 30 moving northeast. As we rolled along we would pass a grain elevator and about the time we passed one the next one would appear on the horizon. Like lighthouses in the prairie, these mammoth structures provided assurance that we were heading in the right direction. We stopped in the shadow of one of the monsters to make lunch in the trailer. Here's a pic of us parked in East Bugtumble, Nebraska in the parking lot of the "Pump and Pantry" (loved the pantry, didn't try the pump):

 

So I'm taking a day off tomorrow. I hope to locate and assess the leak in the fresh water system. I was hoping to repair the leak, but after consultation with the Airstream community my expectation of that are extremely slim. We'll try to limp home leaving a trail of water drops like Hansel and Gretel with their breadcrumbs and tackle the tank replacement when time and tools permit. I should be back online on Wednesday.

Later...

SC'

Back to Flyover Country

Evening Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you again tonight.. .this time from the Cornhusker State... Nebraska... specifically from Maloney Reservoir State Recreation Area just south of North Platte.

So, we started the day in Rocky Mountain National Park. I owe you a couple of pics that would have been in yesterday's blog except for I decided to save the battery power for our furnace fan rather than your complete amusement. Excuuuuussssseeeee me if you think I chose poorly.

First, a view from the highest point in the park that is currently open... Rainbow Curve on Trail Ridge Road at a little over 10,500 feet:

 That slash across the mountain on the right side of the frame is Trail Ridge Road which we had just climbed. I would note that in many places the road has a very limited shoulder which leads to major dropoffs. It is so obviously dangerous that they have signs that say "Go ahead... text and drive... we dare you" and still you see nobody doing it. In response to Mrs. C's frequent declaration "there are no guardrails here... we're gonna die!" I looked up some history. It turns out that one translation of "Colorado" means "too few guardrails". Somehow people make it up and back and we did too.

I've mentioned the huge number of visitors RMNP gets in the summer. Yesterday afternoon after the movie was no summer rush. It was 4:00 when we headed back to let Romeo out for a walk. There was only one gate open, but there are only three total so the backup should have been nonexistent.  However, we waited about 10 minutes to get through. They have the most amazing view to help pass the time:

So, we got up and hit the road this morning. The last view we had of RNMP was this one in the side view mirror, contrasted with the flat terrain and increasing presence of agriculture as we move across the plains:

After that we were back in "flyover country". If you are not familiar with the term, it's often used by our country's elite (that would be the people who reside on the east and left coasts... if you didn't know that's where the "elite" live, just ask one of them... they'll set you straight) to describe places where the non-elite live. It refers to the fact that the American Neanderthals use a large amount of space and that makes the trip from LA to NY long and inconvenient. It is so long that some elites have even missed complete episodes of Rachael Maddow simply because a Gulfstream V at full speed still takes 30 minutes just to cross one of the stinking flyover states. You don't think the name is apt? Look at this:

 You could play tic-tac-toe using the vapor trails from those flying over. And while we are at it, on the ground in flyover country it feels like the elites are truly flying over. The flyers and the flyees both feel this phenomenon. Maybe I'm the only one, but I think the disdain and contempt embodied in the very phrase "flyover country" might have something to do with why Donald Trump is in the White House and Hillary Clinton is eying a stint on "The View" sitting next to Whoopie.

Anyhow, seeing flyover country up close is enough to have me considering trading the Airstream for a Cessna. This is the gritty, gutty core of America. In addition to signs of agriculture like irrigators, silos and such, there are signs of the energy economy everywhere. Like this:

 Out here, it's natural gas. No sign of the oil pumps tipping back and forth like in Texas. In eastern Colorado its all about gas exploration, drilling, collection and ultimately feeding into the pipeline system. Next stop: Your furnace, stove or clothes dryer!

By far the most "impressive" aspect of  today's drive were the feedlots. These are places where cattle are collected, fed, fattened and housed before being sent on a journey similar to the natural gas. Next stop: Grocery store! We may have seen 100,000 or 200,000 head of cattle today. If you stop and think about it, there is one product that cattle produce before they make roasts, steaks and burgers. That's right... the very same product manufactured in Congress. Lots of it. If you ever wondered where your local nursery gets that "organic fertilizer" that they recommend for new bushes I have your answer! The very first feed lot we came upon caught us by surprise. It was distinguished by three characteristics: 1.) it was the largest we saw all day and stretched for over a mile. 2.) it was very close to the interstate we were on (I-76 running northeast from Denver to the armpit of Nebraska and 3.) it was upwind from our route of travel. I tried to grab my phone from its cradle above the dash to get a picture. Unfortunately I was having a hard time driving and gagging at the same time. The pic had to wait. Here's a pic of a smaller feedlot that was downwind.

 This one only had many thousands of cattle... small potatoes out here.

So, we pressed on. There are several spots in the country where one state or another has a projection that is known as "the panhandle". Texas has one, Oklahoma has one, and Nebraska sort of has one on it's western end. What we don't have is a consistent term for the point where the panhandle meets the body of the state. In the case of Nebraska and Oklahoma, I'd  like to propose calling that point "the armpit". So we were letting I-76 take us to within a few miles of the Nebraska armpit where we would leave Colorado and enter Nebraska. Keeping in mind the fact that Colorado was the first state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, you need to recognize that anywhere an interstate highway leaves Colorado there is likely an amount of contraband heading into neighboring states. Places like Raton Pass where we entered the state from New Mexico come to mind. Today's Silver Cliche' Driving Experience comes to you from just after the Colorado/Nebraska border in what I call "smugglers alley":

 Marrakesh and the Brandenburg Gate have nothing on this place.

So finally we completed today's trek and landed just south of North Platte, Nebraska. Interesting place. North Platte is home to the largest rail freight yard in the country. It is also on the route of the Keystone XL pipeline and hosts a smaller pipeline already. Buffalo Bill Cody's home and ranch are here (if you've never studied the history, Buffalo Bill was a character much larger that life and larger than the Ringling Brother's who followed him with a variation on his theme.).

Here's a shot I took from our campsite on the shores of Maloney Reservoir just before the sun went down.

 OK, campers. That's it for tonight.

Later...

SC'

A private screening

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' with you on our third and final night at Rocky Mountain National Park.

After yesterday's blog, Mrs. C' and I went to explore RMNP a bit more. We drove the Trail Ridge Road as far as it was open -- just above 10,500 feet. That's still 2,000 below the top, but the road isn't open up there. The view was fabulous. We are running on batteries again tonight, so the pics will have to wait. Also, cell phone data is seriously limited here. Just getting connected to write this is a challenge.

Sometimes the best way to enjoy a National Park is to step back from it. That's what we did today. After coffee, breakfast and a nap (camp life can be exhausting) we headed to nearby Lyons, Colorado. Having been conditioned by our initial impressions of Estes Park, we were prepared for anything in Lyons. We were pleasantly surprised. It's a smaller town than Estes Park, buts its mix of hardscrable, older, upscale, hippie, mountain presence was more balanced, more authentic and more pleasing than Estes Park. After some shopping, we ate lunch at the Farmer Girl restaurant. It's a farm to table type place with an eclectic menu. It did the trick.

Still trying to avoid having to look at one more amazing, snow-capped peak, we decided to stop in Estes Park for a movie. I told you how small the town of Estes Park is -- 5,800 year round residents. I also told you that the summer season sees 1,000,000 visitors. So, what do you think Estes Park would have for a movie theater? Did you guess "12 screen multiplex"? Wrong! Did you guess " a single screen with 250 seat auditorium built in 1913"? Right! If you added that the Park Theater is the oldest continuously operating movie theater in the western US then you get bonus points.If you also knew it's listed in the National Register of Historic Places then you go to the head of the class.

The owner are a couple a bit older than us. She sold us ths tickets. He ushered us into the theater and proceeded to give us a history of the theater including detail of the flood of 1982 that flowed through the auditorium where we were sitting. We were the only people in the theater to see Tom Hanks in The Circle. It was a private screening in a historic building. The experience with the theater building, history, and the townsfolk definitely upped my opinion of Estes Park. It didn't rise as high as Lyons, but it certainly popped enough to leave Jackson, Wyoming secure in its place and the least genuine town we've visited in the west.

So tomorrow we move back into the Central Time Zone and back into lower, warmer climate. We're ready. Colorado has been beautiful and welcoming from Trinidad to the San Luis valley to the front range, but our next stops are pulling at us. We've also got a mechanical issue brewing with the trailer -- we're leaking fresh water -- and I'm hoping to carve out a day in the next few to address it.

To any Moms who are reading this on Mother's Day (including my own... Hi, Mom!... you see... I grew up to be a blogger... a REAL blogger!) Mrs. C' and I wish you a Happy Mother's Day. Thanks for all you do to keep our families strong!

Later...

SC'

"Why don't we do it in the road?"

Afternoon Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you and again today from Rocky Mountain National Park near the "kapital of kitsch"... Estes Park, Colorado!

So, I wrote a pictureless blog last night with a promise that if the sun shone today I'd use it's power to rev up the 'ole laptop and add some pics. Well, the batteries held through the night, we didn't freeze our tushies, the sun is shining like it does only above 8,000 feet and (thanks to our two solar panels) we are charging every device in the trailer between now and sundown. Even after that, we have power to spare for the inverter which is powering my laptop for processing pics and blogging. Yeah, sun!

I told you yesterday about Estes Park and how it is in a neck-and-neck race in my book for the phoniest western city we've visited (Jackson, Wyoming still has the lead by a nose... but if you put a clothespin on it to reduce the odor then Estes Park might win). Here are a couple of street scenes from Estes Park. Don't let the beauty in the background distract you. Here in the Park where we are staying you can get the beauty without the tee shirt and taffy shops:

The leading businesses on this faux-western street (there is only one street to speak of in Estes Park) are 1.) tee shirt shops -- the winner by far with at least a dozen in a 2 block stretch 2.) taffy and sweet shops and 3.) places where you and your loved ones can have your portrait taken and printed in sepia tone with everyone dressed as pioneers or miners or convicts and 4.) fly fishing/rock climbing shops. After that come eating establishments, rock shops and new age stores. Totally missing was and sign of tasteful or practical retail aimed at average Americans whose brains still function despite the thin air and constant threat of hypoxia.


I read something in the Rocky Mountain National Park literature which they gave us at the gate that made it clear how and why Estes Park looks and functions the way it does. We are here in the off season. Technically, there are no campgrounds even open yet. That all starts on Memorial Day weekend. However, in the peak season which runs for 6 weeks in the summer there are -- brace yourself -- one million visitors to RMNP. That means 166,666 per week. This is a town with 5,800 year round residents. Let's do the math. If there are 12 tee shirt shops and each visitor buys (on average) one tee shirt then each shop sells 83,000 shirts in just a six week stretch (probably double that for the full year including the shoulder season which we are in), and it appears the average shirt is $20, that means each store owner earns... well... well they earn enough to retire to Florida at age 50 and live comfortably for the rest of their lives. So, like most other things in our country, this place looks and functions the way it does because 1.) the economics drive it that way and 2.) the average American has absolutely no sense whatsoever. As H.L. Mencken said "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public".

Just to show the contrast. That Christmas shop in the pic above was drawing visitors in Estes Park two weeks before the start of the season and seven months before Christmas (this year's big seller seems to be a Christmas ornament featuring Donald Trump with a dialogue bubble that says "You're Fired! Merry Christmas!". Nice, eh? Menchen was right.). In less than ten minutes we reentered the Park. I stopped and took this picture:

Those are elk grazing on a meadow that is just trying to put forward some green shoots of grass. The elk's winter coats are shedding, making them look a bit ragged and homeless. The males are regrowing their antlers and they are covered in fluffy velvet which they will shed once the antlers are full grown and hardened. In the fall they will shed this year's rack and next spring restart the cycle. The pine forests cover the park except where they are pushed aside by aspen. The aspen are just leafing in a rich shade of light green that even Crayola never quite captured even in the giant 128-crayon box. (It's somewhere between "inchworm" and "light chrome green"... seriously... look it up) The contrast between what nature builds and what man builds is as striking here as it is where people built Jackson, Wyoming next to the Grand Teton's. Menchen!

One disadvantage of the off season is that some parts of the park are not open. Specifically, the "Trail Ridge Road" which is billed as the highest continuously paved road in the USA. I'd love to have driven it. We've been over 11,000 on numerous occasions. Trail Ridge Road is over 12,000. The older road that parallels it is only open about 6 weeks in the summer (probably the same 6 that draws the 1,000,000 people). It is a one way route from bottom to top where it joins the newer ridge road. I'm sure if you google "Rocky mountain national park trail ridge road" you'll see the pictures that we won't get to take on this trip.

So, I hear you ask "If that's the disadvantage, Silver Cliche', is there an advantage?". I'm glad you asked. There certainly is! This morning, Mrs. C' and I arose as we usually do before the chickens. No, there are not actually chickens here. It's an expression. Kind of like that line from Irving Berlin's song "Oh how I hate to get up in the morning" about life in the Army in which is says "...and then I'll get that other pup, the guy who wakes the bugler up". That's us, the guys who wake the bugler up. Anyway... the advantages... and sorry for the string of quotes... I think my brain may be misfiring on all cylinders from oxygen deprivation after a week in Colorado... either that or second hand marijuana smoke on the freeways. The advantages... after a cup of coffee we tossed on our warm garb, stepped out to find heavy frost on everything. The kind of frost that has to be scraped from windshields... except we are Floridians and don't own an ice scraper. Our approach is to turn on the truck with the seat heaters and defrosters on full and go back into the warm trailer for 10 minutes. Bingo! As we pulled out of our campsite at 6:01 AM (quiet time ends at 6:00) we noticed that many of our neighbors in tents had abandoned their "rustic shelter" in favor of their "automobile". Seriously. I haven't see so many people sleeping in cars since the Daytona 500 or the NBC evening news after the last recession. So, we headed off to explore the park as the sun was hitting the high peaks. Did we see 166,666 people? No. 1,666? No. 166? No. We saw approximately 16 people. That, boys and girls, is the advantage of being here now. We felt like we had all 265,000 acres to ourselves.

We drove around for about two hours. We saw elk galore. There are so many elk in the park that I tough of calling my broker and shouting "place a short on elk meat... there is so much supply the price must be about to plummet!" until I realized that elk are protected in the park and their vast numbers will never drive down the price of elk sausage, burgers or jerky (all of which are available in Estes Park along with various other elk, bison and bear products, presumably including taffy and, in some form, tee shirts). We also saw magpies, robins and more wild turkey than you would see at the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.

At one point on the trip to Bear Lake (more on that in a minute), we came around a hairpin corner and saw something of a commotion in the road about 1/4 mile ahead. 1/4 mile happens to be just far enough away that I couldn't distinguish a strolling zombie from a fallen rock even with my new bifocals. I said to Mrs. C' "looks like we've got a critter in the road... maybe a bear cub or something". She focused with the same lack of precision in her visual field that I have and we started trading views of what we might be looking at. "Bear cub?", "an elk laying down.. maybe hurt?" "should we call the park rangers?" "that looks like feathers... is it a vulture disassembling some road kill?" "Wait, that's not an animal, it's two animals" "are those wild turkeys?" At about that time the two turkeys that had been frolicking in the middle of the road started to walk away separately. The female looked sheepish. The male ruffed his ample tail feathers and looked at me with a hard stare that formed perfect interspecies communication "Thanks a lot, buddy". We tried to capture the moment through the truck's windshield, but even if the picture had turned out we couldn't have shared it here since we like to keep this blog "family friendly".

So, we made it to Bear Lake and I hiked on snow (literally) to the frozen lake to capture this picture for you:

As we headed back to the trailer for more coffee and some flapjacks we took innumerable pictures. I could have chosen any of a half dozen single frames or panoramas for you, but the one that looked to me the most like what I saw as we toured the empty park just after daybreak was this one:

Let me close out with a pic of where we are as I write. This is our spot in Aspenglen campground near the eastern edge of the park where it's 70 degrees (at this altitude 70 feels more like 80) with sunshine that embraces every living plant an animal and a light breeze. The sound of snow runoff flowing down the creek next to us is the dominant background noise. Something with a fragrance like jasmine is blooming nearby although I don't know what it is. Either that or some camper is burning whatever they've got including dryer sheets to shake the cold from last night. And you thought blogging was hard work. Ha! I only make it look hard.

That's it for today campers. Not sure what tomorrow holds. We expect to stay here both tonight and tomorrow night and head out and into Nebraska on Sunday.

Later...

SC'

Another Jackson??? WHYYYYY?

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' with you. We are in a new location tonight... Rocky Mountain National Park near Estes Park, Colorado. This is not 1 of a planned 3 night stay here at RMNP and first impressions are very favorable.

Those of you who like these entries to be profusely illustrated will be disappointed. Here at RMNP, like most National Park campgrounds, there is no electricity. We call it "dry camping" (in addition to no electric service, there is no water, sewer hookup nor dump station here). Normally I prepare the blog on my laptop but it needs electricity. Sure, we have an inverter built into the Airstream. That's a device that turns 12 volt battery power into 120 volt AC for normal appliances. One problem... it takes a lot of 12 volt power from the batteries to make that 120. Guess what else needs battery power? Our heating system. Guess what the forecast is for here tonight? 35 degrees. So, faced with the option of sharing fresh pictures of moose (mooses?... meese?... whatever... more than one moose) and elk and spectacular snow covered peaks, or keeping Mrs. C's and my rear,ends,warm until ththe sun once again hits our solar panels, I picked warm butt. Sorry. The pics will follow... maybe tomorrow when the sun has,recharged the batteries and the solar panels are, saying,"What shall we do with all of this extra electricity, boss?".

So, the day... do you remember those grey sky pics of Cheyenne Mountain State Park I showed you yesterday? Well, look at them again. That's how the morning started. We got ready and we're rolling by 8:45. Why? Because the campground we were heading to is technically closed for the season. They do allow people to camp as "walk ups"... that is, you arrive, you drive through campground, if you find a spot that will fit whatever you camp in you may have it. If you don't find one you leave. We know that the secret to walk up,camping in a place like this is to get there early. Noon is often too late,in season. We figured noon was a good bet at this time of year and that meant leaving between 8:30 and 9.

We hit the people mover of Colorado... I-25! We took the northbound option toward the mile high city and state capital... Denver! Getting out of Colorado Springs wasn't bad. Getting through Denver, even at 11:00 AM was a nightmare. Two accidents and some of the worst bumps and ruts I've seen on an interstate took its toll on man and machine. At one point, sitting in traffic literally outside Mile High Stadium (ok, it's,officially "Sports,Authority Field at Mile High", but who wants to go through all of that effort? Say it three times fast. I bet your tongue gets tired. Anyway, in traffic on an Interstate in the capital,city of one of these United States and Mrs. C' turned to me and said "is that marijuana I smell"? I replied,"I definitely think so". Where but Colorado do people light up for recreation while driving? Well... maybe everywhere... I don't know... but I can now say I've seen it in Colorado.

On we pressed to Estes Park. Got to the gate at RMNP, flashed our "senior parks pass" and they waved us through. I think the National Park Service feels sorry for old folks so they let us in for free so we can see the wonders of America before we croak. Nice folks, the Park Service... I think... wait a minute, I'm not planning to croak soon... who do they think they are letting us in for free?... maybe those hats they stole from Smokey the Bear are a bit too tight.

There were still 3 or 4 open spots that would fit us. Not the best spots, but we picked one. It'll do.

So here's where today's title comes into play. We had lunch, took a nap and later headed in to Estes Park. Those of you,who've traveled with us for a while may remember that we did something similar while at Grand Teton Natinal Park two years ago and we went in to Jackson, Wyoming. It was,the fakest town I've ever been to. A fraud committed on western architecture and history in the name of tourism. A man made betrayal of the beauty that nature placed nearby. I railed about Jackson periodically for the rest of that trip. Well, I learned today that Jackson has a twin city... Estes Park, Colorado. All I'll share tonight is that the retail offerings of Estes Park suggest that every visitor to this town must forget to pack their tee shirts. There is no other rational explanation for the fact that every other storefront in this town is dedicated to tee shirts.

Ok, that's it for me for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will be a picture bonanza!

Later...

SC'

People don't live in the mountains

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' again. Joining you tonight, once again, from Cheyenne Mountain State Park perched above Colorado Springs.

So, today started cold and windy with the threat of rain. We had no specific plans for the day. From the start this had been a "stay in place" day of the trip and a chance to explore the Colorado Springs area. I mentioned last night that there's quite a lot happening here for a city of less than 500,000. There are major natural attractions (Pike's Peak is less than 10 miles from town), military (Cheyenne Mountain, Fort Carson, USAF Academy), national institutions (US Olympic Committee and training center) and history (Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and mining). We looked at the weather, considered where we've already been, contemplated where we are headed and decided not to see any of that. We dedicated today to resupply for the next phase of the trip.

That was accomplished by heading out around 10:00 to visit various shops including a couple of stores where warmer Colorado-grade clothing is sold (the stuff we need now is out of season for the locals and on sale) and Trader Joe's where smart campers go to stock up on fare that beats hot dogs on the grill and s'mores (ok... it's possible that when one goes camping that nothing beats hot dogs on the grill and s'mores). Knowing that there is plenty of bar-b-que and Mexican food behind and ahead of us we took advantage of being in a city and lunched at a French bistro. Seriously. The reviews online said this place has the finest French onion soup in the state of Colorado. We put it to the test. It delivered. With the temperature struggling to reach 60 degrees, the locals were out in tee shirts and flip flops. I was wearing my favorite thick corduroys that I have literally not been able to wear since moving to Florida full time.  That was topped by a long sleeve cotton/wool tee shirt and a fleece jacket. My body said I was in winter and darn it, I was dressing for it!

Just to tie back to an earlier topic, yes... we did drive the "Americal Mile" here in Colorado Springs. In fact, this is an old city center with a ring road. The space between the two is nothing but Americal Mile. Here's a pic of the point where I said "wait a minute... this is Americal Mile "Colorado Edition" with the peaks in the background:

This was just after our Trader Joe's stop. It occurred to me that there is an aspect of every stretch of Americal Mile that I failed to mention the other day when I described this common feature of our country. Fried food smell. The Americal Mile can be a cruel place for two older Americans who are trying to eat properly on the road. After a discussion in Trader Joes that included "Honey, would you rather have the roasted corn and black beans with queso fresco or the quinoa and edamame with ginger soy dressing?" the last thing you want is to smell burger and onion ring aroma filling the truck. It's just cruel, I tell you.

Let's talk about the locals. While there are a few older, conservatively dressed folks like Mrs. C' and me here, we are outnumbered. The Colorado look that says "this is home" involves either nose piercings (your pick... the bull ring dangling above the lip or the stud through the side of the nose both say "I'm local" here) or dreadlocks or multi-colored hair. When I say "multi-colored hair" I don't mean silver and something that used to be dark brown. If so, I might pass the "local" test. I mean half purple and half yellow (which I think they call the "happy Easter") or blue and white or some other two-tone combo that would have worked on a 1950's car. So, lacking a piercing, dreads or eye catching hair marks me as a visitor. Oh well. 

We've also started to tune into some regionalism and stress in the life of Colorado. This comes from chatting it up with the locals and watching Colorado broadcast TV. The decision to legalize recreational marijuana here a few years back has not gone down well with everyone in the state. Both in Del Norte where we were a few days back and here in Colorado Springs, the local governments have enacted legislation to block retail recreational marijuana sales. They've done it using zoning laws similar to the way communities have historically barred businesses of one type or another. Think of "dry counties" in the south and midwest. They've got 'em here, too.

So, let's get to a few pics that tell more about this place. I have always thought of Colorado as a mountain state. It is, of course. 8 of the 10 tallest peaks in the lower 48 are here. Only Mt. Whitney (California) and Mt. Ranier (Washington) are taller. The difference between Whitney and Colorado's tallest peak Mt. Elbert is only 61 feet. Colorado peaks are also amazingly, consistently high. There are 53 peaks scattered around the state between 14,001 feet and 14,433'.

The other day I mentioned that I-25 runs north/south from one end of the state to the other and is close to the middle of the state... maybe 40% of the way in from the Kansas border to the east. We can literally see I-25 from our campsite about 5 miles east of us. Here's a pic of Cheyenne Mountain taken from that ring road around Colorado Springs just near where it joins I-25. Our campsite is in this picture just to the left of the white dot at the base of the mountain in the center of the frame:

 That dot, by the way, is the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. Behind those blast doors and buried in the mountain are 15 three story office buildings mounted on spring shock absorbers (to dampen the shock of the nuclear blast!) and enough water, food and fuel to last until the fallout clears.

The view from the campsite looking at where the pic above was taken looks like this:

And a more complete panorama of the same view but from about 100 yards south of our campsite: 

However, standing next to the trailer and looking west gives this:

That's Cheyenne Mountain and behind it is nothing but more mountains for about 150 miles.

I hear you saying "OK, Cliche'... enough of the compass point views already... what's your point?" It's this: Colorado people talk about their "mile high this" and "Rocky Mountain that" but they don't actually live in the high points of their state. The I-25 corridor which runs along the eastern edge of these mountains contains the top 14 population centers of the state. You have to go all the way to #15... Grand Junction, which is on the Utah border and has fewer than 60,000 population to find a city that isn't on the plains. So maybe when John Denver wrote "Rocky Mountain High" he was describing the state he was in whenever he talked about life in the mountains. I guess "Livin' on the plains" wouldn't have made for a soaring ballad. Most Coloradans live in a place that's as flat as the state we come from... and that's flat.

OK... I'm done ranting for tonight. Tomorrow we move north to Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. Now that's actually in the mountains. Let me look at my list. Yep... #65... 5,800 residents. You see, I told you nobody here actually lives in the mountains.

Later!

SC' 

Back to civilization

Evenin' Campers! It's Silver Cliche' with you again. Tonight we are in the big city... at least the biggest city we'll stay at in this tour. It's Colorado Springs, Colorado which is the second biggest city in Colorado (after Denver) with a population of 445,000. That places Colorado City at #40 of the largest cities in the country just behind Atlanta and just ahead of Virginia Beach and Raleigh.

I wrote last night about how remote we were camping on the shores of Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir in some part of Colorado that doesn't even have a name. One of the few times it wasn't gray and raining on us today was when the sun came up. Here are two panoramas taken in the campground where we spent last night. Each includes our rig and the reservoir. You may note that of the 10 camp sites in this loop there is only one occupied. There are four loops in this park. I believe each of the others had only one patron too. You can call that both remote and sparsely populated camping. I was watching for wildlife...especially bears and mountain lions... when I walked Romeo. I didn't want to come back to the trailer alone and say "Honey... I have something to tell you...".

Here... take a look:

 It's a barren combination of exposed rock and low grasses. The park is pock marked with prairie dog holes and the little critters scamper around steadily. There are low hills (by Colorado standards) around the east and west edges of the park. The reservoir itself is formed by the impoundment of the South Platte River. Keeping track of the various Plattes out here is like trying to keep the Kardashians straight. There are a bunch of them and nobody actually cares if you can keep them straight.

When we did some fact gathering about the topographic aspects of this place we realized it's probably the second highest campsite elevation we've ever stayed at. The campsite was between 8,600 and 8,700 feet above sea level. When we stayed at the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming we were at about 8,900. Us flatlanders can certainly feel the effects of the thinner air... especially when hiking from ridge-to-ridge and scampering up and down rocky outcroppings. I'm not the scamperer I used to be even at sea level. Half way to heaven its even more challenging.

So, we took extra time to read, enjoy our coffee and down some flapjacks. We didn't have far to drive today so we pulled out a bit later than usual... at about 11:00. On the way out we managed to dodge the shakedown team we faced on the way in yesterday. We did, however see cattle, bison and lots of pronghorn antelope. I stopped to take this pic of the road we were on and the local vegetation. This road was over five miles long. The pavement was probably put down in the Reagan years and shows the effect of every winter. The only spot that's not potholed and crumbling is right down the middle. I drove right down the middle for all five miles. No problem.

We moved steadily east and over about an hour dropped to just over 6,000 feet and entered Colorado Springs. This city sits on I-25 which I described the other day is a route that sits on the western edge of the great plains and therefore the eastern edge of the Rockies. Colorado City is on the plains but mountain views dominate. Well, I should say "we hear that mountain views dominate", since the day became more cloudy and included steady, cold rain. We know we drove right past Pike's Peak which is just west of the city and is over 14,000 feet but the clouds, fog and rain obscured it completely.

Colorado Springs is a town with many prominent facilities and organizations. It is home to Cheyenne Mountain -- the home of significant Air Force activity including monitoring outer space and NORAD. There is a major Army fort here (Fort Carson). The US Air Force Academy is here. So is the home of the US Olympic Committee and a major US Olympic Team training site.

I hope to get some pics tomorrow, although the weather is not forecast to improve until Thursday. Our camp site is at Cheyenne Mountain State Park about two miles from the entrance to the Cheyenne Mountain military complex (and its huge blast doors designed to protect those inside in the event of attack). The campground sits on tiers of land leveled out of the mountain side and about 1,000 feet or so above the valley floor. Our specific site is on the edge of one of those tiers and overlooks the plain and the city below.Its a great view and, weather permitting, I hope to share it with you tomorrow.

Later!

SC'