DANG, DID WE REALLY DO THAT??? :-))))

As we  leave the beautiful Garden of the Gods and start out on our trek to Cortez, Colo,  in the South West corner of the state.We are on U.S. 24 west bound giggling our silly heads off. Did We really do that???

OMG... I'll bet someone post us on the Internet tonight. What a picture that will be. Some bearded ole geezer with a cute gal setting beside him in a truck named Jeanie's bottle, coming in the entrance to Garden of the Gods with about 1/2 inch on either side to spare. People were scrambling off the rock like crazy and thankfully the people who owned the car that needed to be moved for us to continue our entry was near by. People were either taking pictures of 72 foot of  truck conversion and trailer  coming in the entrance or freaking out.

I had not been there since I was about 12-13  and everyone at the gun club said I just had to take Jeanie to see it. They just forgot to mention the narrow entrance. Once we got in, the only place we could park was at the tourist trap store where the tour buses park. Those buses were only about 45 foot long and could pull over for scenic spots. We were to long for the turn out and blocked the narrow road when we tried.  We will go back when we can take the van and really enjoy the day in Garden of the Gods.

We passed beautiful little Lake George,  We were just beginning to think that this might be a great area to hang out in during the summer.We marked it down as a point to check out later ,but it appeared to be all  RV Parks and we didn't much care for that Idea.  We will check it out.

As we started the pull to the 9507 foot Wilkerson pass, Jeanie's bottle was just scooting right along. we were enjoying the beautiful scenery so much and Jeanie loved the Aspen trees. When we got to a turnout with Aspens right beside it, I pull over really close to the trees and stopped. I opened the lift access door . and deployed the lift. Jeanie  rolled right out after a warning of "Don't look down"  I pulled a Aspen branch down and let her touch the leaves. She wanted one for a keepsake, when she found the one she liked I snipped it off for her.  We stowed the lift and closed the doors, I pulled up a little more so she could get out and walk around( read as drive her wheelchair). we both loved  the cool fresh mountain air. I put Jeanie's keepsake leaves between wax paper and put them in a book at the bottom of a stack of books to press them. 

Jeanie on her lift, with her leaves, It must have been 300-400 feet straight down below her.

 Walking around the scenic pull out enjoying the fresh air on Wilkerson Pass

Over  Wilkerson pass and just flip on the Jake brake and ride and glide. It is so good to have the power to get up the passes and the Jake to take us down the other side. I never had to touch the  air brakes on Jeanie's Bottle one time.We stayed on U.S. 24 until we got to the junction of U.S. 285 at Johnsonville,CO. We then went south on U.S. 285 to Mayville,CO and the junction of U.S.50. We took U.S.50 west toward  the great divide.This was the second time, of many, that we would cross the Continental Divide in this years trip. I had in mind spending the night at the top of Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet.

It was almost dark by the time we got  done taking pictures and gawking at Mother Nature,s handiwork  I started the Generator but I had a tough time getting it to run right because of the thin air at  11,300 plus feet. I adjusted the carburetor a couple of times but it still wasn't right. I got supper fixed and then the Generator quit on me. I thought I knew exactly what the problem was, and I was right. The plugs had fouled,. I changed the plugs and it was back to running.

It was already pretty cool and I knew we were going to need heat before morning. We didn't have a motor home to go camping in. It was a motor HOME and we intended to be comfortable.. so we relied on electric heat. I had not installed the propane furnace yet.

 We decided we better get the heck off the mountain. We set sail for Gunnison at  7700 feet. I knew the generator would run there. The only problem was in all the getting ready to get to getting. I forgot to turn the generator off and the plugs fouled again. Not a big chance of buying plugs in Gunnison Colorado at 11 PM so we plugged Jeanie's C-Pap in to the 12 volt and called it a night, and a very comfortable night it was.

Rojo on Monarch Pass at dusk.

What a gorgeous place to spend the night at the top of Monarch pass.

Tomorrow: Hello Cortez, Colorado Gun Club

I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me

and

Thanks for coming by to check on us

.Rojo