Narrow Mountain Road to Get Your Heart Beating

Location: Haggard's RV Campground; between Pueblo West and Canon City, Colorado. (elevation: 3,275 feet)

all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia Icon 929 cell phone

Thru Stop #5

I've finished culling the pictures from yesterday and today. A storm is blowing in so I thought I would brew, drip, perk, boil K-cup me a cup of coffee to drink while making the post. Wow,,,,, Liberty just took a gust of wind that lifted her off the ground. I haven't felt that kind of gust hit Liberty since the time the wind blew her chocks out from under her. I went outside to see if there was any damage, but didn't see any. A lot of the other campers were out too. Maybe the wind will calm down once the rain starts. 

The storm blowing in. It must have been a micro-burst or something that hit us because it sure made Liberty jump up and down.

The tow from Raton was uneventful and the drive "down" Raton Pass went great,,,, not a problem. The drive run parallel with the foothills of the Rockies on the left (west) and the beginnings of the Great Plains on the right (east). One of the things I was looking for was the series of American flags along the eastern fence line of the interstate highway. I saw them when I passed through here back in September of 2016 and posted about them. They are still there. Some are a little ragged but still flying. They are staggered about every mile or so and usually sit on a piece of high ground. There are a lot of American Flags flying all over the country, but there should be more.

Notice the 48.7 number. That is the miles per gallon I was getting yesterday. Of course that was after coasting down the pass. 

Wide open country. House/ranches are scattered out and separated my miles and miles. 

She is still flying along with several others. The property owner should be congratulated.

Haggard's RV Campground

Today's exploration was to tour the local Royal Gorge and Regional Museum located in the old court house in Canon City (pronounced "canyon city"). As usual, I was the only one there and was given another guided tour. It was OK, but the guide was not nearly of the caliber as the Raton Museum curator. I guess I'm spoiled not. The most interesting thing was a lot of the artifacts was a gift from a wealthy and powerful local man and his family. There was one stipulation, the artifacts must always stay in the county. The guide said, universities, other museums, and even the Smithsonian have asked for some of the more unique items but have been turned down due to the stipulation. The donor was rightfully concerned that his artifacts would be dispersed around the country/world. He wanted them to be an attraction to this area and bring in tourists. Although the museum will never be much larger than it is now due to the lack of funds, there are precious artifacts that are going to waste. The guide said they had boxes and boxes of unknown items that the donor had acquired from around the world. They don't have a clue what they have or how to find out what is within their charge. The museum will not rank too high on my list.

I did find the War Memorial I was looking for near the airport. I've visited many of these small local memorial but this one had a unique item I wanted to see. 

I pulled out of the campground around 9:00 a.m. It looked like a pretty day for exploring. The forecast called for storms but they weren't due until late afternoon.

The memorial has the names of every person from Fremont County who died while in service to the country. It includes every war, conflict, peace time, etc. Notice too, the listings for the Civil War did not include which side the person served. Don't be fooled by this picture with it's few names.

This picture includes the entire wall. I didn't check to see how many names were on it, but there were quite a few. These are just from this county. Every county in the country should have a similar wall.

This is what I heard about and wanted to see for myself. At this distance, the "In God We Trust", doesn't look unusual. But the next picture zooms in on the "T".

It's a little hard to see, even in this zoom shot, but all of the letters were made using pennies. Neat idea, uh? By the way, the quote has had some vandalism done to it which marred some words. The quote is by Guy de Maupassant, a French writer who died at the early age of 43 in 1893. The words are: "You've never lived until you've almost died. For those who have fought for it, life has a flavor the protected shall never know."  

The other thing I came here to do was drive Canon City's Skyline Drive. It is a 2 1/2 mile long, very narrow, one lane road on top of a razorback ridge above the town. It was built by prisoners from the local prison back in 1905. There are places with steep drop offs on either side of the 9 to 10 foot wide road. 

The interesting thing is in 1999, after the road had been in use for almost 100 years, a young college student from the area notice dinosaur footprints alone the wall next to the road. Sure enough, the road was shut down and the prints were excavated. No telling how many people drove right by them and never noticed. I tried to get a picture but couldn't. I don't even want to think about how those footprints got there or how the footprint of a T-rex was found in a local coal mine. I didn't realize there were as many paleontology finds around this area. I don't have time to explore them now, so I guess that means I'll have to return in the future.

The gateway arch at the beginning of Skyline Drive. The arch was built by inmates in 1932 using stones from every state in country, except 3. I gave up trying to find out which 3.

Share the Road!! Yeah, it better be a small something.

That is U.S. 50 down below. A four lane divided highway. 

A panoramic picture from the top.

Freedom did a good job. She was a little nervous but I settled her down.

Wouldn't you know it. I found a bench on top. It was a great viewing bench. 

The road isn't bad when you can hug one side and get away from the drop-off side.

Uh-oh,,,, drop-offs on both side now.

And the road goes on forever and the journey never ends.
(I know, I para-phrased that quote)

That is the prison in the center of the picture. I wonder if the current inmates look up at the road with pride, knowing it was built by inmates from 100+ years ago.

A picture of Haggard's RV Campground to show how it is in the middle of nowhere.

Tomorrow is moving day and I'll arrive at the campground that I first noticed years ago on Google Earth. The tow should be a beautiful drive with the Arkansas River running alongside the highway for quite a while. I'll also pass over the Continental Divide when I cross Monarch Pass. I need to remember to clean Freedom's windshield before leaving tomorrow. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.