Day 14: Riding "the" mountain (14 Aug 14)

Back in the saddle today for another high-elevation mountain ride.  Rode up and around Cheyenne Mountain, a/k/a/ "the mountain", famous for housing NORAD headquarters from deep within the mountain.  The ride started with a gradual incline among beautiful wildflowers and prairie dogs running around.  That lasted less than a half-mile... then it went straight up, and up, and up, and up.  The only down was when Jen had an epic crash into a pile of rocks - gravity was not her friend that time. All in all, we gained and lost 1500 ft over almost 10 miles, all at 6500 ft elevation. Exhausting, but beautiful.  Oh, and these trails are literally outside the gate of Ft. Carson.

Our very important rehydration ritual took place at Rocky Mountain Brewery, where we had some really yummy local beers. Have you ever had "apple caramel pie" beer?  We have... and it was really good.

Days 12 & 13: Journey to Colorado Springs (12-13 Aug 14)

Day 12:  begrudgingly departed Durango, headed east to Alameda, CO. Drive was beautiful, up and over a 10,000+ ft pass (hauling a 19,000 pound RV... yeah, let's not talk about gas mileage).  Not much to do in Alameda, but we did manage to find a brewery (imagine that!!).  Hey, we're all about supporting local businesses. :)

Day 13:  made our way up to Colorado Springs, over another beautiful mountain pass.  Spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and doing some recon for the rest of the week here.  Our campground is across the highway from Ft Carson.  Damn, if I knew this was an option, I would have stayed in the Army!