Confessions of an RVer: GARDEN OF THE GODS AND ROYAL GORGE

Well, I have been a busy girl. Son and his family met us in Trinidad, CO. last Sunday. Daughter and her family met in Colorado Springs on Monday and I haven't stopped long enough to breathe much less write a blog! So, I have a lot of catching up to do. You will probably get the Readers Digest version because I doubt that I can remember everything that has happened.

First of all, Son left the Houston area last Saturday and had plans to drive to Palo Duro Canyon State Park on Saturday night. I get a call from DIL Saturday afternoon saying that they are having problems with their suburban. They think it is the transmission and they know it is something major. They had stopped in Bowie, TX and had a guy look at it. He said he felt like it was the transmission and they needed to try to make it to Wichita Falls, TX to a guy named Steve and have him work on it. So, they head off and are having to stop every 15 to 20 minutes for the motor to cool off. In the meantime, DIL, Mr. W, and I start looking for some place for them to rent an automobile that will pull their travel trailer. Mr. W calls an RV place in Wichita Falls and asks if they happen to rent trucks or know of a place that would rent trucks that could pull a travel trailer. The guy he talks to asks what the problem is with Son's suburban. Mr. W tells him the transmission, and the guy tells Mr. W that he needs to get it to Steve. What? The same Steve? The guy continues to tell Mr. W that Son cannot take it to anyone but Steve and he knows Steve will help him. Also, during this time Barb and I have been praying that somehow God would work this all out for them to continue their vacation that they had been planning for 6 months.

Long story short, they arrive at Steve's. Steve takes it for a drive and starts looking at everything. It isn't the transmission, it is the rear pinion that has gone out. Steve has an RV pad at his place with water and electricity. He tells them to pull in and hook up and spend the night. He also tells them that he has an extra truck that he wants them to take and finish their vacation. He will arrange to have their suburban fixed while they are gone. On their way back home, they can stop back and pick up their fixed suburban and return his truck. He is letting them use it free of charge. Can you believe this? What a good Samaritan in today's world! God really does answer prayer. So, they load up Steve's truck, hooked on the trailer and met us in Trinidad on Sunday, right on schedule. Sunday was DIL's birthday and we celebrated with grilled hamburgers and birthday cake.

We loaded up Monday morning and headed to Colorado Springs. We stayed at Trinidad Lake State Park in Trinidad and Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs. Both were great parks. I highly recommend them and plan on staying there again. Look who rode with Mimi and Pops to Colorado Springs.

Boy-child, Squeaky, Girl-child (Man was I glad to see these kids)

Monday evening, Daughter and her family flew into Denver from South Carolina so Mr. W and I went and picked them up. Tuesday, Son and his family went on a white water rafting trip. The rest of us went to the Garden of the Gods. We were going to spend a little time there, eat lunch, and meet Son and family that afternoon at the Royal Gorge.

SIL and girls trying to hold up Balance Rock! :)

This is Curly. She is going to grow up and be a model some day.

This is Popcorn. She is my little sweetheart. She is the youngest of the grandkids.

Daughter and me

One of many climbers out there that day.

A family picture

After lunch, we headed to Royal Gorge. We decided that we would walk across the bridge, ride the gondola back over the canyon, and ride the kid's train. With a group of 13 people, we got a discount and it was $18 pp. Wow.

The five loves of my life in front of the water clock at Royal Gorge.

Overlook of Royal Gorge

The first thing we did was walk out on a platform that had nothing under it holding it up and took a family group picture. Mr. W and Boy-child wanted to jump up and down on the platform to scare us to death, but we finally made them stop. One of those "kids" is 10 years old and the other is 60 years old!

Most of the kids were pretty fascinated with the bridge. There were a couple that wanted to hurry and get off the bridge, especially when a vehicle drove over the bridge and it started moving. On June 11, 2013, most everything but the bridge was destroyed at the Royal Gorge by fire. There were 100 scorched planks on the bridge that had to be replaced. They have rebuilt everything and made it "better". They now have a zip-lining feature where you can zip-line across the gorge. I was really tempted to do it, but I didn't. There is also a swing feature where up to 3 of you can be harnessed into a swing, laying on your stomach, and swing out over the gorge. No thank you. We watched a couple of different programs at their theater and then rode the gondola across the gorge to the parking lot side. Mr. W had ridden the old gondola many years ago and said this one was much smoother, did not sway with the wind like the old one, and overall was a much better ride.