Earlier in this trip, I told Rosie that if I had my choice, every driving leg of this trip would be at night. For one day (night), I got my wish! We had been sleeping well so we were in pretty good shape for the emergency evacuation. We have since learned that there was a confirmed tornado as part of that storm, by the way, so evacuation is definitely the word.
I took first shift and Rosie napped. She took second and I napped. We stopped at a surprising little coffee shop in Limon, KS, that was just the thing to get us going. The owner had lived in Columbus, Dayton, and Xenia. The shop was dog friendly, even inside. It also had a “medical spa”, about which we asked no questions. They were so kind and it was really just wonderful. Never mind the awful coffee! I bought a mug.
After that it was smooth sailing, just looking for mountains as we raced the sunrise behind us. We were not disappointed. Behold: El Capitan!
Pike’s Peak stands like a sentinel above the eastern Colorado plains. Coming in on US 24, it looks like the only mountain in existence all the way into Colorado Springs. The abruptness of it next to the high plains was really something. The scale of it was not really comprehensible yet — its peak rises 8000 feet above the town below, a full mile and a half. It looms.
Our campground was a gorgeous grove of pines with plenty of huge sites open. We had the tent up by 9am and by 9:30am I was asleep. Rosie tried but failed, I’m told. When I woke, we drove into town (Woodland Park) and ran our errands. The details mostly escape me here, we were pretty dazed and we really felt the altitude too.
Back in camp, Rosie tried another nap while I walked Georgia down the Centennial Trail, a very nice paved path along Colorado Highway 67. I lasted about a mile; my oxygen supply was lacking. My phone actually told me my cardio fitness had been LOW for one day, unprompted, at just this moment. So we came back to find Rosie snoozing. Georgia and I hopped in the car.
It’s preseason at this national forest, which means the water isn’t on yet. We were on the dregs of the dirty hosewater from our KS host and really needed to be guzzling right now. I went in search, in vain, but in the process Georgia and I explored Woodland Park in kind of a haphazard, suspicious looking way. Not even the trailhead of the centennial path had a spigot of any kind! I even tried an RV park nearby with no luck. We returned, defeated. Rosie was awake. We did very little after that; we made grilled cheese and played Ecarte, my new favorite two player card game. We were asleep by 8pm.
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