We got up bright and early today, because we wanted to have breakfast at the "Cracker Barrel" in Colorado Springs before we headed out on the longest drive of our journey. So excited to drive through the beautiful Rockies after seeing so much flat farmland. Don't get me wrong, the farm country was also beautiful, we were just looking forward to seeing something different.
We fueled up and set off on what we thought would be about a nine hour journey. After about three hours on the road, we were now well into the mountains, and the adventure began. Oops, there's a fuel filter light! Yep, that must mean we've hit the miles for the service. We will do that at our next stop. There is No place to stop here! A few miles later - what's that? The change oil light illuminated. We will definitely stop at the first sign of civilization. A few more miles up the steep grade - there goes the engine light! Yikes! We turned on our flashers and limped along as far to the right as we could. We kept loosing power and we knew that we could go no further. We pulled safely out of the roadway and called the "Good Sam Emergency Road Service". On the bright side, this gave us the opportunity to see if this service that we have been paying for is any good.
The tow truck arrived in about an hour and a half. We unhooked the car and followed our RV to the shop. We followed it, and followed it, about 15 miles away from the highway and into the snow skiers paradise of Evergreen, Colorado. We are really out in the sticks where the RV was towed, but we passed through some super cute little ski hamlets along the way. By the time we finally got to the repair shop, the mechanic who could work on diesel engines had already gone home :( We needed to stay the night. Rich asked where we could find a hotel, and the attendant just laughed and said "not around here!" Since no one was going to look at the RV until morning, we asked if we could just stay in their yard for the night. They said sure, but no electricity. Ok, soooooooo we drove into the little, very old but cute, town to get something to eat.
This was actually a great diversion. We ate at a place called the "Little Bear" western bar and restaurant. Lots of stuff hanging on the walls, and very "colorful" patrons sitting around the bar. Every square inch of anything made of wood, was carved into by all who came through their doors. Sure made for interesting reading while we were waiting for our food :) Our lunner (not sure if it was lunch or dinner) was really good. We took a few pictures, went by the grocery store, and headed back to our home-sweet-home for the night.
The little driving we did do today was still fun. We saw some Buffalo on a preserve that had to cover hundreds of acres. Not too far from there was the grave site of Buffalo Bill! We also drove through "Littleton CO." What an absolutely beautiful town! It is nestled among the mountains, and very clean with lots of detail to landscaping. So hard to believe that such a horrible tragedy happened here ten years ago. We saw Columbine High School, and it was just as we remembered it from the news coverage. We could even pick out the library window that so many of the students escaped through. Seeing this in real life, not on TV, was very emotional. It took a while to get excited about the unbelievable Rockie Mountain scenery again. We soon came upon the mining town of Argo. They say that this is where the gold rush started. Well, I guess they meant in Colorado. Great looking mining town built on the side of the mountain. The old houses were narrow and tall, built in the Victorian style. We could see the entrance to the mine, and it looked as though it was still in use. There is so much snow still in the mountains!
Hope all goes well, and we are able to continue on tomorrow into Utah.
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