Had A Blast in Colorado Springs

October 5-18, 2021

Our 165-mile ride to Colorado Springs went off without an issue. We took 470, a toll road, around Denver then got on CO 83 all the way down to the north side of COS. Thanks, Steve and Cathy for the tip about this route, so much less stressful. Then less than 20 miles on I25 through COS and we arrived at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Our first night was in site 2.

The next morning we moved to site 9, across the street and with awesome views of the city. Both sites are FHU as are all of the RV sites in the campground. Being so close to the city our Verizon signal is great and in our area no problem getting a satellite signal. We took a good look around the campground this time, we still think site 9 is the best. Though if winds bother you, you'd best look at the Meadows area. While here we had freezing nights and red flag days, we experienced 60 mph gusts.

Night time view from site 9

Morning view from site 9

Thankfully Dave and I continued to get better and were able to enjoy our time in Colorado Springs.

Our friends Steve and Cathy came down for a day of catching up and card playing, always fun and lots of laughs with them. 

Cheyenne Mountain State Park has many trails, some of which can be accessed from the campground. We enjoyed walking a few of the shorter (~3.5 miles) trails.

small rock tree

medium rock tree

large rock tree

Of course, there’s always a geocache or two to be found.

One morning we took a scenic ride to and up the east side of Weston Pass.

We spent time with our son Tom, his girlfriend Kanik, and our granddog Alvin.

Alvin got his nails done for the occasion 

                                                 

We even took a paint pouring class at Painting With A Twist where Kanik works.

Across the street from CMSP is Fort Carson, an army base where they had a few tanks Dave could look at. Of course, there was a geocache there but I managed to find it by myself while Dave was looking around. If you're up at 6:30am reveille is played, at 4:55pm and 5:00pm I believe retreat is played. You can hear it from the sites here in the campground. 

Our great friends Curt and Glenda were getting bored with the scenery at their home in Eloy AZ so took a ride to Colorado Springs. We spent 3 days with them playing tourist and the boys enjoyed a few tastings. I can't say how much this visit meant to us, love you two, see you in December.

A trip to Bishop’s Castle is always in store, we saw some great fall colors on the way there. 

A stop into Garden of the Gods was a great place to get some walking in. 

                                                                                

logging our geocache

Then the creative side in Curt came out!!

The Wandering Camels
under The Kissing Camels

Of course, there was beer involved with our stay in Colorado Springs, before during, and after our visit from Curt and Glenda. 

Beast and Brews had 80+ beers on tap, along
with wines, ciders, and sodas. Great way to try new 
beers and some great food too. 

One last fire at our beautiful site. 

Beautiful sunrise

The reason for coming to COS!!!

In the morning we start our 4-day, 3-night trek down to the Gulf Coast.
Until next time...

Not Quite What We Planned

 September 21-October 4, 2021

Our 157-mile ride to Horsetooth Reservoir-South Bay Campground on the west side of Ft Collins was uneventful, just what we like. We had many plans for our 14-day visit, many of which never happened.

Site 9

Horsetooth Reservoir sits on the west side of Ft Collins, South Bay Campground is right at the southern end, with easy access to Ft Collins and the northwest side of Denver. There are electric only and FHU sites, we had an FHU site which along with the daily access fee comes to just under $50/night. The FHU sites will fit big rigs but some of the electric-only sites won't fit us or we wouldn't be able to get our slides out due to the placement of rocks around some sites. Verizon signal is good but the bandwidth sometimes isn't up the traffic in the area. While we don't usually like to spend that much it's much nicer to spend it on a site here instead of a commercial private park. If we find ourselves in the area again we'd come back.  

Around the campground:

The day we arrived, after setting up, we headed to Zwei Brewing for a tasting. Dave enjoyed a few of their beers and has packed away a crowler for sharing when we get to AZ. After that things went downhill for a while. Dave finally succumbed to the super cold my Dad had unwittingly shared with him. About a week later I too fell to the super cold. My Dad had accidentally shared it with us in the last 2 days we were in IL, he was tested for Covid which came back negative. My Mom also caught it, so we all dealt with a couple of weeks worth of stuffy heads and runny noses.

So what did we do?

Amazon came through for us again with the part for the AC and a locker to deliver it to only 5 miles away. One new control board and we’re back in business and no more shocks when we touch the RV.

Larimer County Farmers Market downtown Ft Collins at the county courthouse is awesome, forgot to get pictures but we scored some awesome finds. Mushrooms, fruits, produce sweets, and best of all local beef and pork. If you’re in the area don’t miss it.

tasting at the Tap and Handle pub

We made it into Rocky Mountain National Park one day out of the three we had reserved, there were many hikes we wished we could have done. We did take the one-way dirt 9 mile Old Fall Ridge Road, a nice ride and the truck did awesome. We love the turning radius on the Ram, so much better than the Chevy.

We did take a few scenic rides and enjoyed the start of fall.

We managed to get to New Belgium Brewery, no tours these days, but Dave did get to sample some of their beers he’s never had.

The rest of our time was spent fighting the super cold, we missed seeing some friends and told our son to stay away. We’ll see Tom at our next stop in Colorado Springs and hope to also catch up with our missed friends there. We’re both feeling better, a touch of congestion lingering. One day we'll get back here and Dave can check out more of the breweries. In the morning we head to Cheyenne Mountain State Park where we have 14 days there.

Until next time...