Our Ride up Pike's Peak....What an Unexpected Adventure!

 

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

 

 

We left Cripple Creek on our way to Cheyenne, WY.  Coming down the mountain from Cripple Creek, Rt 24, is kind of a harrowing experience.  Georgie downshifted but still had to use the brakes pretty regularly. 

 

Big Horn Sheep we saw on our way down the mountain

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to go 45 miles, to Colorado Springs.  We smelled something but thought it was someone in front of us because our windows were up.  I rolled my window down...it was us doing some serious smoking.

Georgie pulled over on the shoulder...yep...our brakes were SMOKIN'!!

We waited a while for them to cool off 'cause Georgie got under the truck and put the Infrared Temperature Gun on the brakes...280 DEGREES!  Those suckers were really hot!

He said, "Find a Ford Dealer.  We are getting new brakes."  I found a dealer about 5 miles away.  He then said, "Find a campground for a few days."  I found a campground about 2 miles away for 3 days.  (kind of a dive, Fountain Creek RV Park) but it served our purpose.

We pulled in, got unhooked and Georgie went to the Ford Dealer.  He came back with an appointment for the next day at 7:30 am.  Wheeewwww!





 

 

Since we were too far in Cripple Creek to go to Pike's Peak we decided, "Hell!  We're only 10 miles from there now!  Let's ride it!"

 

 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

 





So we did!  What a thrill! 

We left at 9:30 am and got to the top at 11:30 am.  It was 70 degrees when we left but we still wore our leather jackets.  We were SO glad we did!  It got colder & colder as we went up.  By the time we got to the top it was 42 degrees.  We were FREEZING our asses off!

We got some hot chocolate, bought a few small souvenirs, peed, took some amazing pictures then headed down. 

Georgie said it was more thrilling than riding up The Million Dollar Highway to Silverton & Ouray.  Most of the switchbacks were marked 10 mph...I went 5 mph 'cause most didn't have guardrails! 

Of course I had to talk to myself out loud...again.  A lot of HOLT SHIT! and YOU GOTTA BE F'ING KIDDING ME! as well as REALLY!  All while trying to keep Georgie (the pro) in sight.  He was pretty good...he'd tap his brakes if he went around a corner that I should slow down for.  He obviously didn't know...I WAS SLOWING DOWN FOR EACH & EVERY CORNER!

On the way up some smartass on a BMW passed me!  On a curve!  Those f'ing bikes are too quiet!  I didn't even hear him.  I only saw him when he went whizzing by me!

Another thrill of a lifetime!

 

We picked up the truck when we got back to town.  Georgie decided to have 4 new tires put on the rear & get an oil change.

We were ready to head out Friday morning for Cheyenne, WY.

What a great, unexpected stop!



And On and On and On....Our Time in Cripple Creek, CO

We wanted to ride the Harley's up Pike's Peak so we thought we'd find a place to stay in or close to Colorado Springs.  We called every campground around there...Woodland Park, Divide, Colorado Springs, etc., etc., etc.  They were all full until at least mid August.  We figured school would be starting soon so everyone & their brother were taking their last camping trips before school starts.

We don't book in advance since we don't know where we'll be or how long we want to stay someplace.

August 8, 2016

Left Durango.

Wild burros roam the street

We ended up in Cripple Creek, CO.  It's an old gold mining town.  Before the Gold Rush, this town had a population of 15.  At the height of the Gold Rush the population soared to over 50,000.  The current population is under 12,000.  We were extremely pleased with this quaint little town! 

The town of Cripple Creek

 



Where we stayed.  Cripple Creek Hospitality
House & RV Park
This was a hospital in the early 1900's

The main "drag"...Barnett St

Map of all mines underground

We went to the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine. 



In the mine.

Natural Epson Salt on walls of mine

In the mine

Blacksmith's "shop" in the mine



Guess who...

Elevator we went down in

Model of mine shaft we were in

They put you in the original elevators the miners took us down 1000 ft.  There were only 6 of us in these but they said 9 miners were in these each time they went down. 

We were less than 1/2 way down.  There were many mines below us, 1200 ft below us!  The mine has 22 levels.  We were at level 10.

 

We stopped by the Heritage Center across the street from the mine.  It was really interesting.

 

Our ride to Silverton and Ouray, Colorado...

Monday, August 1, 2016

Moved from Cortez, CO to Durango, CO for 2 reasons.  1^st, Annie still had to see the Vet in Durango.  2^nd, we wanted to ride the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton then on to Ouray.

Got settled into our new park, Alpen Rose RV Park by 2pm. 

 

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Well…we left the rig at 9:15 am to ride the Million Dollar Highway. 

Before I go any further you have to know that I have only ridden in Florida…it’s very, very flat!  Very flat!  We have to look hard to find a road with curves and rarely find hills let alone mountains.

Anyway, we got to Silverton at 11:15 am.  It was only 41 miles but it took us 2 hours!  Parts of this road were terrifying!!  No shoulders on some parts and NO GUARDRAILS…ON SWITCHBACKS, some were double switchbacks!!!!  I mean to tell you…when you looked down…you couldn’t see the bottom. 

Georgie decided he would pull over at an overlook…on a huge incline…on a curve!  I just kept on going!  Again…are you f***ing kidding me?  I pulled over about ¾ of a mile further…where it was a little more level.  He caught up.  He said, “What the hell!  I thought you’d want to take some pictures.”  “NOT THERE!” I said.  Maybe on the way back…where the overlooks where on the side where there were mountains…not humongous cliffs.

When we stopped in Silverton, Georgie said to me, “did you see blah, blah, blah?” 

“Are you f***ing kidding me!  I kept my eyes straight ahead!  I wasn’t looking at anything but the road on those curves!”

We walked around Silverton for about an hour.  Picked up a couple of Harley shirts then back on the bikes to head on up to Ouray, another 25 miles north…on the same road…with more switchbacks…double switchbacks…a lot of them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn’t even stop in Ouray.  We just turned around to head back…because the sky was black as coal…it was going to rain.  Georgie wanted to stop, I said no way!  And get caught in the rain, on this road…with all the switchbacks…and no guardrails!

I’ll bet if I said it once I said it a hundred times on the way up…to myself but out loud…HOLY F***!!!

It wasn’t as bad going back. We got back to Silverton without hitting rain.  We stopped for gas.  Talked to a few people on bikes going both directions.  They asked how it was.  Good thing they talked more to Georgie than me.  I did say it wasn’t bad coming back.

We left Silverton and headed home.  The sky was still very black.  Georgie, as usual, said we’d be fine.  The rain was behind us.  WRONG!  It started raining, a little, about 20 minutes in.  Not too bad.  Well…it just got worse and worse.  It was howling and very cold!  I worked out ok for me though.  I was more worried about just seeing the road rather than the curves…or the speed limit.  It felt like sleet hitting our faces.  I was sure I would have bruises on my face.  I didn’t.

We were about 23 miles from home when George pulls over on the shoulder.  It’s still raining mind you.    As we’re riding at 60 mph his bike shuts off.   He got it running in about 5 minutes and it ran fine.  Never did figure it out.

It finally stopped raining about 15 miles from home.  The sun came out and dried our jeans.  Now they were clean I thought.  Good thing we had our leather jackets on ‘cause it was really cold riding, not to mention the freezing cold rain. 
 

 
 
I kept thinking, if I could ride this road, especially in this kind of weather, I could ride any road!  Bring it on!!