Day 7 - Friday

Up early today for the highly anticipated drive up Pikes Peak!! Pikes Peak is the world famous race to the top of the mountain road. It is 14115 ft at the summit. It was quite the drive up. Twisting and turning up the mountain literally into the clouds. On the way down, we stopped and Joanne video taped me coming up and doing a hairpin turn.  When at the bottom, we stopped at Manitou Springs, where we visited an 1880 castle, The Miramont Castle. The rock architecture was amazing and so many artifacts from that era. On to the historic downtown of Manitou Springs for some lunch and a walk around the area. So cool. Then the skies opened up and talk about rain. Flood warnings, lightening and thunder. Time to get out of town. Poor car hasn't seen that much water as we splashed through the streets. No storm drains so literally rivers running down the streets complete with small rocks. On to Canon City for the night. Some how I've lost 2 pairs of shorts along the way. I think in Deadwood so off to Walmart we go to get more.

Day 6 - Thursday

The rain has stopped and its nothing but blue skies this morning!!  After a 15 minutes chat with another corvette owner it was time to grab a little cheap gas and head up to the highest paved road in America, Mt. Evans 14,130 feet high! As we started up the highway and didn't think that it was going to bad but as we turn the corner into the park area...well I know that it was going to be interesting at the least.  As we maneuvered the hairpin turns the road narrowed as we went up.  Absolute stunning views as well climbed and boy did we climb!!  Tight corners, a really narrow road and no guard rails made for a slow full attention drive to the summit.  Once at the top it was time to grab a jacket and go for a stroll atop the world.  WOW!!  The view was speculator!  In the parking lot were test "Mules" as they are called,  new production vehicles for BMW testing the attitude.  Drivers were very rude and to the point.  All the vehicles, as you can see in the pictures, were covered top to bottom with as they call it "Camo"  After a bunch of pictures and freezing our butts off it was time for the descent to the bottom.  Oh my, the drive down was even better.  Easier for the "driver" to  see the scenic views and still keep strict attention to the road.  Once at the bottom, we headed into Golden for a quick bite to eat and head to the "Coors" plant for a tour of the facility.  Very, very interesting place! 2000 cans of beer produced every minute!!  We toured the plant from where the grain comes in, to where the packaging takes place.  It was very interesting to say the least.  After our 3 free samples it was time to maneuver yet another twisty mountain road to visit the grave site of "Buffalo Bill".  That man knew where to get buried and have a wonderful view of the city below.  By this time it was 7pm and time to once again descend down the mountain and drive to the capital of Colorado, Denver.  Once in Denver we parked near central park to walk around the capital build.  What a magnificent building!  The 13th step of the main entrance is exactly 1 mile above sea level, hence the nick name for Denver, "the Mile High City".  By now it is getting late and we still do not know where we are staying tonight.  South bound we go until I recognize the name of a restaurant "Golden Corral".  PIT STOP!!  All you can eat, steak, prime rib, brisket, shrimp, and on and on and on!! WOW!  Delicious!! Okay, so now it is dark and when I say Dark I mean DARK.  Colorado does not believe in wasting energy on street lights.  The cities are dark, like in Mexico!  So back on interstate 25 south to Castle Rock.  Joanne went in to find a room  while I was sitting in the car with the top up, I was swarmed by Corvette on lookers!!  I met  one old African American fellow that said to me "If I had a car like this I would take it to Pikes Peak", I replied, "Were going there tomorrow".  Oh my God, he was my new best friend!!  So after a 30 minute show and tell it was time to get to our room!  It is bedtime!!

Mt.  Evans

BMW test Mules

Nice road

Conor's Plant tour

Buffalo Bill's Grave site

Denver's Capital Building 

Fallen Soldies Monument near the capital building  

Day 6 - Wednesday

We left Cheyenne this morning and started our journey to Idaho Spring, Colorado.  First hours or so we weaved through the grass lands of Wyoming.  As we entered in to Colorado the views became interesting and the houses got a whole lot bigger.  Must be a lot of money in the pot smoking state of Colorado.  Through Fort Collins and west into the Rocky Mountains. We traveled to a place called Estes Park. It felt like a mini Banff with all the tourist things to do. Even a gondola up the mountain. The highlight though was The Stanley House, built in 1909 and was featured in Steven Kings movie the Shining. It is a luxurious resort today and they say ghosts still walk the halls. Many visitors have seen the ghosts over the years. There's a tour but it is so popular that it is sold out til
September.  The pass road was a little different then anything else that we have seen.  Instead of going up and over like every other pass this one goes up and we drive along the tops of the mountains for miles with views on both sides of the mountains. We stopped at the highest visitor center in America where we stretched and took a picture of a big fat Marmot.  Then down the other side to see 7 bull elk together along the road.  Such a cool thing to see!!  Shortly after that the rain started and never stopped so the breath taking views came to abrupt stop.  Tomorrow is a run up atop of the highest paved road in America!!  14271 feet above sea level  on the Mt. Evans scenic byway!

Day 5 - Tuesday

Well look at that, another headache this morning!!  Morning came very fast!! Off to breakfast with our friends and then it  was time to leave Deadwood for our next stop of our road trip.  We  headed southwest into Wyoming and after a few hours I was done. Ready to stop and relax! Cheyenne Wyoming it would be. I thought I'd lay down for a few minutes and wow! 8:00 missed supper and where is Joanne? Good thing she can entertain herself. She enjoyed the sun and watching some squirrels play a few feet from her. She caught up with the girls too! On to Colorado tomorrow.

This is my fortune cookie from last night. What do you suppose this means?

Day 4 - Monday

Well happy birthday to me!!  We woke somewhat early and headed to breakfast with our friends.  Boy do I have a headache! Free beer while playing Blackjack is a really good idea at the time, but the morning after oh wow!  After breakfast we headed down the road for more scenic views and hang on through the tight turns on the Needles Highway.  After the Needles Highway, we headed through the Wildlife Loop where we saw the famous Burrows and a few Antelope.  Then we headed up the highway to see Mount Rushmore.  We've seen Rushmore before, but it still takes our breath away as you think about the work that went into it.  It's such a must see!!  Then on to Keystone for some lunch, if you wanna call it that, it was 4pm!  Once back at Deadwood, it was a quick shower and off to wander the streets to find an open Blackjack table.  I played with a young couple from Minnesota that made it very entertaining!  The others walked from casino to casino to check out the old memorabilia from the late 1800's.  At about 3am, it was time to find my room.  Cashing in my chips and realizing that I did very well at Blackjack, I slowly walked main street Deadwood with a smile upon my face back to the Celebrity Hotel.   What a fascinating place!

Day Three

Well the day started off with us getting up early and heading from Cody, WY to Deadwood, SD. The drive from Cody through the north pass was such a surprise drive. We didn't think that it would be so scenic!! It was full of switch backs, tight turns and breath taking views. Then on to the freeway to get here a little faster since we were meeting Mike and Taylor in Deadwood. At about 4pm we rolled up to the Celebrity Hotel on main street Deadwood. Checked in and then off for a drive to Sturgis for a beer. After the drive back it was a quick shower and out for a very nice supper with some great friends!! We then wandered to the No. 10 saloon for a fun filled evening playing Blackjack!! Wow what a night. We danced my birthday in with a bang and broke even with Blackjack. Such a great first night in this unbelievable place.

Day Two

Well we ended up not going to Nichols last night with the Montana people that we met. Got on the road a little late this morning and headed down through Noris Montana to Columbus. From there we headed on to red Lodge Wyoming and up and over the Beartooth Pass. Which was absolutely amazing! As we went down the other side of the Beartooth Pass it started to rain and boy was I thankful for a roof!! Weather today was absolutely amazing. Except for a little bit of rain it was a gorgeous 101 degrees Fahrenheit. From the Beartooth Pass we headed on down to the Dead Indian pass and into Cody Wyoming. We just got in to at 9:30. A quick check-in and on to the Irma Hotel for a late night snack.

Day one...

Well the day started off bright and early 6 AM I was up watering plants and trees and stuff to make sure that everything was good while we were gone. We got on the road around 9am and we headed straight down to Helena Montana a few stops along the way but all in all pretty much straight here. Stopped at a little bar just outside of town and met some interesting locals...well we're kind of on a run away again!! How does this always happen to us? We just got a room and we are heading to the locals hangout "Nickels" to meet up with our new Montana friends. Canadian dollars at par!! Should make for a funny Friday night!! NO I am not driving to Nickels. Had 6 already!! (All day of course)

Sent from my iPhone

Last day of work...

Wow, this is it!! One more day of work and then off on our roadtrip to New Mexico!! Bags are packed, car is washed and the oil change got done last week. So, we should be all set to put a few miles on the new tires!!