Current Location: Douglas, WY, N 42 45.736', W 105 24.207', elev. 4880 ft.

Wednesday I had gone to bed real tired, I was just worn out, exhausted. I had done so much driving, so much exploring in the past month that I was just physically, and mentally numb. I realized I hadn't had a "day off" in over a month. I realize that in essence, I am on a great big vacation, but the vacation has been very tiring at times. Please don't yell at me, informing me how hard you work. I have kept myself on a very grueling schedule, driving 4 to 8 hours a day, often visiting 2 or 3 attractions in one day, writing and preparing photos at night. All of this can be considered work in one form or another and I'm putting in 12 to 16 hours a day. I haven't had even a single day off in a long time. So thursday, I woke up, called the front desk and asked to stay an extra night in the motel. I did not do a damn thing all day. I even kept the do not disturb sign up, so my room was not prepared. I just sat in the air conditioned motel all day, watching TV, the Hurricane Katrina news, playing video games, and reading. I did not do anything for the trip at all, no writing, no assembling photo galleries, no website work, no planning any next steps. I only went outside for a short while to get a few groceries. It was delightful, and the one day off was all it took to recharge my batteries fully. I got two full great nights of sleep on a comfortable bed, took some nice showers, and relaxed. I need to do that more often.

With that all out of my system, I was back on the road and ready to explore on friday. Unfortunately, it seemed like friday was the day all the shit hit the fan on the Gulf Coast. The levees started breaking, New Orleans was a dead zone, Mississippi and Alabama were in awful shape as well. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, and I have huge regrets not spending more time there on this trip. I only spent a few hours, and I wrote that I'll be back someday. I just hope New Orleans is there when I go. I listened to the news on the radio, and it just got worse and worse. Donate (money and blood) and / or volunteer with the Red Cross if you can. It is not much, but I'll be donating 100% of money I receive [text removed] for this website (currently around $17.00), plus whatever else I can spare out of my own pocket. $17 is not all that much, in fact I can't even collect from [text removed] until I reach $100, so if you happen to [text removed], I won't tell the police on you. It will be our secret. And if [text removed] happens to be reading right now, I certainly did not just try to drive traffic to [text removed]. No sir, I would never do such a thing to violate my [text removed], not even for charity.

With all that going on in the back of my mind, I went to a gas station and got a little dose of my own Katrina reality. $4 gas prices and a 10 gallon limit. But My troubles are paltry compared to the gulf region. I drove around Pueblo a bit to get my bearings, then headed east from Pueblo on US 50, until I got to Cañon City, CO. Cañon City is the gateway to the Royal Gorge, the canyon near the source of the Arkansas River.



The very interesting thing about the Royal Gorge, is the bridge built over it, the highest bridge in the world; 1,053 ft. above the river below. The bridge does not support much traffic anymore, and a theme park has built up around the bridge. It was $20 to enter the theme park, which includes admission to the bridge, the aerial tram which flies over the gorge, and the incline railway which takes you down into the gorge. On the way out, you get a $7 rebate if you spent less than an hour in the park, which I ended up doing.



The bridge



Damn, I was all set to cast from the 1053 ft. bridge!

The main attraction is clearly the bridge, and it was the only thing I was interested in. I walked right out onto it, and it was very very windy. Windy enough that the bridge swayed a little, a little scary, but it was a lot scarier for others than me. Also scary was the bridge was al wooden slats, some old and starting to show a little rot, some new, but all spaced further apart than one likes to see, and all had a different plane, so if you weren't careful, it was easy to trip. Which I did. Twice. To the delight of my fellow bridge goers. Luckily I didn't trip enough to fall completely over, and get splinters in my face. I did one of those half trips where you catch your balance in mid air. I may be klutzy, but I am a graceful klutz.



Looking through the slats

Looking out over the side of the bridge was incredible, you could see little rafts and rafters in the river below, and the handiwork of eons of wind and water erosion. The bridge is an engineering marvel, and isn't bland or utilitarian, it was definitely designed with aesthetic in mind. You can see the rest of the photos here. This place, though very goofy and kitschy, was quite amazing. CT: you'd love it. KB: this is the bridge I mistakenly thought was in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. JS: enough with the personal little in-jokes, back to the narrative. Hi Mom.

Next I drove north and east on Colorado 115 to Colorado Springs. Let me just say I loved everything about Colorado Springs, and it would be the perfect city to move to if it were next to the ocean or located in Oregon. Colorado Springs is big, but not too big. It is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, so you have spectacular views towards the west from all over the city. To the east are the plains as far as you can see. And in the sky are the planes in constant motion, in formation 2 to 5 at a time, because Colorado Springs is where the air force academy is located.

It was getting close to sundown, so I quickly drove to the eastern part of the city, to a very beautiful monument / park called Garden of the Gods, which my dad insisted I see. It is not part of the national park system, but I have to say it is probably most beautiful municipal or private park I have ever seen. (Not sure which it is). Garden of the Gods (N 38 52.864', W 104 52.810', elev. 6482 ft.) sits at the base of Pike's Peak, which I got some excellent views of. I went to the visitor center and got some info about the park and the formations inside. I also paid $2 for a short film explaining the geology of the park, and the original finding of Pike's Peak by Zebulon Pike back in the day. Pike's Peak is significant for some reason that I don't know; I probably don't know since I slept through the film. I'm sure it was interesting.

Anyway, very quickly thereafter I left the visitor center and went to the park and walked around a bit. I did some hiking in the park and got some photos, which can be enjoyed here. You better enjoy them, I do not offer refunds. As you can see towards the end of the photos, a great big storm was rolling in, and threatening with lots of thunder and lightning, but never actually reached me.

It was getting pretty dark at this point, so I wanted to find a place to stay. I went to a few motels in Colorado Springs, but since it was labor day weekend, and it was also parents weekend at the Air Force Academy, I had no luck finding motels with vacancies. I continued north on I-25 until I arrived in the town of Castle Rock, CO, halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs. I found a decent place and stopped for the night. All motels usually bump their prices $10 on the weekends, but on holiday weekends it is $20 or $30. Bastards.

Saturday I got up and drove north on I-25 into Denver. Colorado is so perfect, the air and the views and the people. I had Sublime on the stereo, and I couldn't think of more perfect music to cruise around Colorado listening to. It is both laid back and edgy at the same time. When I reached I-70, I headed west towards my next destination, Rocky Mountain National Park. Driving east on I-70 into Denver, which I had done two weeks earlier in my trip is a lot of fun, driving down hill at a very steep grade over the course of 12 miles as you exit the Rocky Mountains. Well, unfortunately, driving west back into the mountains is the opposite of fun, driving up hill at a steep grade over the course of 12 miles. Lots of trucks going slow, lots of cars trying to pass, even quite a few vehicles pulled over overheated. My little car made the trip, but definitely used a bit of gas in the process. Over the course of three hours from Denver, I slowly made my way into the western edge of Rocky Mountain NP.

I won't bore you with a lot of description of the park. Other than to say it covers a lot of mountain road, including the highest pass me and my car have yet reached as we crossed the continental divide for the 10th time on the trip. This is the spot N 40 25.624', W 105 45.482', elev. 12,222 ft.. The air up there is very rare and you have to have care, as you climb the stair that you don't run out of breath up where. And watch out for bears! Or something. Anyway, Rocky Mountain National Park is very similar to Glacier National Park, which I have already described in detail here.

Here are a few photos of Rocky Mountain NP:



And here's a picture of a big ass bug that somehow landed on my windshield and managed to stay a good 4 miles:



Little bugger must have been 4 inches



And some more of the park

And finally, towards the end of the park, I got to see some wildlife. A huge herd of huge elk, males and females.



The highlight, by far, was two elk fighting:



And a third elk fighting a tree - and only barely winning.

So that was pretty much it for me in the park. You can view the rest of the photos here. I exited on the eastern side via US 34, which I took east until I reached I-25 again. On I-25 I drove north until well after dark, into Wyoming, passing through Cheyenne. In Wyoming, I was finally reaching the plains. There was a lot of wind and it seemed like another thunderstorm might be rolling in; my only indication of this is that it was too dark to see the sky. The wind brought tumbleweed across the road, which is so very scary driving at night on a dark highway. You'll be cruising along at 70 or whatever and all of a sudden a very fast, bright white object jumps right in front of your car. You can't tell if its a rabbit, a deer, an alien or something else so your natural instinct is to brake. Even if you were able to hit the brake before hitting the object, you're still hitting the object, just maybe 5 mph slower. It is a relief when the object bursts into a ball of weeds and makes a whoosh sound. But it is still scary every time. I kept on driving in Wyoming on I-25 until I reached the town of Douglas, where I stopped for the night. I caught a quick glimpse of my car, and there were little bits of tumbleweed stuck in every single crevice. Colorado is beautiful, I'll be back sometime.