Evans RV Adventures

Escapade classes

2008-06-30T20:29:00.007-06:00

Our first day of Escapade classes (we're still tired from all the boot camp classes). We started off by splitting up, Bobby went to "Equipping your RV for Electrical Independence", while Shelly attended "Solving the Mystery of Credit Reports". We then both went to "RV Banking Tips and Techniques" which mostly dealt with online banking. We then snacked on cereal bars, as we only had a 30 minute break before our next class. We then parted ways again. Shelly attended "Maintaining you Fantastic Vent" (great class) and "Miller RV Insurance". Bobby attended "Oil Services for Motor Coaches" (not good) and "SMI Supplemental Brake Systems".

We then headed over to the vendor area, on the way we walked through the RV show area. Check out our new rig, SIKE! Neat rig but nearly $800,000 OUCH!

In the vendor area we talked to the Fantastic Vent guys about getting replacement lift arms (which Shelly learned we needed in class, as we've been having a slight problem with the covers only opening halfway or not closing completely). So they're having a tech come out to our rig on Thursday to take a look and replace if needed.

(Froggi Donna)

We also stopped by Too Crazy Ladies to get an Escapade badge as well as having them drill holes in our current badges to allow us to hang all our new badges together.

(Our new badges)

A few more tasks completed, we headed home for dinner and a short time to relax before going back over to see if we won any door prizes (we didn't, but one of our fellow '06 classmates, Gail, did).

For tonight's entertainment, we had comedian and musician, Jimmy Travis. I believe he said he used to open for Hank Williams once upon a time. He was funny and did some good imitations of country singers as well as a humorous one of rap.

We sat watching him with our '06 classmates, Gail&Keith and Louise&Jack, all of us enjoying his act.

After the show, Gail&Keith invited us all over to their rig to enjoy some homemade salsa and chips as well as each other's company. We stayed for a few hours exchanging stories of our lives on the road, until the rumblings of the sky suggested that now would be a good time to head home. So at 11PM, we said our farewells (for that day) and headed back home for some much needed sleep.

Boot Camp Graduation

2008-06-29T20:24:00.006-06:00

Today is the final day of "Boot Camp". Started out with another (good) free breakfast at 7:30AM. We again had an hour to eat and socialize before our class started at 8:30. Mark Nemeth taught us essentials of hooking up a travel trailer, 5th wheel and lastly a tow vehicle to a motor home. Informative, but not something we really needed.

That was followed by the "Panel of Experts", which was a Q&A session to get our unanswered questions answered. That was it. We then filed out of the room where we picked up our Boot Camp Graduate badges. We'll have to get "Too Crazy Ladies" to give us hangers to add them to our Escapee name badges.

We (thankfully) got out of class 45 minutes early. We took the time to get a bite to eat, turn in our vouchers (so we could be eligible for door prizes), and a few other tasks in the vender area.

We then headed over for a small church service put on by the Christian BOF. Nice little service. We're glad it was made available to us, as we weren't able to get out to a local church service due to our attending Boot Camp this morning.

Services over, we rushed back over to central hall for our "First Timers Orientation" to an Escapade.

It started with one of the founders of Escapees, Kay Peterson told us the story of how she met her husband and co-founder of Escapees, Joe Peterson. It was a meeting that almost didn't happen, which would have meant no Escapees, so we're very grateful that it did take place. This was followed by Angie Carr, Kay and Joe Peterson's granddaughter and Executive Director of the Escapees RV Club. She took the time to tell us a little about Escapees, the Escapade, and welcome us all to our first Escapade.

After a short break, the Main Opening Ceremony took place. We were all introduced to Kay and Joe Peterson, Cathie and Bud Carr (Kay and Joe's daughter and son-in-law), and many others who perform administrative duties in Escapees. They told us a little about Escapees and their part in it.

We were then introduced to the keynote speaker, Craig Zablocki. He is a well known spokesman who has performed before the US President and was the first person to address those involved in the Columbine school shooting. He used positive humor to teach us to live in the moment and not to take ourselves so seriously.

He had us do different things to get us to loosen up and not worry what others think about us.

He even picked a guy out of the audience to do a demonstration on teamwork and living in the moment. It was hilarious!

We had a few hours before the evening events, so we went home for dinner as well as some watermelon our neighbors, Jeannie and Jerry, invited us to share with them. It was great!

Bellies full, we headed back over for door prizes (gotta be present to win) followed by an Ice Cream Social (free popsicles for everyone). We socialized a bit and then were entertained by the Chugwater Band. Good country band.

We didn't win any prizes, but we went home, a good long day completed.

Classes, Food and Entertainment

2008-06-28T19:23:00.004-06:00

Busy day today. Got up early to go over for our 7:30AM free breakfast. It was nice with a variety of items to choose from. Our first class didn't start until 8:30, so we had time to meet more Escapees and chat with them.

Our 8:30 class was "RV Systems - Part 2" by Mark Nemeth. He reviewed more systems, maintenance and safety of those systems. Our 2nd class was "RV Weight Safety" presented by Rick Lang (who we had seen at Life on Wheels), something everyone with any type of camper should be aware of.

We then broke for lunch back at our rig (had an hour) before heading back over for another class by Rick, "RV Radial Tire Safety". Another important thing that RVers should be aware of. If you learn nothing else, learn this - Always keep your tires properly inflated and keep your tires properly supported when we use wood or blocks for leveling under your tires.

Our most exciting and probably eye opening class was Mac "The Fire Guy" McCoy's "Fire and Life Safety" class. He reviewed where and how fires usually start in RV's, as well as showing us some videos to make us aware of how quick a camper can burn and how little time you have to get out. He also reviewed detectors and extinguishers and his recommendations of each. He also discussed having an exit plan, as your time to get out is so limited. We then proceeded outside where he demonstrated (with volunteers from our class) the different types and proper use of fire extinguishers.

After all that excitement, we had a social hour, followed by our free dinner of salad, roast beef, corn, au gratin potatoes and rolls, as well as a nice moose topped with raspberries and raspberry glaze. Yum!

With our bellies full, they provided us with some entertainment. Mark Nemeth gave us a comical look at what we face as full-timers, from all the various critters, to road construction and campgrounds. Kathy Carr (President of Escapees RV Club) was next to take the stage as a 99 year old women looking back over her life and the lessons she learned, such as, live every day as it were your last and enjoy this life you're living.

It was a busy day, but a good one with much learned and time well spent with fellow Escapees. Tomorrow, we get to do this all over again :-)

Boot Camp (day 1)

2008-06-27T19:45:00.003-06:00

Finished up the last of our laundry this morning.

We then drove over to register for "Boot Camp" as well as drop off some mail to be sent out. The first boot camp class is 1:00-2:30PM and all it covers is how to hook-up sewer lines. After full-timing for almost 2 years, I would hope we had that covered, so we headed back home until the Welcome ceremony, which starts at 3PM.

So, we went back over to Boot Camp when it was time. We were first introduced to all our "instructors" who would be training us over this three day "boot camp".

Mark Nemeth led our first class on RV Systems (Part 1). He did a quick overview of electric, batteries, generators, holding tanks, as well as CO2 and Smoke detectors. It was a nice simple presentation with a few gadgets and maintaince tips put forth.

We then had a short break and then had our 2nd class - "RV Driving Tips and Techniques" presented by Dennis Hill. He's the same person doing the RV Driving School that we wanted Shelly to take, but it was filled up when we tried to sign her up for it back in Feb. This class went over use of mirrors, turns, tail swing-out, backing and more.

It was a nice short day. Tomorrow will be much busier, starting at 7:30AM (breakfast provided) and ending at 8:30PM (dinner provided). Better get some sleep tonight!

Chores

2008-06-26T19:21:00.001-06:00

Spent much of the day catching up on laundry, as well as a much needed trip to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries and toiletries.

Yesterday, we ran into Full-timing Class of 2006 members Froggi Donna, Melvis, as well as a short visit with Snookie and Bob.

Once we had our "chores" for today done, we went for a walk, seeing Melvis again as well as Snookie.

(Snookie and Bob's house)

We then turned our attention on a few of the American Dream motorhomes we had seen here. The first one, a '98 or '99, we received no answer when we knocked on their door. The other one, an '03, the owners were home. Bill and Louise were very nice and invited us in for a chat. They've been full-timing for 7 years and married for 53 years (we're working on it, only 36 more years to go)! Our "chat" lasted about 2 hours, with many stories/experiences exchanged. We anticipate having many more chats with more of our Escapee family during our time here.

Escapees Escapade (Gillette, WY)

2008-06-25T20:04:00.001-06:00

Left Keyhole State Park to head 42 miles west to the Escapees Escapade at the CAM-PLEX center in Gillette, WY. Jasmine (our black cat) really seemed to like it there, and we're sure she'll miss the bunnies, birds, and even Pelicans she saw everyday (not to mention the water).

We've been anxiously anticipating this rally (our first). We have today and tomorrow off, as our "Boot Camp" classes don't start until Friday.

It's been great seeing all our Escapee family members, some who we've already met across the country, and many more that we still have to meet. We're looking forward to it!

Last day here (Keyhole State Park)

2008-06-24T19:54:00.001-06:00

Bobby finished straightening the AC fins and then came in and we did some housecleaning. Tomorrow we'll be heading to the Escapade, so we relaxed and visited with Escapees Ed and Peggy the rest of the evening.

Devils Tower National Monument

2008-06-23T19:07:00.003-06:00

Barb and Bob pulled out this morning and invited us to see them in Illinois and Florida if we were ever in their area.

We were heading to Devils Tower today (finally!). Barb and Bob had told us about a shortcut we should take. it's a dirt/gravel road approximately 8-10 miles in length and about 15 miles shorter than the alternative. Even though we had a bit of rain last night, we thought we'd try it.

We got about 6 miles. Not too bad, a little soft in spots, but you just had to keep moving. That was working out fine, until we ran into a herd of cattle, complete with running and jumping calves, all over one particularly soft section of the road. Not wanting to go on and risk having to stop and get stuck, we made the decision to turn around, go back, and take the longer route to Devils Tower.

Devils Tower was the first national monument proclaimed in our country.

We took the 1.3 mile hike around the tower, enabling us to see it from all sides.

It was a nice walk with intermittent shading provided by the Ponderosa Pines. The bark on these trees is very interesting, many thin layers, shaped like modern puzzle pieces stacked one on top of the other. The tower was neat to see, and seeing it up close in person, you can understand the legend of many Indian people of a great bear clawing at it's surface. We did happen to see one rock climber today, but he was too far up the tower for us to get a good picture of him.

After our hike around the tower, we drove over to the parks campground. We hadn't been sure if we would have been able to get our 40' motorhome in there. After driving thru it, we saw plenty of sites where we could have fit. We also saw more Escapees and we briefly chatted with a few of them before continuing on our way.

Our next stop was "Prairie Dog Town" in the park. It's basically a large meadow with numerous prairie dog mounds.

They were cute and quite talkative as Shelly snapped some pictures.

Church and new friends

2008-06-22T19:12:00.001-06:00

The American Eagle owners, Barb and Bob, came over to visit last night. We were eating dinner at the time, so they invited us over when we were done. So we went over at 8:30 and ended up staying until 11:30. Late for us! They invited us over the next night (tonight) to have homemade pizza with them.

Went to another small church this morning. Vineyard Fellowship Church in Pine Haven, WY (population 222). Had a few less people there then there was at Kaycee's church. Nice church, good message. After church, we filled up with gas and went shopping at the small grocery store in Pine Haven. We then went back home, had lunch and relaxed until it was time for dinner with Barb and Bob.

When it was time, they called us over and we took our chairs and sat out with them enjoying cheese, crackers, and wine before dinner. Barb went over to invite her "neighbor", in the 5th wheel, to join us. Turns out, she is a solo Escapee who is also heading to the Escapade. Her name is Suzie and has been full-timing for 5 years. Of course, hugs were exchanged.

So we all sat outside together and enjoying good conversation as well as the salad and pizza Barb made. She has a little pizza oven and used tortillas as the crust and covered them with pizza sauce, refried beans, peppers, onions, and cheese. They were really good and allot healthier then your tradition pizza.

While we were sitting out, we saw a 5th wheel with an Escapee sticker on it drive thru the campground looking for a space. Once they got setup and were taking a walk around the campground, we called them over to visit with us. Ed and Peggy, also full-timers and heading to the Escapee Escapade in Gillette! We all talked for hours, until it got too dark and then we all headed back to our respective homes.

Bike ride

2008-06-21T19:02:00.001-06:00

Bobby hadn't gotten to ride his bike since we left Mesa about 3 weeks ago, so he decided to go for a short ride this morning. He rode 16 miles around the park, enjoying seeing the proghorn and deer along the way. He's now completed over 1,600 miles since he started riding earlier this year! Go Bobby!

After getting back home, he was back on the roof to work on the rear AC unit. This one seems to be crushed in more and he was only able to straighten out 1/4 of it's fins. He hopes to get it completed before we leave to go to Gillette on June 25th.

An American Eagle ('08) just pulled in next to us late today. Really haven't gotten to talk to them much, but Shelly did find out that they are full-timers and are on their way to the FMCA/American Coach Chapter Rally in Minneapolis. Hopefully we'll get to chat with them more before they leave (not sure how long they'll be here).

Sun burn

2008-06-20T21:45:00.001-06:00

No Devil's Tower today. Bobby managed to burn his lower back while working on the AC's on the roof yesterday. It's tender, so he didn't want to do a lot of walking around. So we'll hold off seeing it until Monday or Tuesday.

Bobby spent more time working on the AC's today and managed to complete the front one. We ran it for a little bit and it seems to be okay so far.

Shelly spent some time organizing all our campground info. We had a good dinner and then took the cats for a walk before heading to bed.

God watched over us!

2008-06-19T19:03:00.003-06:00

Well, no Devil's Tower today either.

Although we missed the storm around dinner time, the same couldn't be said for last night. Bobby woke up around 12:24AM. Around 1AM, is when the storm started. We had about 45 minutes of STRONG winds (70+mph) rocking the coach with pounding rain/hail.

Then there was a bit of a lull but still strong winds and rain, but not as severe. We took this opportunity to run over to the concrete bath house. Opening the door to the coach to leave, the wind ripped the door open, pulling Bobby out while his coat caught on the door frame, tearing open the fabric on his sleeve. Doesn't look fixable, so a new coat will be in his future. We then ran to the bathrooms and spent the next 45-60 minutes waiting out the rest of the storm. Once it had settled down, Bobby ran over to check out some tenters who had chosen to ride out the storm in their tents!?!?!?

This is the worst storm we've been through in our motorhome, and we hope to not have to ever go through this again. We spent much of our time in this storm praying and keeping each other close by. God did watch over us and the only damage we received to our coach was having all the unprotected radiator fins flattened on both air conditioners on the roof by the hail.

Bobby spent quite a few hours today straightening the fins by hand. In that time he managed to fix about 1/4 of them. He also helped another camper to remove their damaged awning from their trailer. It had been out during the night, and the storm took no time whipping it over the roof of their trailer. We thought we had lost our welcome mat (which we had secured under a rock), but Bobby found it in the next campsite this morning.

We give thanks to God for making it through this storm safely (as well as everyone else in the campground with us) and hope this isn't the usual weather for Wyoming, as we plan to be here thru the beginning of July.

If there's no storms to keep us up tonight and the weather's okay tomorrow, maybe we'll get to Devil's Tower.

Around the park

2008-06-18T19:30:00.004-06:00

Went ahead and purchased an Wyoming Annual Parks pass for $100 today. Plus $10 more dollars for the car. We got our stickers which allow us to roam outside the confines of the park and return without any additional fees. So out we went. The park has different campgrounds, not all attached, so you have to exit the park in order to enter other sections of the park. We drove around half of the park and plan to see the other half in a few more days. So far, we like the campground we're at (for motorhomes our size and satellite reception) the best.

We had put off going to Devil's Tower today, as we had a thunderstorm around 3AM, and with a chance of rain early in this morning, we didn't want to risk getting wet with our sightseeing.

We thought we would get hit with a thunderstorm around dinner time, as we were under a warning that could include hail. Thankfully, it skirted around us, but we did manage to get a few neat pictures out of it.

(beautiful but scary looking, huh?)
Once it had gone by, we took the babies (our cats) for a walk (again) with Jasmine getting her feet wet for the 2nd time today.

She really seems to love it here, with the rabbits, birds, and water. She would be happy to spend all her time outdoors here.

Keyhole State Park

2008-06-17T18:07:00.005-06:00

Drove 162 miles today (collecting more bugs on our windshield) to Keyhole State Park near Pine Haven/Moorcroft, WY.

Nice state park, with 9 different campgrounds around the Keyhole Reservoir. $12/nite for non-residents. All dry camping, no hook-ups.

The shore line where we are (Pat's Point Camp) seems to be all sandstone. We didn't go swimming yet (though there were people out there), so we can't say what the bottom's like.

Water's cool, but not too cold and is refreshing on a hot day like today. As the name of the campground describes, we are out on a point with water on 3 sides of us. As long as the weather's good, we plan to go out to Devil's Tower tomorrow.

Hair cut and museum

2008-06-16T19:29:00.005-06:00

Since Shelly had her hair cut last week, Bobby was due for his. So after Shelly cut his hair, we walked into town to the "Hoofprints of the Past" museum.

A nice, free small town museum that included clothing and artifacts from days gone by, some over a hundred years old. They even had an old log cabin school house, log cabin one room house (complete with dirt floor), as well as an old one room jail.

They had various farm equipment, most of it man or horse powered, and different types of wagons, including the covered type (though the one on display had lost it's cover).

They also had pictures of the town under water in the recent 2002 flood.
After our tour, we walked back home, stopping to investigate the Kaycee town park. Interesting set of rules that park has.

We could boondock there for free, but after we had so many mosquitoes welcoming us, we decided against it.

Back home, we tried taking some pictures of all the "snow" falling from the cottonwood trees (Wyoming's state tree), but they didn't really turn out.

We're pulling out tomorrow, so there's more packing to do.

Church and cleaning (Kaycee, WY)

2008-06-15T19:32:00.004-06:00

Found a nice little Baptist Church to attend this Father's Day. (Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!). Kaycee Baptist Church - small, but nice. Including us, there were about 25 people in attendance. Good message, and they even had a potluck lunch after the service that they invited us to enjoy. So we did. It was nice to enjoy the good food, as well as hearing about this area from the members.

After church, we headed home. Bobby's working on cleaning up our very "buggy" windshield from the drive here.

He even resorted to using our "pot scraper" to get them all off.

Kaycee, WY

2008-06-14T19:18:00.001-06:00

Traveled 147 miles today to a little town - Kaycee, WY - Population 249. We're staying in a little campground - "Powder River Campground and Cabins".

It's a Passport America park - $10/nite (up to 4 nites) with full hookups. It's basically someone's yard with some trailers and hookups for about 15 RV's. From the looks of it, the electrical boxes are new with good 50/30amp service. There are some small kids that live in the house on the property, but they seem to stay away from the campers.

Welcome to Wyoming!

2008-06-13T20:10:00.002-06:00

We only drove 7 miles into Wyoming pulling off I-25 at exit 7 to fill up with diesel fuel at the Flying J @ $4.45/gallon. That was about 25 cents cheaper than in Colorado. Thanks to DieselBoss.com, we knew the prices before we got there. At the same exit as the Flying J, is our free "parking" space for the night. We are in the "RV parking" area at the Wyoming Information Center (Rest Area) just down the street.

We're up on a hill and it's a little windy, but that will just help to rock us to sleep tonight. Although there is a sign that says "No Overnight Camping", we read a little online from WYDOT that basically says, "parking for the night is fine, just no "Camping" (no slides out, no jacks down, no awnings out, etc.). Hopefully we don't get a knock on the door in the middle of the night!

Laundry and packing up

2008-06-12T19:49:00.001-06:00

Spent today catching up on laundry and packing things up to leave tomorrow. We aren't having much luck finding a good reasonably priced campground in the Denver/Estes area. If we don't find anything, we will head north to Cheyenne, WY.

USAFA and Focus on the Family

2008-06-11T20:41:00.006-06:00

Did some more sightseeing today. We first went to the United States Air Force Academy.

We started off at the visitor center where we watched a 15 minute film about the academy and the training that the cadets receive there. It's basically a four year college that they will graduate from as an Air Force Officer with a bachelor of science degree in the field of their choosing. After watching the film and taking a self-guided tour of the visitor's center, we took a short (COLD) walk over to the chapel.

The chapel was complete in 1963 and houses four different "churches" in one. The main level had the beautiful A-framed ceiling/structure and pipe organ and it housed the Protestant services.

Below that were three smaller "churches" - Catholic, Jewish, and Buddhist.

From there, we drove around the rest of the property taking a few more pictures along the way.

After our visit there, we headed to the nearby "Focus on the Family" campus.

This is a Christian organization that is devoted to helping the family worldwide while maintaining and promoting biblical values. We started out with a 45 minute tour at the Main Administration Building.

During this tour, we learned about the organization, their core values, their founder (Dr. James Dobson), how they got their start, their many publications, their radio programs, their different ministries, and too much more to mention. We then had lunch in their cafeteria before walking over (in the rain) to their Visitor's Center. We started off in their bookstore which contained a wonderful assortment of books, CD's, DVD's, jewelry, gifts, etc. We then paused to listen to a live performance by a Christian band (they were Awesome!) before hopping on a shuttle bus for a short ride over to the Operations Building for a 15 minute tour.

We saw where they mail out all their various publications (magazines, books, CD's, DVD's, etc.). They handle such a large volume, that they have their own post office and zip code.

We also saw the call center where phone calls that come into Focus on the Family are answered. We then caught another shuttle bus back to the Visitors Center to finish our self-guided tour there. Bobby picked up a cup of coffee, and we then went to the auditorium to watch a 15 minute film about this organization. Our viewing completed, we walked downstairs to "Whit's End", their Soda Shoppe, where we probably would have shared some ice cream is we weren't chilled by the cool, windy, rainy day outside. So we continued exploring the rest of the downstairs which is aimed primarily at kids, and is a great place to bring them for hours of fun free of charge. Shelly enjoyed going through the secrete passage in the wardrobe to enter the land of Narnia.

We had planned to see the Olympic Training Center as well, but we didn't realize how much time we would spend at the Focus of the Family Campus. We'll have to save that for the next time we come to this area.

Day off and windshield repair

2008-06-10T19:16:00.003-06:00

After running around sightseeing, we felt like we needed a day off. So we did a bit of housecleaning as well as scheduling someone to come out to repair the chip in our windshield.

Thankfully, they were able to come out to repair it today. Took about 30 minutes for the repair to be done.

Looked better once it was done, and hopefully it will prevent any further damage.

With that done, Shelly headed out for a much needed haircut. She went to a Great Clips on a recommendation from one of the campground hosts, and she was quite happy with the results.

Once Shelly returned home, we headed out to meet some of our Escapee members here in the park who are also heading up to the Escapade in Gillette, WY. What was going to be a short meeting, ended up being a four hour "happy hour". Complete with drinks and snacks. But we always enjoy meeting members of our Escapee family, so it was time well spent. Sorry no pictures this time.

Up, Up, and Away!

2008-06-09T22:15:00.014-06:00

Took our car somewhere it will probably never go again. Drove from 6,012 feet in elevation to 14,110 feet at the top of Pike's Peak Mountain!

Took us about 2hrs to drive the 19 miles to the top, including a few scenic stops along the way. It's neat to see how the plant life changes as you go up in elevation. The trees get increasingly shorter, until they finally disappear and you're just left with a rocky surface and snow here and there.

The temp at the peak was 36 degrees and thankfully we had brought our winter coats (Shelly also had mittens). Though it was cold and a little windy, the view was awesome.

We went inside the Summit House to warm up and enjoy coffee and their "world famous" donuts. Good, basic deep fried donuts. As far as any physical changes we noticed with the increased elevation, Shelly had a little tightness with a deep breath in and Bobby felt a little pressure in his head. Both mild, but over time I guess you'd adjust.

After out time on top, we headed back down to the surface, enjoying beautiful views all the way down. Back at the base, it was a warm 72 degrees.

We stopped at "The Wines of Colorado", a tasting room where you can sample wines from around the state. Sounds nice, but they weren't very friendly and didn't tell you that you only had a limited number of samples until you almost used up all your tasting. Nor was it organized, no description of wines or a list from driest to sweetest. We did find a Port wine we liked, but otherwise, we weren't impressed.

After that, we headed back to the coach for a late lunch.

Church and Royal Gorge Bridge

2008-06-08T20:36:00.004-06:00

Started off the day with Free coffee, donuts, and conversation at the office again. We then headed south to Canon City for church. God lead us to a great church "Vineyard Christian Fellowship". If we lived here, this would be our home church. After the service, they had lunch - a hotdog or hamburger, chips, and a soda. Cost us $2 for the both of us!

Refreshed, both physically and spiritually, we headed west to the "Royal Gorge Bridge".

Not wanting to pay $23/person to walk on the bridge, we parked the car and looked for a good vantage point to view the bridge and the Arkansas River in the gorge below. We found a good spot (for free!) near the fire station just alongside the front parking lot. We had a Birdseye view of the river below, with rafters and Kayakers making their way through the rapids. From where we were standing, they appeared so tiny. Even being there in person, it's hard to fathom how far down it is to the river.

The bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world and it sits 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River. It was built in 1929 in just over 7 months.

After our visit to the gorge, we headed back through Canon City to enjoy some coffee at a local coffee shop. It was free, as we had coupons in our welcome packets from the church. Very nice and the coffee was great!

We then stopped at a winery - "The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey". The first winery we've gone to in Colorado and that we didn't buy any wine at. Their wines were okay, but not anything truly distinct. We didn't want to spend $26 for a bottle of wine that we just "kind of liked". Instead, we went to Wal-Mart to get Bobby a new watch and stock up on a few groceries before going back home.

Garden of the Gods

2008-06-07T18:12:00.010-06:00

Bobby woke up early (again) to see deer walking outside around the coach. Shelly was sleeping, of course, so he had to take pictures for proof.

Once Shelly got up, we headed down to the patio outside the campground office for complimentary coffee and donuts and some socializing with other campground guests. Full and charged up, we headed out.

Our first stop was Van Briggle Pottery located in Old Town Colorado Springs. It's currently housed in a former Colorado Midland Railroad roundhouse built in 1899, the same year that Van Briggle Pottery got it's start. With today being Saturday, there wasn't much to see, as they were only doing limited production.

Pottery cooling after being fired in their glazing kiln.

Finished products in their gift shop

We then drove a few miles to "Garden of the Gods".

This 480 acre park was originally owned by Charles Perkins, head of the Burlington Railroad. He had originally bought it with the intention of building a summer home on it, but ended up leaving it in it's natural state. After his death, the land was given to Colorado Springs with the stipulation that it would always be free and open to the public, and that no structures would be built on it. It truly is a beautiful place with mostly red rock towering over all who visit.

It was a great day for enjoying the park, with blue skies, temps around 80, and a nice breeze. We saw a few rock climbers along our way.

We hiked up to the "Siamese Twins" formation, where we had a nice view of the area, including a "window view" of Pikes Peak Mountain.

After returning to the campground, we walked to the office, this time for the Ice Cream Social. Bring a spoon, bowl, and a buck ($1). The ice cream was good but the socializing was even better.

Here we met Bill and Anette (full-timers)

(Lion King?)

Red Rock Valley, Colorado Springs, CO

2008-06-06T19:37:00.004-06:00

Drove 162 miles today with more snow capped mountains to see along the way. Drove over Raton Pass, entering into Colorado. This pass was much easier than we expected, especially when compared to what we drove over leaving Mesa.

A bit north of mile marker 70 on I-25 we even saw a bit of SNOW on the sides of the road. Thankfully it was only there and not falling out of the sky!

We reached our destination "Mountaindale Cabins and RV Resort" a bit southwest of Colorado Springs. Nice Passport America park with many pine trees, though they seem to do a good job keeping them trimmed. We're on a nice sized site (#79) with picnic table and fire pit. No problem getting satellite signal but no cell phone service. Strange because we get signal fine just outside the entrance to the park. However, the park offers FREE local and long distance phone service at the office (24hrs). Oh and FREE fast WIFI too!

Since we have no cell signals, If you have called us or need to contact us, please email us at robert@evansrvadventures.com. We will be here until Thursday or Friday before heading north to Denver area.

We noticed a lot of hummingbirds here, so we decided to put out our hummingbird feeder. It wasn't even two minutes after we hung it that they found it and started feeding on it.

Weather's nice here, 70-80's and a nice breeze to keep you from getting too hot.

Oh and on our drive here, we did have a car in front of us throw a stone up that took a nice chip/crack out of our driver's side window on the coach. We hope to get it filled in a few days to keep it from spreading.