May 5 and 6 Travel to Pigeon Forge
We spent the first night at a Wal-Mart in Attala, AL. There were lots of big rigs that pulled in and out of here. Wal-Mart has signs up that say they could not park here but they must allow them to stop for a nap before going on down the road. None stayed over-night but there was always some there through the evening and the next morning before we left. In the morning we left about 8:30 and soon were we in Tennessee. As we get closer to Chattanooga we are reminded of our stay here in 2004. At that time we did a little site seeing and took an Incline Railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. There is a beautiful view of the city from there. These pictures were taken from Lookout Mountain in 2004.

A little further up the highway we saw signs for the Ocoee River which brought back memories of our drive through the Ocoee River basin and the Whitewater Center where some of the 1996 Summer Olympics were held. It is a gorgeous area too.

April 13 thru May 4 New Orleans Area

We traveled just 200 miles today to the New Orleans area. We had hoped to stay at the State Park in Madisonville but it was full and we backtracked about 25 miles west to the Hidden Oaks RV Park in Parker, LA. We will stay here until next Monday when we have reservations at another State Park in Mandeville, LA. We have stayed there in Mandeville many times when in the New Orleans area. It is a very nice park with lots of places to walk, right on the Ponchetrain Lake, and has special rates for Golden Age Passport members, only $8 per night. We can only stay 2 weeks at a time but that is all we plan to stay this year. The park was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Katrina and has been restored quite nicely with new bath houses and a big beautiful fish pier and beach on the shore of the lake. The trees really took a hit and are just now coming back, looks sort of like a tornado went through.New Orleans is having their well known annual Jazz Fest while we are here and Gene’s brother and wife who live in Florida will also be here. On Friday, April 17, we went to NO to the French Quarter Jazz Fest which is not the same as the NO Jazz fest. Gene found out about it while talking with a lady here in the RV Park. She told him it was free and there would be several bands. It was just as she said, about 10 band stands across all of the French Quarter and River Walk in NO….and about a kabillion people. They changed bands about every 2 hours so there was lots of different kinds of music. We had a great time. Got there about noon and were still walking and enjoying the music at 5. We decided to ride the St. Charles Street Car just for fun which was to opposite direction of where our car was parked, about 10 blocks. We got to the pick-up stop and waited nearly a half hour but it did not show up so we walked all the way back to the car. Needless we say, we were tired after being on our feet 6 hours today. We walked about 17 blocks to get there and another 16 in a different direction to get back to our car. On Friday April 24 we went to the Destrehan Plantation just west of New Orleans. It was established in 1787 and is the oldest documented plantation home in the lower Mississippi Valley. Its original owner only lived in it for 2 years at which time he died. The noble Destrehan families purchased it in 1792. At the time of purchase the plantation was growing and refining indigo but very soon the Destrehan family changed to sugar cane and the family perfected the granulation of sugar. This plantation, like many, was like a small village comprising 6000 acres stretching for 2 miles along the Mississippi River and north to Lake Ponchetrain. Everyone worked including the family and the slaves who were treated quite well. The slaves were not over-worked and in their free time had a garden and sold their crops back to the owners, to other communities and to farmers markets. In 1864, while the family was living abroad, the Union Army seized the house and established the Rost Home Colony where newly freed slaves learned trades. After the war it was returned to the family. But in 1910 was sold and at that time the cash crop became refining of oil. In 1959 the oil refinery closed down and for twelve years the house decayed. Then it and four acres of land were deeded over to the River Road Historical Society. Renovation began in 1971. It now has been completely restored and filled with early to mid 19th century furnishings. The guided tour was very interesting and full of info about the lifestyles of the families and the slaves.

On April 24 we drove to New Orleans to go to a very boring small Civil War Museum. We expected much more or would not have gone there. After, we found a restaurant serving Mexican food on Magazine Street near the Garden District and then drove through the 9th Ward that was nearly wiped out by Katrina. It looks much different but still many houses are just standing there, empty and broken. It appears to us that about ½ or less of the homes have been restored and are being lived in. It seems like many of them had new roofs put on but then did nothing else. We assume insurance may have covered that but not the flood damage. Most have cleaned up around the homes but a few have done nothing and the weeds are about 5 to 6 feet high. It would be hard living next to some of the areas. Many shopping malls and some Wal-Mart’s are still standing vacant. But it looks so, very much better than when we last saw it.

Gene’s brother did not come for the NO Jazz fest so we will not be going there either since we saw the French Quarter Fest earlier. We left Fountainbleu State Park on May 5. This is one of our favorite campgrounds across the USA. First of all we get a very special price here, there is no extra fee for a park permit, and it is beautiful. Hurricane Katrina did lots of damage here but they have rebuilt the campground…even better than before. The beach along the north shore of Lake Ponchetrain is beautiful and they have added a very nice decorative fishing pier. We love walking and riding our bikes along the many roads through the area. Most of the big very old Live Oaks withstood the winds. Many of them lost upper branches but they are growing back. We will be back here again someday. Thanks, Louisiana, for making your state parks affordable for senior citizens.

March 24 thru April 12

The first week we were back from our caravan tour we spent regrouping, taking care of some business stuff and visiting with friends in The Valley. One of the things we did was to find a different RV park for next winter and made reservations at Trophy Gardens in Alamo. We had a great time this year at Mission Bell but they are having some internal problems that we did not want to deal with. We made friends with several new people who we hope to keep in contact with via e-mail and perhaps see again next year in The Valley. It is a great place to spend the winter. On March 31 we traveled to Sulphur, LA. Our plan is to leave the RV here as we make our way to S. Dakota to renew our driver’s licenses. We were delayed one day due to a predicted blizzard in S. Dakota. It did not happen and in fact they had only a very small amount of snow. We left on Sunday and got back on Wed evening, driving for about 10 hours a day. We drove through states with not much to see except for the hills, mountains if you want to call them that, in Arkansas and Missouri. It was a pretty drive on an almost new highway from Fayetteville to Ft. Smith in Arkansas. Other than that it was mostly flat land with bare fields and some cattle. The roads in Iowa were in bad shape most of the way or lanes closed where they were making repairs. After returning we spent one day going through the area that was so devastated by Hurricane Rita which went through in 2005. One small town, Holly Beach, was completely wiped off the map. Today it has about 15-25 homes that are sitting up on 8 ft high stilts, a few mobile homes and RVs. We did not see any businesses or government buildings. It will never be the same town that it was. We have decided we would not want to live in this area that is so vulnerable. On Saturday night we went to the local VFW dance and had a good time. We hope to be able to find places to dance wherever we are this summer. On Easter Sunday we went to a small Baptist Church that was having an Easter Special by their Choir. It was great music telling the Easter story.

We started 2009 in Mission Texas. Here we enjoy meeting new people who have become good friends. We have exchanged addresses and or email addresses with them and hope to keep up with their travels as well as they with ours. Sue goes to exercise Monday through Thursday each week and the other days sometimes she exercises at home and some not…probably mostly not. Gene walks each morning at the same time…only he is faithful to do it every day. Most days we find something outside the park we want to do We both walk about 2 miles at a very nice park near the RV Resort in the afternoon. . At least 2 evenings a week we go dancing at various RV parks in the area. We have special bands we enjoy dancing to and go wherever they are playing. One couple from the park joined us at several dances. Another couple (singles) we just met at a dance and they have become good friends and we sure hope to continue that friendship. We continued our dancing lessons this year to try to become better dancers. We are still working on that. As we did last year, we enjoyed the musical talents of musicians who come to the Rio Grand Valley to entertain and some local high school and college talent too. The weather here is great, with temperatures averaging mid 70’s with highs up to almost 90 some days. We wanted to share some pictures of Mission Bell RV Resort so that you can see our Texas Winter home. As you can see, the park is quite crowded with very narrow streets and the lot sizes are small. For that reason, when we come to the valley next winter, we will find an RV Park more to our liking. There are a couple hundred here to choose from so we should be able to find one. One of the reasons we like it here so much is the beautiful dance hall they have, touted to be the best here in the Rio Grande Valley. It is huge and has a beautiful wood floor. But we can come back here to dance any time we want.

We started 2008 here at the park and we ended it here. It seems like home a little bit. 2008 has been a full year and we praise God for all He has given us and especially for our good health and our safety. We stayed here for 2 months this year and on Jan. 22, 2009 we moved over to Texas Trails RV Park where a group of 21 RV’s are rendeveauing to prepare for a trip to Mexico. What a great time we will have. . This morning as I post this we are hitting the trail for Mexico. May God bless us and keep us safe

Nov 22 – Dec 31
It is time to move on to Mission Bell RV Park in Mission, Texas and our home for a few weeks. We stayed at this RV park last winter so we know many of the people who come here year after year. We get set into a routine quite quickly. We have met new people this year and it seems that most we meet and really get to know are Canadians. There are many here in this park. However right next door to us is a very nice couple from Topeka, Kansas. We have been to several dances and some Christmas shows. One which we saw last year and so much enjoyed again this year is called Raz-Mataz. They are a group of very talented high schoolers from here in Mission and the put on an exciting musical performance in the area at Christmas time. There are performers coming from Branson, and other Winter Texans who come to this area each year to entertain. There is something to do every night if one would want to.
On Dec. 15 we took a break from Mission, Texas to spend the week before Christmas in New York City. We have been there a couple of times and really wanted to experience the Christmas spectacular of NYC. We had a great time. The weather for the most part was cooperative and we were able to just enjoy walking and walking and walking around Central Park, our most enjoyed park in all of the USA, and the areas in and around Time Square. Rockefeller Center, all decorated with the huge Christmas tree and lights is spectacular.

We went to a few of museums, one being the The American Museum of Natural History. It is a huge museum covering at least a city block, maybe more, and 4 floors. This museum has a planetarium and we saw a program there, Collision of the Cosmos, describing the destruction done by meteor in the universe. This museum is so very interesting and a place we would recommend visiting. Another museum we went to, The Body Museum, had many cadavers mostly in upright poses showing various parts of the body, how the body functions and how disease and injury can affect it. Also shown in detail were muscles, ligaments, tendons blood vessels etc. Some very interesting facts we learned: There are more than 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and capillaries in an adult body. (not a typo) and the heart beats 100,000 times a day. We have an awesome God. This museum, too, was quite interesting and one we would recommend. If you go to this website, http://www.bodiesny.com/, you can see pictures of some of the specimens we saw.

We visited 3 very old churches, I think all were Episcopalian. These old churches are quite beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. One is the largest Gothic Style Cathedral in the world. This Cathedral has several small chapels surrounding the main nave which is 600 feet long and holds 5,000 worshipers. The 162 foot dome roof could comfortably contain the statue of Liberty (minus its pedestal). There are 8 massive columns surrounding the alter, each 155 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter and weighing 130 tons. The main entrance has a 40 foot diameter Great Rose stained glass window with 10,000 pieces of glass just above the 18 foot high by 6 foot wide door. This should give you some idea of the massive size of this yet to be completed Cathedral.

We used the subway as our means of transportation when it was too far to walk or when it was too cold, which by the way, did not happen often. We went to 3 Broadway shows, The Jersey Boys, a story about Frankie Valle and the 4 Seasons, The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, and 13, a musical about the trials of becoming 13 (with a cast of all young teens). These shows are lots of fun but costly so we will just have to settle for the entertainment in Mission, Tx. How funny, cause there is no comparison. We were only allowed to take pictures at this one theatre. Notice, in the picture below, how the Rockettes are just folding down into a prone position. This was quite interesting to watch and they did it very slowly and oh so smooth.

We went to Ground Zero, the Trade Center grounds to see the rebuilding progress and found nothing. They now have put a plastic covering over the fence so visitors cannot see the progression and have posted a web address to find out about the rebuilding progress, http://www.wtcupdates.com/. You can go there to see pictures of what is being done. They have a long way to go. I wonder if it will happen in our lifetime. LOL. We went to Macy’s twice and Bloomingdales just to say we had been there. The first time we went to Macy’s it was almost too busy to get in the door. When we went back a later day it was not so busy and we found most people were just looking and no one buying much. This was just a couple of days before Christmas. We saw first had how slow the buying is this Christmas. Bloomingdales is just what we expected….way too expensive for us. We were not buying anyway. LOL…our luggage is full. We ate at a couple of unique restaurants. One was the Boathouse in Central Park. It is located on a small lake in the park where in the summer you can rent boats to take out on the lake. This restaurant was lovely. It was Sunday so we were there for their Brunch menu. Most items had eggs in them. Gene had a bacon quiche and Sue an omelet with cottage fries. Very good and quite elegant.

One other memorable meal we had was the last night we were in NYC. We went to Ellen’s Stardust Diner. The waiters, about 10 of them, also are singers and took turns singing while we ate our dinner. These waiters are waiting for their turn at Broadway or in between gigs. It was a fun evening. We each had a Rueben sandwich and then shared a delicious apple cobbler with ice cream. Our return trip to Texas was pretty much uneventful except for a very slight delay boarding at both LaGuardia and the Dallas air port. We were very lucky as this was a horrible day for air travel and we heard later there were over 5,000 flights across the USA that were cancelled due to bad weather. The delays did not affect people flying out of NYC but people were unable to make their connecting flight to get in. On the first leg of our flight we were not sitting in seats beside one another so it was a long flight as we missed being able to sit together but lived through it. Since arriving back we have been quite busy. Christmas day we had a very nice Christmas dinner, ham and all the trimmings, at the club house here at Mission Bell RV Park. We have been to 4 dances and spent time visiting with new friends here in the park. We decided not to attend a New Years Eve party or dance and opted to go out for dinner and to a movie. We are just too old to stay up that late. It is not fun any more. LOL. Sue has exercise with a group each morning during the week while Gene walks and in the afternoon we both walk about 2 miles at a very nice park near the RV Resort. And the weather here is great, with temperatures averaging mid 70’s with highs up to almost 90 some days. We started 2008 here at the park and now are ending it here. It seems like home a little bit. 2008 has been a full year and we praise God for all He has given us and especially for our good health and our safety.

November 2, 2008 thru November 22, 2008
We are officially now heading south for the winter. For a couple of days we are in Oklahoma City to visit with Gene’s sister-in-law and catch up on the Brunner news. Everything there seems to be about the same. Dot seems to be doing pretty well and does a good job of meeting the needs of her grown kids. They all have their struggles but are managing. From there we traveled on to Arlington Texas where we spent a week in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We actually did not find much to do there of interest to us. We spent one day in the Stock Yards area. This old area is where the “Old West” cattle drives ended up. Many of the building there are original and have been converted to little shops and eating places. On Saturday, as we do lots of Saturdays, we went to a flea market. We think we have been too so many that we are losing the excitement they bring. In other words, this one was just ho-hum. We almost never buy anything at them. It is just a fun way to spend part of a day. We also went to the Civil War Museum while we were there. Lots and lots of guns that Sue is not interested in at all but they did have a section of women’s dresses from the Civil War era. They were spectacular and showed and told about the different bustles the women wore. It looked, to us, like they must have been very uncomfortable and the entire outfit quite HOT during those times of no air conditioning. These glass display cases, about 15-20 of them, held 2 to 4 dressed mannequins and, also, hats and other accessories. Everything was original. It is a quite elaborate display. We were unable to get any pictures. We ate that day at a Cajun restaurant in downtown Ft. Worth and after walked around the area window shopping. We spent the next week in Mathis, Texas which is about an hour west of Corpus Christi. The population is about 5,000 and It seems to be a very poor area with a big population of Mexicans. The county has put in a huge park with several soccer and baseball fields, basketball and tennis courts, a play ground and picnic area and most important to us, a nice one mile walking trail. So we did walk there every day. We are able, in most towns, to find a walking trail. We wonder if they are able to get grants to build them as we don’t know how some of the small towns we have been in could afford to build them. We did go into Corpus Christi times. It is the closest city with a Wal-Mart for grocery shopping. So we stocked up on groceries one time when we went there. We also went to the beach a couple of times. We love beaches but these were just not great. Part of going to the beach is the people you see there and this time of the year there are very few people there. However on the waterfront in downtown Corpus Christi there is a beautiful and inviting area along the beach to sit, watch and listen to sea. We found very few shells but we did find one that is rare and only found in this area. It is a beauty. One day we went on board the Lexington air craft carrier that is docked on the shores of Corpus Christi. It was fun and informative to learn about life on an air craft carrier and the perils of war there.

September and October 2008 Manhattan, Kansas
We left Colorado Springs on September 1 heading for Manhattan KS. We will see all our doctors and dentists, visit with friends and just hang out here for the month of September. Not much scenery here so guess we won’t be taking pictures of any beautiful mountains drives. However we did find an interesting site just before arriving in Salina. There is a fairly new, Wind Generator farm there. It covers several square miles. It is so good to see wind energy being harnessed here in Kansas.

We have good times with our friends here though and seem to have lots of good food. This completes 4 years of making the rounds from Kansas to the uttermost parts of the USA and beyond and back again to our old home town. We are so thankful to God for our many blessings from Him and for our health, our safety and his Loving Kindness. Please pray with us for His continued blessing in our lives.
October 2008 Lebo, Kansas
Sue’s brother, John and wife Neva, live in Lebo, Kansas. They have a spot reserved for us to park our RV when we visit with them. We like to call it John”s RV Park. We so much enjoy time with them. Just a few days after arriving here we received a call from some Manhattan friends who are also full time RV'rs. Bruce and Francis were in the area and stopped in to see us. We had a very nice visit with them. They are on their way to do some volunteering at a church camp in Texas. John and Gene spend a lot of time with projects that each of them need to get done. First thing they did was to rebuild our TV cabinet and install a new bigger size flat screen TV. It looks like a professional job with wood trim that matches the cabinets and trim in our RV. They have switched back and forth doing work for one another but we definitely came out ahead. We all, along with my sister Joan and husband Dean, went to Wichita twice to visit with Sue’s other brother, Jerry and new wife Enid, a couple of times. Jerry had a heart attack late Sept. and bypass surgery in October. He is recovering nicely. We also had an opportunity to visit with Sue’s sister who lives in nearby Emporia a couple of times, once at her house and once at ours.
One tradition we have while here is going to a very small town near Lebo to eat, in our opinion, the best BBQ Ribs anywhere. We went there with John and Neva 2 times this year. Guy and Mae’s Rib place in Williamburg, Ks is ummm good eating!!
John will be doing another consulting job for a nuclear plant in New Mexico. He will be leaving here around the first of November. When he leaves we will also head out towards Texas where we will be spending 2 months starting Nov. 22. It has been great fun here. Thanks John and Neva. The skys in Lebo were worthy of capturing . The unusual cloud formation happened one night and the very next morning the sun rise was beautiful.

Upon leaving Lebo on Nov. 1 we went to Wichita to spend the day with Jerry and Enid. They have a lovely apartment overlooking Twin Lakes in Wichita. It is a gorgeous view, especially now with the trees all decked out in their fall foliage. Their reflection on the water was the prettiest picture we have seen. I forgot the camera!!! Their apartment is beautifully decorated and just perfect for them. They came over to our motor home for dinner and we continued visiting and really getting to know Enid. She is a very sweet Christian lady. They are very happy and a good match. May God continue to bless them.

July 1 thru Aug 31, 2008 Colorado Springs
We had a fun time in Colorado Springs enjoying views of the mountains, driving on the scenic roads and hiking on the trails around the city and into the mountains. We drove to Cripple Creek several times. It is a beautiful drive over there and a fun old mining area to explore. In the last few years the casinos have just about taken over Cripple Creek but the area around there is still like it was in the mining hey days. Just a few miles away is the town of Victor. It is just about deserted with a few houses and even fewer businesses that remain open. But it like Cripple Creek, it has many remains of old mines and in fact it has a very large mine that is back in operation. Cripple Creek and Victor Gold mine has been in operation since 1976. The entry of the United States into World War II brought on the L-208 Act restricting mining of nonessential metals and the gold mines were shut down. After the war, the district did not immediately recover. The idle mines had deteriorated and former miners did not return because there was no work for them. Then in the 1970’s, the United States citizens were once more allowed to possess gold and the price was permitted to seek its own level in the world market. Extensive exploration in the district disclosed large quantities of low grade gold-bearing material previously uneconomical for mining and processing. Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine was started with a new method of extracting the gold called the leaching process. They do, for a very small fee, allow people to tour the surface mine while they explain the process. We took that tour and were amazed with the process they use, with the size of the operation and the costs of the equipment used to mine these metals. The largest dump trucks, used to haul the ore and over-burden, is a Euclid and made in China. They cost $2.5 million each. They weigh 300 tons empty and can haul as much as 315 tons. The tires are 12 in diameter and cost $130,000 each. The diesel fuel tank holds 900 gallon. I’m talking BIG!!

Much very interesting information can be read at: http://www.ccvgoldmining.com/. You can read about the process of removing the gold from the ore, the amount of gold they have extracted each year and their plans for reclaiming the land. It is such an interesting process and massive area. There is also a scenic drive called American Eagle Drive that overlooks the surface mine where you can see the overall size of the huge mine.

We spent several days traveling on scenic drives and hiking trails. Our favorite seem to be the old railroad tracks that have been converted into roads through the mountains or when that is not safe due to tunnel collapses they were converted to walking/hiking trails. We walked on the old Gold Camp Road 2 different times. It is an 8 mile trail but we did not walk that far. We walked more like about 2.5 to 3 miles which converts to 5 to 6 miles round trip. It is a fun walk and interesting. In Colorado Springs the old railroad tracks have also been converted to walking trails and there are nice trails all over the city. In the cities main park, Memorial Park, is Prospect Lake. There is a walking trail around it and there is where we did the majority of our walking. It is partially shaded and beautiful. There is a very nice playground next to the park and a lake swimming pool. Also lots of picnic tables and shelters, rental of paddle boats and canoes and lots of fishing going on. Just a great place to spend time and walk.
Sue’s brother and wife came to visit the last week of August and so we kept some of the activities to do while they could join us. We did have a great time while they were visiting. We drove to the top of Pikes Peak, went to the Flying W. Chuckwagon Dinner Theatre, went to the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings and the Merimont Castle.

We drove to Cripple Creek 3 times. We were so impressed with the gold mine we wanted to take my brother there too. He also was impressed and enjoyed it. We all went to the annual Colorado Springs Balloon Rally. We had never been to one and were quite impressed and enjoyed it very much.

Our last adventure before they went back to Kansas was a scenic drive called The Shelf. It departed out of Cripple Creek and traveled through the mountains to Canon City. It seems to be one of the most spectacular and beautiful scenic drive we have ever been on with unusual rock formations, beautiful views and an exciting rock ledge road. At the end of this road, as it leaves the mountains, we found the Red Canyon Park with formations similar to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. And then we came upon the Garden Park Fossil Area. It provided a self-guided tour to see and learn about the archeological dig beginning in 1870’s and continuing today. Specimens from this area are on exhibit in America’s most prominent natural history museums.

All of our Colorado pictures can be seen at: http://ourtravelphotos.spaces.live.com/?lc=1033

June 28, another memorable scenic drive on CR 240. It is 10 miles to our destination, North Fork Lake. This road starts out in Mayfield, Colorado through some beautiful homes, probably retirement homes. About 4 miles up this road it turns to a dirt trail and from there on we are able to go less than 5 mile an hour the rest of the way. Very rocky and up hill all the way.

Much of the time we traveled by beautiful mountain streams. Because there is still so much snow on the mountains there is lots of runoff and the streams are a beautiful site.

This trail took us up quite high and made the mountains seem so very close and yet we knew they were still a long ways away. We were able to get pictures of the 2 mountains we drove to see a few days ago…the pictures that were lost!!?? These are taken from a different angle but still the mountains. The road is so rough that we could only just crawl along most of the time.

The North Fork Reservoir is part of the National Parks. There is a campground there and we were quite surprised with the road conditions the way they are, there were quite a few people camping there…with snow drifts and piles of snow adjacent to their tents. The lake and surroundings with the mountains is such a serene site. It is just a beautiful place. We had a picnic lunch and then walked a bit before heading back .

We did stop by to look around where about 3 or 4 old fallen down log cabins were. We had been told there was an old mine here but we never did find it. On our way up the mountain just as we were leaving the black top we saw the Colorado Trail, a hiking trail that goes through a big section of this part of Colorado. So we stopped there for our afternoon walk. We walked for a while on flat land and then begin to climb a little. We crossed a stream and ended up walking for about a mile all together. It was a welcome change from the place we walk at our campground. We highly recommend this scenic road for anyone with a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

Our last scenic drive in this part of Colorado happened on June 30 and was without a doubt the most exciting of all our excursions. We saw some awesome views on our way to the Alpine Tunnel scenic drive.

We drove through Pitkin which we thought was an old mining town but could not find much sign of any mining. It now appears to be just a retirement town with most houses being fairly new. Only a few old homes and some old business buildings are there. So I looked Pitkin up on the internet and found this info: “The town, which is situated on an alpine meadow one mile long and one quarter mile wide, was incorporated on August 11, 1879. Continuous discovery of mines in the vicinity brought Pitkin to life and sustained it for many years. The mineral of importance were mainly iron, lead, gold, silver, and copper, and were of such richness that as a whole they averaged higher than any camp in Colorado. Among the regular producers were the Cleopatra, Fairview, Tycoon, Nest Egg, Swiss Bill and Silver Islet mines, from which some specimens assayed $18,000 per ton. Over thirty mines operated during the winter of 1880 compared to six the year before.” Pitkin is definitely not a ghost town as many of the old mining towns are. http://www.pitkincolorado.com/history.htm

The Alpine Tunnel scenic drive, on an old railroad bed, started out smooth but became increasingly difficult to navigate. The road bed is 10 miles to the top and we averaged about 5 miles an hour. We came to some areas where there had been either a rock slide or a snow slide from up quite high and clear to the valley below. It affected the road we were on. Earlier we passed a Forestry truck coming down. The driver greeted us as he passed and said nothing about any difficulties ahead. We assumed everything was ok ahead and so on we went.

The views from up here were beautiful but the road seemed to get most of our attention. Rocks in the road, snow drifts and more of the slides kept us wondering if we would make it all the way to the top. At one point there was a sign that said “The next 3 miles of road are probably the most fantastic in the US” and it presented itself to be true.

We don’t know how high up we are but when we look down we can tell it is quite high. We passed by a solid rock face that is beautiful to look at but the road narrows here. In fact when the road was built it was necessary to build a wall on the down side because of the shear cliff. The rock wall, named “The Palisades” is 452 feet long, 33 feet high and about 2 feet thick. It is made of hand-cut fitted stone, placed and held without mortar. So perfect was the engineering and workmanship that over 120 years later relatively few pieces have been displaced.

When we finally arrived at the parking lot of the Alpine Tunnel we found we were not alone!! There were a number of 4-wheel vehicles there also. Beyond the parking lot are the remains of a hand hewn stone building for garaging the engines, a reconstructed train station and the wood remains of other buildings including a 50 room hotel. The tunnel which collapsed many years ago is a ways beyond the little town. The tunnel, 1,771 feet long, was built in 1880-1881, took 18 months and the labor of some 10,000 men who worked on the tunnel at various times. A steady crew of 350-400 men was needed, but because it was cold brutal work, men quit as fast as they were hired. Wages were $3.50 per day for laborers and $5.00 per day for hard rock and explosive workers. Heavy storms lashed the area. Men had to go from work to their cabins in gangs to keep from being lost in the snow. The Alpine Tunnel was made with fortitude, determination and raw courage. The tunnel was used from its completion in 1881 until 1910. For more information about the Alpine Tunnel history and small towns built to house and service the workers go to: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-alpinetunnel.html Wow what an experience to see this bit of history. We made our way back down being careful when coming to the rough spots in the road and once back in Pitkin took a different road home. We sort of thought it would be along the valley as we had come in but NO…it was back in the mountains again even crossing the divide at Waunita Pass. This mountain area was completely covered with pine trees and Aspens. So there was not much to see. Finally we made it to the high meadow area again, were making our way back to Highway 50 and home, when out of nowhere we see a couple of big spreads that are actually Colorado Dude Ranches. We even saw some Dude girls working with horses. Again we had to travel over Monarch Pass and we are glad this will be our last over this loooong mountain climb. Remember there are more photos at http://www.pitkincolorado.com/history.htm