Everything worked out ok at the Mercedes place, we fueled up and headed off toward the sunset once more with plans of finding a roadside stop along the way. We found another Cracker Barrel in Topeka, but once we got there it felt a bit too early so we pushed on, Ben drove for a while and I looked for spots. We settled on a Walmart parking lot in Salina, Kansas. It was a 24 hour Supercenter! We had a great evening with another game of cards before bedtime, and once again we were awakened by thunderstorms, high winds and lots of shaking and noise but everything turned out OK.
The morning sunshine greeted us and after a bit of shopping we hit the road again. About 60 miles from Colorado we needed fuel. We had been watching diesel prices go up and down for some time and found a place where it was a bit less so decided to stop and fill up. Ben has been trying to convince me to wear sunglasses but I just don't like what they do to the scenery, but while I was inside trying on a pair I happened to spot a new Leisure Travel Van drive past!. They are rare to spot on the road so I was excited. Of course neither Carol or Ben spotted the van, and I wondered if they believed me, but as we were pulling out of the service station, there across the street was the Leisure travel Van with the two people in the front seat waving to us, we waved back. As I pulled back onto Route 70 west I noticed that they fell in behind us a couple of cars back. I flashed our roof marker lights as we were passing a big oversized load and spotted a rest area one mile ahead. I signaled that I was going to pull in and they followed us in. We introduced our selves and it turned out to be a guy from the mothership. Leisure Travel Vans itself! Don Klassen and his wife were heading to Colorado Springs for an RV show to show off the new 2020 Unity RL. We got a complete tour right there in the rest area, what a beauty, and what a genuine pleasure it was to meet Don and his wife. They were such nice folks, and I even got a new Leisure Travel Van hat. I offered to trade him even for our Unity, and even throw in the bikes, but as it turns out he was smarter than that. . . We said our good-bye and continued on our way west.
An hour later we crossed into Colorado and the flatness continues. I saw a couple or pronghorns way off in a field on the south side the road but beside that, just a low rolling prairie with the sun getting lower in the afternoon sky. Using an app on the phone we scouted Walmarts and Cracker Barrels and settled on a Cracker Barrel in Fort Collins. We had a great supper at a nearby restaurant called CB & Potts, wonderful supper and a great end to a long day of travel.
Morning came and we did all the routine morning stuff, had breakfast and got underway in search of a CVS, a Best Buy and Propane. We had made reservations at the Pikes Peak RV Park near Colorado Springs. CVS was mostly a success, Best Buy worked out OK and to our surprise the propane place, a U-Haul Store, was in the shadow of Mile High Stadium, home of those darned Broncos that us Patriot fans love to hate. It was actually great to see the stadium and after we filled our propane tank we went back and visited the stadium and met a friend lady and her son who were at that fateful playoff game where we got our butt kicked. . .
From there we got back onto I-25 south and headed to the RV park. This is our first time in a full service hook-up, water, electric and sewage. . . ah the luxury of it all. We arrived early enough that we could take some time and get some overdue chores done, laundry and such. I turned steaks on the grille and Carol made salad and pasta turning supper into a feast. We slept well last night and this morning we we made an earily-ish start and drove over to the Garden of the Gods.
The Garden of the Gods is an amazing rock formation with miles of hiking trails. We had a great day of hiking, even though the trails were paved and there were lots of other folks around. This is truly a landscape from another planet. We all had our cameras going, and Harper was having a heyday with the other dogs in the park. Harper pulled us through the trails. After a quick stop for some groceries we were back in our site at the rv park, all hooked up again. I started editing photos and Carol shucked some corn. I grilled up hamburgers for supper and we made a discovery. When you close the squeeze bottle of ketchup in a low altitude and drive to the mountains, air pressure comes into play. When I opened the lid of the ketchup it was like looking down the barrel of a shotgun, it being ketchup it looked like I was shot. It exploded all over me. And everyone had a good laugh. So now it is later in the evening and I am going to wrap this up and get some sleep, off to Durango tomorrow.
Below is a gallery of shots - sorry I didn’t have time to caption these this time, maybe I can catch up later, hope you enjoy the photos anyway, Ed.
