Ute Valley MTB

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Planned on taking a rest day today, but then saw that its supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so we jumped on the ride that we planned to do tomorrow.  Ute Valley Park in the northern part of CS.  Beautiful views, some fun singletrack, but a whole lotta technical uphill.  Not somewhere we'd return to, but hey, at least it was a good workout!  Rest of the day was short walks with the pups around the RV park and ordering a delivered pizza.  High altitude + out of shape old people = early to bed!

Pikes Peak!

Tuesday, 28 July 2016

Took the cog railway up Pike's Peak early this morning with a thousand obnoxious tourists.  Then we rode all the way down the mountain on our mountain bikes.  Best part of going with the tour company was that they drove a support van behind us so the crazy drivers in cars couldn't run us over.  Beautiful views, fresh mountain air (except for all the auto exhaust) and a great lunch at the bottom.  20 years ago, we would have balked at taking a tourist train up a mountain, but these days, it just works.  Ended the day by meeting up with an Army friend of Jen's for dinner and beers at Phantom Canyon Brewing in downtown CS.

Pancake Rocks

Monday, 27 July 2016

Hiked up to Pancake Rocks via the Horsethief Falls Trail south of Divide, Colorado today.  Beautiful trail covered with pine needles and just a few rock scrambles.  Gained nearly 2,000 ft of elevation over 6.9 miles.  Sunday enjoyed climbing on all the pancake-shaped rocks at the top. Of course, we were very thirsty after such a strenuous hike, so we went directly to the Rocky Mountain Brewery for some hydration.  Since the last time we were there, they built a huge outdoor area with a fenced-in doggy park, complete with more stuff for Sunday to climb on. 

Beer and Dog Parks

Sunday, 26 July 2016

Arrived in Colorado Springs this afternoon and promptly got to all the important things:  dog parks and a brewery. 

Took the pups to the Bear Creek Dog Park near the downtown of the city.  10 fenced-in acres of doggy bliss, with a swimmin' hole, a stream, an agility area, and a bunch of trails.  Finn herded about 100 dogs into various corners and Sunday growled at every four-legged beast that posed a (perceived) threat to our pack.  Then off to Bristol Brewing Co, a brewery located in a renovated school house that allows dogs on its patio.  We were at our table long enough to drink half a beer when the thunderstorms rolled in.  Doug took the dogs to the car while Jen ordered dinner and a few growlers to go.  Check into Jen's Facebook for pictures -- too hard to upload here.

Yellow Brick Road

Followed the yellow brick road (a.k.a I-70) out of Missouri and into Kansas today. Nothing but driving.  Kansas is very flat. And hot. Sunday made some friends in the campground, including a dog with a blue Mohawk (of all times to not have my camera!)  Other than that, we've just been waiting out the thunderstorms and hoping they dont turn into tornadoes.  Because we all know that twisters are abnormally attracted to RVs.....

Tomorrow, Colorado Springs.  Mountains!!!! 

Hell is not eternal

Finally left Ft. Leonard Wood today, but are still in Missouri for one more night.  In the town of Peculiar, of all places. Off to drive through Kansas as fast as possible the next two days so we can play on Colorado and New Mexico before we need to sign in to Ft.  Huachuca.  There may or may not have been some hooting and hollering and "fu*k yeahs!!!" when we drove away from FLW for the last time today.