We slept pretty well last night. There were very few truck noises loud enough for me to hear and I suspect the trucks I heard might have been Dodge pick-ups driven by short persons with substandard-sized genitalia who have customized their suspensions and exhausts so everyone within earshot can hear and hate them. My sleep may have been sounder than normal because I had such a wonderful time at last evening’s park get-together. The effects of the setting sun illuminating the scenery visible from the porch were magnificent. The vistas here are stunning.
We cooked and devoured breakfast, took showers and departed on an adventure, sort of. Initially we drove a couple miles back east on US-50 where we turned off on Skyline Road. The road is one-way, very narrow, and offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside from a long way above. It was built with very little cost to the taxpayers since prisoners from the local pen did the work. It is a pretty amazing road to be built by hand since large sections pass through nasty formational rock but an abundance of free labor kept scheduling concerns to a minimum. Peggy is not overly enthusiastic about roads built on narrow, serpentine ridges with death-dealing abrupt drop-offs on both sides so she elected to abandon the truck and walk along behind for about a half mile. I bravely and cunningly navigated through the ridge sections in Charlotte and parked at a pullout without being killed.
Skyline Road switchbacks down the Canon City side of the ridge and lets travelers out on residential streets lined by historical dwellings of multiple architectural styles. There are stone, brick and ashlar masonry buildings right next to Victorian, Tudor and Craftsman wood structures that are in great shape and very pretty. We slid along all the good residential streets at about 10 miles per hour with frequent stops to gaze at the gorgeous buildings. We did so much of this that we soon drew the attention of a local cop who followed us until he realized we were old, boring and unlikely to do anything interesting. We ultimately emerged from our architectural showcase trance directly in front of a terrific downtown liquor store where we parted with some cash to replenish our dwindling Irish Cream and porter stocks.
With our loot in hand, we headed back west toward Starlite but instead of turning into the park we continued south on County Road 3A to a county picnic area that overlooks Royal Gorge. The gorge itself is spectacular and from the picnic area you can overlook the Royal Gorge Bridge with cars that look like bugs creeping across. I understand the bridge deck is nearly 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River at the bottom of the gorge and looking down between the bridge planks is harrowing for those unaccustomed to heights. There is a bunch of pucker factor at work here.
After giving the gorge a sniff, we headed back to the Starlite Classic Campground and gathered up some porter to consume at the park’s 4:00 PM happy hour on the porch. There were dogs there. I was happy. We finally broke away from the fun and returned to the trailer for a bit of grilled steaks, corn and beans. This retirement stuff is tiring.