4 Wheelin’ Babes

Extreme sports is not a word usually associated with me. Extreme crafting maybe, but Susan & sports aren’t words you usually hear in the same sentence. Until now. Who knew you could be sporty while also just riding along! I’ve found a new fun adventure. Now I just have to find a cute guy to take me to the Rubicon, but that’s a different story.

When Dave mentioned leaving at 4:30 AM I wasn’t sure I was up for this day. We all know how I like my slumber. But what else was I going to do all day? Certainly not lay around the house whilst they were out having fun. And I figured if we were leaving so EARLY we’d be home early to right? Ummm…, NO!

So I dragged my chipper butt out of bed at 4:30am, slapped on some jeans and makeup, put the hair in a ponytail and grabbed the color Kary had packed and we were off. We stopped at Kary’s 2nd cuz’s house and she jumped in his truck. He was towing his Jeep because of his fancy new tires. 2.5 hrs later we pull up to this mountain  base campsite in the middle of NOWHERE, Co and the rest of the gang is WAITING for us to arrive. I got a glimpse of the sand dunes in the distance and Kary said to take a picture of that mountain. I was still clueless that we were going all the way to the TOP and what that would entail.

See it’s still VERY dark out when we left.

  Mt. Blanca

Matt’s ride

Randy (L) and Bob (R) letting a bit of air out of the tires.

 

Early morning Brother/Sister hijinks starting.

 

My ride for the day

 

So there are about 10 vehicles of the Jeep/Bronco version and we head up the mountain after a group prayer. Randy & Dave belong to this group of Colorado Christian 4 Wheelers.

Kary & Randy

 

You start climbing pretty fast & the views are amazing.

It’s a pretty rocky road and gives a whole new meaning to Rocky Mountain High! I had barely asked the question of “what do you do if someone is coming down the mountain?” when we encountered a group doing just that.

Randy & this first guy actually knocked jeep heads passing each other and had to have a little push. The guy in the 2nd jeep was pretty cute & I almost got out and asked for a ride down :)

And we were on our way again

Finally some obstacles, in the form of giant boulders. At first I was like there is no way in hell I’m riding while they drive over those but by the 3rd one I was in the Jeep. We got towed over on that boulder. It’s a little scary when you are leaning a bit on the side and looking down the side which goes straight down but then the front tire falls and all is well.

I’m not sure what happened here but we almost lost this guy down the side somehow.

The guy in the cowboy hat is Bob. And that is Bob’s wife driving the Green Machine. Bob likes to direct traffic & work on the vehicle & his wife likes to do the extreme stuff. Seems like a perfect match!

While each person drives over the obstacle there is a lot of standing around and watching and waiting by the rest of us. Gave me some time to take in the beautiful scenery.

We finally reached Lake Como and stopped for lunch. It was really beautiful up there. I forgot to mention the ton of hikers along the way that we passed, both going up and down the mountain.  Some camp at this lake, some go up to the very top or camp along the way. It was a VERY busy mountain.

Most of us went on up to the very top where there where 2 lakes called the Blue Lakes. It was time for a group photo too.

Being at the top of this mountain had me channeling my best Maria Von Trapp and singing the Sound of Music

The hills are alive

with the sound of muuuusicccccccccc

Coming down is a LOT faster than going up. We stopped for dinner and it was LATE when we got home and got to bed. I think around midnight because I remember thinking I’d been up for 20 hours. But it was a day filled with total pure fun and I can’t wait to do it AGAIN! Now where is that boy with a tricked out jeep cuz’ I need a ride…

Seeing the Sights

Wednesday morning we were free of the trailer for a few days and decided to take in some sights. First stop was Garden of the Gods. You can drive or hike through these beautiful red rock formations which have been given lovely names such as “Kissing Camels” and “Cathedral Towers”. I even meet some people who were from Sacramento & out here visiting their daughter.

We also met these guys from Texas that were skydivers. Look at these funky shoes that one of them had on.

It was a beautiful day and the place was packed

Did some mountain climbing (hehe)

And watched a storm roll in

So we headed off to the Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs

 

Of course it says no climbing but there were kids crawling in everywhere and I’m the biggest kid of them all of course!

It looked much easier when the kids where doing it!

Well hell, now I have to get out of this hole after this photo op

 

So of course Kary did it too!

This was my 2nd time to the cliff dwellings. I just love them. I can’t imagine living inside those small spaces.

After the cliff dwellings we took a drive up to the Cavern of the Winds but decided not to go on the tour. Then we went to Manitou Springs and walked around for a bit.  Had some yummy Mango sorbet

Thursday we drove to Canon City to take the Royal Gorge train.  This is something I’d always wanted to do while living in Denver and never got around to. We got lost & missed our 12:30 reservations so we went to town for lunch and to walk around and look what we found. I mean, I’ve HEARD of these places but never actually saw one.

I wonder if this place has much to do with that huge high security prison down the road?

We were glad this guy wasn’t our driver!

But the old train did provide another photo op & look I’ve grown! I’m taller than Kary suddenly

Ok, as tall as, not taller.

The ticket lady took pity on us for getting really lost and gave us some great seats

We abandoned those seats shortly for the open air car

The view was incredible! Loved seeing the rafters coming down the gorge

There was a lot of talk about what this wooden pipeline was once used for. Some kind of aquaduct or for mining purposes.

We drove under the bridge and decided that it was probably more fun to see it from below than way up high! It was cool to see the tram going over but the people who were swinging out over the gorge got my vote for bravest & not the brightest! lol

Kary and I found new places to live!

The rain drove us inside for just a bit

And then the sun came out and warmed us up again

And you do some mountain hugging on the train

 

A couple of really great beautiful days.  The weather is awesome and the scenery beautiful. Makes me miss living here.

Check back to see my foray into Extreme Sports!