186 mile circle tour of area

Early this am we got up to drive over the Continental divide and go to see the old Alpine tunnel. We had tried to hike into the tunnel a couple of days ago, but didn't have the correct information to do so. Today we drove a "road" that was mostly rocks and in some areas not wide enough for anything wider than the escape. In fact there were mostly ATV's on the road! We did make it. It took us over 8 hours to drive and photograph the area. Magnificent!

Trip to St Elmo's and Agnes Vaille Falls

David, Sherry, Jim and I ventured out for a drive to St Elmo"s and along the way to Agnes Falls. The hike to the falls said it was 1/2 mile, however the starting elevation was over 10000 ft and the falls were above that. Our "flatlander lungs are still not quite ready for elevation. We also drove on rocky dirt roads to Hancock and were going to hike to the Alpine Tunnel, however by now we were in need of more water than we brought and food. So we left that to another day and came down and explored Buena Vista.

Buena Vista, Colorado

Here we are on the road to the campground. Route 285 is a highway with 3 passes to go over, two of them 10,000 ft and the other a measly 9000. Here is what we see driving down the road. It can be very scary when the fan comes on to cool the overworking transmission. But we made it!

Staying at Arrowhead Point Camping Resort just north of Buena Vista. Friends from California almost here and another camping couple from North Carolina are also here.

Golden, Colorado

Well as many of you know, Golden is home to COORS. So one has to take the tour and sample the goods.

Went to Mother Cabrini shrine all 373 steps. Boy did my flatlander lungs like that.

Andy"s

One last stop for Custard at Andy's. Even Riley likes it.

Springfield, Mo Golfing

Well it has happened! I played (if you can call it that) 9 holes of golf. I only had 4 clubs, more than enough for me. Best hole #4 got 4 (it is par 3) worst well lots more. Hot out there and I didn't lose any balls nor did I break any tees.

Arley, Al. and Hohenwald, Tn

Started this years trip from Meigs, Ga. Left the RV up there on our last trip. Interesting packing from 5 hours away. Got the boys and headed to Hidden Lake RV resort on Smith Lake in Arley, Al. Nice place, site on lake, fishing pier and dock nearby. Boys could play everything and we could see them from RV. Took side trip to Huntsville to see the NASA Space Museum, Jim liked it much more than the boys. Many 5:30am boat trips in "Port a Boat" to catch fish. Not too many landed.

Then we moved to Tennessee to a NACO park on the Natchez Trace. Huge park on lake with many steep hills between campground and beach. Penny, Ryan, Pam, Gary and Nina joined us for a week. Saw fireworks over lake, more fishing, bean bag baseball, bicycle riding and just plain fun. Harley riders rode the parkway while we toured Amish country, and then a longer trip to Nashville. The Natchez Trace is beautiful. Fun having family camping with us. They were staying in cabins while we were in RV.

Everyone left Saturday and we headed West. A stop at Jim's sister's house then off to the plateau region of Colorado.