Across The USA by Dodge
Chapter 24
........I must have eventually fallen asleep as I remember waking up the next morning and thinking "Is this heaven/hell (delete whatever's not applicable)... no it's Rocky Mountain High Denver... no bullet holes in my forehead, whew! Let's get out of here."
[cut to]
After high-tailing it out of Denver (don't look back, you fool) I drove down the interstate towards Colorado Springs which is a resort town set in awe-inspiringly [is that a real word?] beautiful country. I stopped at the Arapaho Bowl briefly to watch a PBA regional tournament where Mike Miller was bowling then drove a bit further for brunch at a place called Castle Rock (not the one made infamous in a couple of Stephen King novels) then continued on to Pike's Peak.
I'd read about Pike's Peak before I left and it was one of the places atop my list of "must-sees". Pike's Peak is a 14,000+ feet mountain which has a road built right to the summit. Only in America. They have a saying "Drive for 20 Miles and See Forever" and it is just about true.
I'd also seen the Pike's Peak Rally on a sports show on TV (shortly before I left Australia) where drivers literally risk their lives as they hurtle up the winding dirt road towards the top, almost spinning off at each turn. They've got to be crazy.
The road is dirt, fairly narrow and like so many mountain roads in the States there are no guard rails! That's something that's a bit spooky at first. You're driving on the edge of a cliff with a 1,000-foot drop over the edge. Whew!
It was a real adventure driving to the top as the temperature gauge on the poor car screamed towards the red line. I really felt sorry for the car and was glad that it was a rental. I certainly wouldn't put my own car through the torture. There were many cars gasping for air on the side of the road going up.
I took a stack of photos but I feel that none of them captured the raw beauty of the scenery and most of them look alike really.
After making the descent I drove to Manitou Springs (which is right near Colorado Springs) and found the Dillon Motel. This was a real good one compared to the Lazy-C (still, considering the previous night's experience I was expecting to be attacked by a manitou) and was run by an "arty" type who put me in the "Wells Fargo" room. They all had exotic names like that. The town seemed very yuppie to tell you the truth and seemed filled with people who were probably escaping Denver for the weekend.
After dumping out my travel bag in the room, I drove to the nearby Garden of the Gods and spent the afternoon hiking there. It's a semi-wilderness area set among some striking red rock formations although there's too many tourists wandering about.
The next day was just a relaxing one, driving along some of the back roads through the Rockies admiring the scenery. The places won't mean a thing to you but I saw Greenhorn Meadows, Graneros Gorge [which is a canyon in the middle of nowhere -- all around is flat land. It was way off the beaten track actually], Huerfano, Spanish Peaks, Sangre de Christo Mountains, Fort Garland, Mt Mestas, Goemmer's Butte and Cuchara Pass then Trinidad. All those names sound cool.
I left Colorado, entered northern New Mexico, stopped at the Visitor's centre in Raton, pronounced Ra-tone, and spent the night at a town called Las Vegas (the one without the casinos!). I went to the movies at the Serf Theatre that night and it cost $1.00! Yes, that's not a typo. I saw "Encino Man" which is a kind of third rate "Bill and Ted" movie. [You've probably seen it on video.]
Chapter 25
Home