June 5-11 - Canon City, CO

We picked up a hitchhiker as we left Colorado Springs. Our RV park neighbors packed in a bit of hurry. Turns out they mistook a pillow for their black cat! He was hiding under our motorhome but came shooting out once Dennis fired up the engine. The park manager called our former neighbor & we agreed to meet at the highway. Dennis was a little nervous Shadow Jr might become a permanent fixture. Our new RV park wasn't fancy but had great views of Royal Gorge & the snow-covered mountains. Canon City offered more sightseeing than we expected. Skyline Drive is a one-lane road that runs across a ridge overlooking town. It was built by prison inmates in the 1920's for no apparent reason. We saw dinosaur tracks on the ridge. They are imprints of where dinosaurs once walked & are viewed from below. Prisons seem to be the main industry in Canon City. There are 9 prisons in the area! We toured the prison museum, which was really interesting. Next, we drove Shelf Rd to Cripple Creek. Shelf Rd is mostly dirt & named for the shelf on the side of the mountain that it follows. The Jeep seems to give us a false sense of security driving on these crazy roads but we also saw passenger cars, so it wasn't as dangerous as it sounds. There was a lot of pretty scenery from grassland to forest. Cripple Creek was lots of fun. All the historic buildings downtown are now casinos. Lots of fairly generous nickel poker machines, so Barb had fun. We stopped by Royal Gorge on the way home but didn't spend much time, as it was late & we'd been there on a previous motorcycle trip. We decided to be a little more wholesome the following day & hiked the Tunnel Dr trail in town. It passes thru 3 granite tunnels & then continues on for 2 miles up the river. We saw the Royal Gorge train & lots of whitewater rafters. Dennis had no interest in the whitewater adventure. The lure of Cripple Creek pulled Barb back the following day & Dennis had a relaxing day in the RV. We went to the Farmers Market on our final day in town & bought all sorts of yummy expensive food. We also hiked the riverwalk - or atleast the portion of it that wasn't under water. We enjoyed watching 2 crazy kids who jumped in & floated past us on the fast-running river. Barb was tempted but it was cold & sanity got the best of her.