Day 8 – June 8 – Wandering Retirees

Hi, friends. Sorry to say, there are two items of disappointing news. First, we were unable to climb Pikes Peak today. Turns out it was an uninviting place, with temps in the 30’s, light snow and 40+ mile gusts. Oh, well. We’ll have to try again one day. Second, a locally famous ribs joint was out of ribs tonight. Can you imagine? We had to settle for southern brisket and all the fixin’s. So sad. 😀

So instead of Pikes Peak, we contented ourselves with riding through the front range of the Rockies to the Arkansas River Valley, making a big loop covering over 240 miles of fabulous winding roads. The scenery is unparalleled and the company is the best.

Our route took us south to Cañon City (pronounced Canyon) and a cute little byway called Skyline Drive. It’s a narrow one-way drive on the bluff above the city with pretty views, dinosaur tracks, and fun twisties. Connie took a video that gives a feel for this pleasure. From there we rode north along US Rte 50 following the Arkansas River now in its full flood stage. We saw a ton of rafters riding the white water. We ran into a young man when we stoped for our sandwiches who just finished kayaking. He told us that the rafting business lasts only about 2 months because the spring runoff is usually gone by mid-July. Turns out this fellow is married to a woman from Scotia, NY where Mark and I are from. Small world, sometimes.

Later, we stopped for a soda at a roadside store in the small town of Cotopaxi. The soda was welcome in the heat (high 80’s) and the roaring Arkansas was mesmerizing. There we met a friendly fellow rider named Bob, who was out for the day on his big Harley. He hails from western Texas and has worked all over the country, including Atlantic City and NYC. We were captivated by his story of the time he spent in the north east – and he even expressed a liking for the region. He said that after the weather in West Texas, the jersey Shore and Cape May were a treat. Besides saying nice things about the East, he is genuinely a nice man and we enjoyed our meeting very much. He now lives and works out of Colorado Springs, and we hope to have occasion to meet him again one day. (Hey Bob, check out that County Road 1a)

Much of the rest of the day involved climbing (and descending) through passes ranging from 8,000 to 9,500 feet following toads with graceful though significant curves. We had to stop a number of times to take stock of the ranges before and behind. The American Rockies have 75 mountains higher than 14,000 feet, called “14ers”, by the cognoscenti. There are more than 800 peaks higher than 13,000 feet (13ers) as well. Faced with all that majesty, you have to stop and look. So we looked.

Of course, there’s a mundane side to all of this. We rested a few minutes in the dirt lot of a real estate office north of Cotopaxi that was selling fairly substantial lots. For example, one lot was described at 16,000 acres with an asking price of $8,500. That’s about 50 cents an acre with taxes of $500 per year. Of course the land is snow bound 6-7 months a year, but what a bargain! You’d have to build a home and you have to like snow and being alone, right? It may sound crazy to some, but there seem to be folks who are find this kind of challenge appealing. We are a diverse people after all.

Altogether we had a wonderful day together and no regrets, except maybe the ribs. Tomorrow, we push on north toward Dillon, CO.

Have a great night.

Skyline Drive, Cañon City, Co