Cheyenne, WY...a Quaint "Little" Town...

Friday, August 19 to August 26, 2016

Made it to Cheyenne, WY.  Only a 3 ½  hour drive from Colorado Springs.  We stayed at the “famous” Terry Bison Ranch for a week.  http://www.terrybisonranch.com

 

We saw Bison, Camels, Antelope & Deer.  They have a great Steakhouse there as well as Tombstone Café that serves breakfast and lunch.

Cheyenne (population 64,000) isn’t a big city.  It has a small town feel.  There is a historic downtown that’s pretty cool.

 

There’s an old Union Pacific train station that is now Accomplice Beer Company.  http://www.accomplicebeer.com

 

A lot of the original floors and walls are still there.  The Union Pacific train runs right behind here.  While we were there 5 trains passed.  3 of them stopped to change train engineers.

There is a state museum.  http://wyomuseum.state.wy.us

 

We spent a couple of hours there.  We didn’t realize there was so much history in Wyoming.  They found dinosaur bones.  A lot of them.  As well several Indian tribes, cowboys, etc.

We took Tori & Annie swimming at Lion’s Park  http://www.cheyenne.org/listing/lions-park/60

 

It was 59 degrees out.  (not sure of the water temperature)  I thought I was going to have to go in and get them.  We’d call them, they’d get close to shore, then out they’d go again!  They swam for about 45 minutes and loved it.

We went somewhere every day.  There was always somewhere to go and something different to see.

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.