Up the Raton pass putting New Mexico In our rear view mirror, we cross the Colorado border and wonder if Rocky Mountain “High” is caused by the thin air and lack of oxygen. Maybe the high is from the excitement of achieving a goal and living our dream.
We enjoy the drive to Colorado Springs and just to the edge of the town of Manitou Springs where Garden of the Gods Campground is located.
Upon arrival, we are told that, after being promised a job working in the campground, that the place has been sold. Huh? Now what? We find a beautiful camp site and set up and wait.
After reuniting with our friends Wayne and Jen ( who were also promised a job) we all decided to make ourselves scarce and visit Rocky Mountain National Park. Jen – who is a chronic planner – has learned that this is national parks week and admission to all national parks is free. Wayne offered to drive, so we took his big comfy truck.
We took the scenic route out of Boulder (4 hr ride) across the peak to peak highway to the park. Wow, ooh, wow – the only words that we could come up with to describe the views. We saw a lot of wildlife that, quite frankly, we don’t know the names of: very blue birds, giant squirrels, and some of the roughest looking deer we’ve ever seen.
During our picnic lunch, we spotted 15 elk walking within 25 yards of us! Not a common site back in North Carolina or West Virginia. Big horn sheep were reported in the area, but we never saw any.
We stop at the base of what they call an alluvial fan. Where an earthen dam failed and 29 million gallons of water rushed down the mountain carrying huge boulders with it.
We visited the beautiful town Estes Park which was effected by 6 ft of water from the flood, but found no evidence of the destruction. Of course all of this happened in 1982, so we think they’ve had time to recover.
We also stopped in the small town of Nederland that has a mining museum which is the home of
the only remaining Bucyrus Steam Shovel used in the construction of the Panama Canal. All
others were scrapped in Panama.
Anyway, after a great day of traveling and exploring, it was back through Denver, Castlerock, and Blackforest to our new, temporary, home?
Whats this about the campground being sold? Well, it turns out that RVC Outdoor Destinations, an upscale camping resort investment firm has bought the park with the intention of creating a five-star resort. We thought it was one of the nicest campgrounds we have ever seen to start with, but hey, sounds like they may need some help. Sure enough, we are offered jobs with a better deal than we were promised.
This is one of many, many examples of God answering prayers. We may be at garden of the gods, but have once again been reminded who the real God is.
Our Adventure in RVing 