This is what you see on the way up Pikes Peak
I don't know what kind of cat this is, but it's gorgeous
And this is the world's only living 6-legged cow. Now you don't have to visit yourself.
So, I got up early in the morning and headed for the Pikes Peak highway, the road to the top. It's also the road that they run the Pikes Peak Hillclimb, an annual car race. It's 19 miles, and the top 11 miles are dirt. It goes up to 14,100 feet, which is way above the timberline (at about 12,000 feet).
I got to the base of the road and discovered that they say to plan for two hours minimum. That was going to put a crimp in my plans of doing the hillclimb, then heading back down and exploring some caves, and then maybe checking the ghost town museum if I had enough time. Well, whatever. I'd do the hillclimb and then see what happens. I really just needed to get back to the campground by about 11:30 to make the noon checkout time.
I used to live at the top of a mountain road, and I've even done a hillclimb race in the Formula Ford, so I felt fairly comfortable. Of course, those roads were paved. And I've seen the Pikes Peak road on TV during coverage of the race.
Well, the hill was amazing. I got to the tollgate behind a line of two cars, and I heard the ranger tell both other cars to be very careful, and to use 2nd gear going up and 1st gear going down. For 19 miles? Wow, this thing must be steep! But when I got up there, she said, "Wow, what kind of car is that?" "It's a BMW." "Oh! Well, you won't have any trouble." And I didn't get the safety lecture or anything. Interesting.
I very quickly caught and passed those other two cars. The first, paved part of the road was very wide, very smooth, and very fun. It was much faster than 2nd gear (unless I wanted to bump off the rev-limiter all the time). I passed about 6 or 7 cars (and I wasn't going particularly fast) before I got to the midpoint ranger station where it becomes dirt.
I slowed and was waved through (with a big smile!) and got to the dirt part. Well, all of a sudden it got a little slower than before. Even being *very* careful, sometimes the sand was deep enough to cause the car to get a little twitchy in the back. I was being very careful, but even so the traction control was engaging frequently and the car would slide just a little bit exiting most of the corners. The pavement/dirt varied in quality a lot, sometimes being almost paved, and sometimes loose and deep sand. At this point I told myself to make sure to never be a passenger on this road. As a driver it was okay -- the little twitches and things from the car didn't scare me, because I knew what the car was doing -- but as a passenger, I'd be terrified. The dropoffs are huge (in fact, you can't see them, most of the time you just see air) and the lack of traction ...
I caught up to and passed several cars. People were driving really slow, and I thought I was being super-careful. Then I caught a ranger in a Suburban, 6 miles from the top. I thought I'd have to follow him all the way up, but I was surprised when he waved me by ...
At 12,000 feet you hit the timberline, and there it gets really scary, because the dropoffs look even worse because there are no trees to stop your fall.
The summit is at over 14,000 feet. I stopped and took some pictures, then headed back down. By the time I got back to the bottom, I was surprised to see that it was already 11:15. So, I headed straight to the campground, got packed up, and hit the road by 11:45. My routing software was estimating arrival in Topeka at 10pm at this point (CDT, not MDT) but I knew I had to stop once for fuel, and to fill my fresh water tank (since I'd be without a campground for over a week), and I wanted to stop at that Prairie Dog place that we always pass in Kansas but never stop at ... so, I skipped the caves and headed out.
Drove down the hill to Colorado Springs, crossed I-25, then took a 2-lane that heads Northeast and meets I-70 in eastern Colorado. I just drove, and drove, and drove.
Finally, I stopped in Kansas at the Prairie Dog Town exit to do all of the tasks I needed to do. See, this Prairie Dog place has about 15 signs for 50 miles approaching it -- handwritten things that say "World's Largest Prairie Dog" and "World's Only Living 5-legged Cow" and those sorts of things. I've always gotten curious about that (I've been passing these signs on my way to Kansas for 10 years), and finally, darn it, I was gonna stop.
Well, it's this unbelievable dive. This huge dirt field with lots and lots and lots of prairie dogs. They're really cute. They pop up from a hole, look around, spot you, scream, and duck down and disappear again. It's hilarious. They also have cages of all sorts of interesting (and not so interesting) animals, like chickens, turkeys, racoons, foxes (fox?), buffalo, cows, steer, skunks, all sorts of birds, snakes, goats, etc. Some of them are just wandering around free, and others are in cages. You'll see some pictures here.
Oh -- that world's largest prairie dog? 800 pounds? Well, see the picture. And yes, I bought a refrigerator magnet. And one from Pikes Peak too. Then I hit the road, pulled into Solo City in Topeka at about 11:15, and went to sleep.
Okay, on to Friday. I moved the motorhome into the paddock area. Then I decided to back it up a little -- well, it wouldn't start. Just clicked. Okay, fine. Well, I wanted to do my errands, namely to bring my laundry to the fluff 'n' fold, and to wash the BMW, which was absolutely filthy from the dirt hillclimb. So, I went and did that, and then Guy Ankeny and I tried to get the motorhome to start. We failed. So, I pulled the starter (a story in itself, but I'm getting tired, and I still need to get yesterday's pictures up here), and went out to find a place in town that could repair or replace it. To make a long story short, of course, it's a very rare starter and no one could help me. At the 5th place, I found somewhere that was willing to take it apart and repair it, instead of replace it. But they called me a couple of hours later and told me that they needed to order some parts, and it being Friday, well ... so, they'll have them Monday. In the meantime, Mark and I are staying in a hotel, since you can't stay in RVs in the paddock area (inside the gate), only in Solo City (outside the gate). The Nationals are at an airport, an active one, and no one gets to be inside the gate after 9pm.
Anyway, that's about it! More on, probably, Monday ...