Colorado Springs Evaluation - Sept to Oct

It has been a long time since our last post. Because our activities lately have been more routine than adventurous, we decided to wait until we had a summary of our time in Colorado.

On the way from Mount Rushmore down to Colorado we stopped at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs South Dakota. We drove down through Nebraska and detoured a bit to stop at Carhenge. When the roadside stops are this weird, it's worth a bit of delay to check them out.

This is the world's largest mammoth research site.

This reminds me of the Flintstone's lodge.

There were grasshoppers everywhere around Carhenge - Michael

We came to a stop in Colorado Springs and set up a long term site at Garden of the Gods Campground, which is right by Garden of the Gods park, of course. Access to the park is free and the scenery is very beautiful. The entire area is very scenic with views of Pike's Peak and front range of the Rocky Mountains.

They are all looking at the deer on the left. There are a LOT of deer in the Western side of town. They are all over the place in residential areas and it is not uncommon to see multiple bucks just walking through neighborhoods.

We have gone to Garden of the Gods several times because it is so nice and is so close to us. The rocks are good for scrambling. With the exception of a couple of days of heavy rain, the weather has been just about perfect. Colorado Springs is known for over 300 days of sunshine a year and we believe it. Almost every morning is clear with some clouds appearing throughout the day. Each morning the sunny side of our RV heats up. The humidity is low and it is very comfortable to be here during the fall.

There are a bunch of holes where birds live in here - Michael

I was stuck in the back for a while, but I managed to get out - John

Woof - Maui

Maui looks happy. This is my bad haircut. I told the girl it was way too long, so she just pretty much cut it off.

The rock on the left is the one Michael and John climbed in.

We also went to Red Rock Canyon which is just a mile South of our Campground.

We didn't want Maui going up this one because it had steep drop-offs. We were okay with Michael and John going.

Hi- John

It was really high up here and you could see all of Colorado Springs - Michael

There was a little cave at the top - John

Shelli had a birthday while we were in Colorado Springs. Between this trip and our previous RV back in 2001-2003, all of us will have had a birthday in an RV while on the road. We always have cake and ice cream regardless, and it works out well. 

Maui pushed us over and made his own spot. Good thing Joey didn't need to get in the picture because there was no more room. - Shelli

Out for a hike after church and lunch on my birthday. It was what I wanted to do. Last year we hiked in Zion National Park on my birthday. - Shelli

Look at the clear skies. There are trails all over and I ran here a lot. One day I got lost and couldn't find my car for a while- Shelli

We have been visiting a few schools to see if they would be a good fit once we stop. There are plenty to choose from here with many public, charter, private, and home school options. In the meantime, home school has started again for Michael and John. The mornings are school time and the afternoons are used to get to know the area.

Maui wanted to join John's history lesson - Shelli

We have looked at neighborhoods all over Colorado Springs including ones to the North in Monument and to the West in Woodland Park. With most of the daily activities and stores we would probably use in the Northeast part of Colorado Springs, we think that will be the area we choose. There are plenty of older neighborhoods and new developments to choose from. Surprisingly, there are many home builders with new homes under construction to choose from. In comparison to Southern California where there are a LOT of obvious vacant foreclosure homes, there are not many eyesore homes here. However, there are a lot for sale and not that many rental homes available because like everywhere else, many people have had to get out of homes they couldn't afford and have to rent now. Rental rates are high in comparison to what a home payment could be here.

It appears as though the builders are trying to finish projects and have lowered their profit margins and prices to do so. I am doubtful the bottom has happened in the housing market and don't believe we will miss the low interest rates right away, so we are not rushing into a choice yet. We are looking at all options and will probably wait for the next couple of months to slow the pace as winter sets in. We'll see how it looks then. Most of the homes have recently lowered prices, and I think they will do it again.

We have been going to the New Life Church and think it is a good fit for us. It is a mega church with thousands of attendees each Sunday. It has a very good band and choir - I counted 119 singers and band members on the stage last Sunday. It's like being at a concert. The kids have made many friends at the church and we have gone out to dinner a couple of times with one of the families we met there.

With a population of over 400,000, Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado and the 41st largest in the United States, so it has all the stores we would want. We and are happy to see the prices are not as expensive as the other places we have seen in the past year. The commissary on Peterson Air Force Base has really good food prices compared to some other ones we have been to on this trip. The Air Force Academy also has a commissary, but it isn't as big.

Our last week here we had a cold spell that lasted a couple of days. We woke up to heavy snow that was falling, but not sticking to the ground at our elevation. The mountains above us collected a lot, and it was very pretty when the snow stopped and the skies cleared to a sunny day with a bright blue sky. The sun lit up golden colored aspen trees that really stood out with the green trees topped with snow.  We took some video clips of Maui playing in the falling snow, but didn't get any pictures of the mountains right after the snow fell. Several days later we took some from one of the areas we are looking at as a potential neighborhood, and from one of our friend's home.

The view from the deck of one of the houses we looked at.

We went over to dinner at two old friend's homes.  Both had very nice homes and plenty of room for us to spread out. One was a former co-worker from the National Guard whom I have stayed in contact with, and the other was in my TBS platoon in the Marine Corps. It had been 19 years since I last saw him when I was participating in an Airshow in Kansas and he was close enough to drive over from Kansas City to meet me. After all that time we still had a lot in common.  For both visits it was a really nice escape from the space issues of the RV and to go meet with them and their families. Once we get settled in, it will be nice to have some old friends already in town.

Aspens along the roadside

Pike's Peak with some pretty fresh snow on it.

After about five weeks in Colorado Springs, we left and headed towards the Southeast to spend time with family. Once we got just past Colorado Springs and onto I-70, everything changed. We went through the flat and windy remainder of Colorado and into the flat and very windy entire length of Kansas. We pressed on past the Museum of Oz, but stopped for gas in the town that advertized the world's largest prairie dog and a live five legged cow. Unfortunately the animal freak show place was closed, so we just got our gas and left. However, we built a memory before leaving because our gas pump stuck on instead of clicking off while I was cleaning the RV windshield. Shelli was coming back from walking Maui when she saw a bunch of stuff splashing down behind the RV. I ran back and stopped it after maybe three gallons had poured down the back and onto the concrete. There went about nine dollars.

We were looking forward to stopping in St Louis on the way because we had found several really good places to eat when we went through there during our move to California about two years ago. We went to the Donut Drive-In (which is a small shack with no drive through) for some of the best donuts we have found, and to get some really good ice cream at Ted Drewes Frozen Custard which is on historic Route 66.  Both places were featured on Food Network and both really deserve the attention. We drove all day and got to the Donut Drive-In late at night as they were finishing up some of their prep for the next morning. We got a big box of our favorites and they gave us a free bag full of extra pieces that had broken during the process and couldn't be sold. At Ted Drewes there were lines at all of the three or four open windows and people were taking pictures of themselves outside the store. After our late night frozen custard and donuts, we picked up a pizza and toasted ravioli from Imo's Pizza to take back tot he RV. Imo's makes a St Louis style thin crust pizza with provel cheese, which is cheddar, Swiss and provolone mix. It's pretty good, although a bit different. After all that food, we called it a night, but made plans to go to Pappy's Smokehouse for ribs the next morning as soon as they opened.

We arrived at Pappy's just about three minutes after they opened and there was already a line wrapped through the length of the store and out the door. The place has only been open three years but it has been featured on several TV shows and has won several awards. The word is out and now it is THE place to get ribs. We had the ribs, a pulled pork sandwich, fried corn, sweet potato fries, and green beans. We have decided the ribs are the best we have had from any restaurant anywhere. That's saying a lot because we have been to 50 states and have had BBQ pretty much every where we could.  The dry rub they use cooks to a caramelized sweet topping on the meaty just right pork ribs, and their sauces are good along with it. The fried corn and sweet potato fries are good too, but the green beans were not appreciated by Michael or John. It seems as though the body may reject green vegetables once it gets used to ice cream, donuts, and sugar coated pork. Who knew? We bought a couple slabs of ribs to go, in case anyone develops withdrawal symptoms.

Outside Ted Drewes. The lines went around to the front of the store, which you can't see from this angle.

In Pappy's after rounding the corner on the home stretch of the line. The line goes on way to the left, down a length about three times as long as you can see in the picture, out a hallway, out the door, then along the building in the parking lot.

The funny thing about this leg of our adventure is that after driving all over the West Coast and up through the vast stretches of Canada into Alaska and back, the lower 48 states seem small and so easily accessible. Going over a thousand miles on fairly flat and good roads is no big deal at all. I think we also re-calibrated our scales of some other things. I completely dislike the increase in traffic, and find the scenery west of Colorado to be quite a bit less interesting. It's just hard to compete with the great views we have had of the big open spaces and towering mountains.

I should also mention I am really tired of other drivers. There must be a perception of RV's that people can't shake. Just because it's big doesn't mean it's going slow. When the road is good, I move along pretty fast and pass anyone that is going slower. When I'm in the right lane passing someone, I keep getting people that I previously passed that are now mindlessly pulling over behind me and accelerating right up on my tail, like I'm in their way. I find a spot in traffic to get back over and have to put on my brakes and drop a bunch of speed to be behind the slow lane traffic. Then I wait and wait and wait for the tail rider, who has suddenly lost their hurry,  to finally move forward. Then I get back over to pass the slower right hand traffic I'm behind, accelerate back up to speed (spending a lot of gas money to do it), and find that the tail rider mindless driver is back to going about 4 or 5 miles an hour slower than I was going before they rode right up on my tail. It happens over and over again as people blank stare at the road or talk on their phones and assume they need to get around that RV. I'm thinking about getting some big flames painted on the RV and adding a fake jet engine to the back. Maybe then people will think I'm going faster and won't assume they have to get past me. The other issue is the people that actually are in a hurry that pass and then whip right over in front of me. Given that RV's don't stop well, it's really dumb to jump into the safety space in front of an RV. A NOTE TO ANY DRIVER THAT IS NEAR AN RV: The RV driver can't stop fast and can't make fast lane changes - even with the reflexes of a fighter pilot. If they happen to be an old retired (older and more retired than me) driver with poor reflexes, it gets worse. GIVE THEM ROOM.

We will arrive in Alabama at Shelli's parents home tomorrow, Oct 15th. We will get there in time to watch SEC football and share some Pappy's ribs for lunch. We will make our next post after several weeks visiting family.