<![CDATA[ON THE ROAD WITH HANK & ANGIE - Blog]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:21:26 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[4/30: Colorado Springs to Longmont, CO]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:37:09 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/430-colorado-springs-to-longmont-co​We enjoyed Garden of the Gods so much, we decided to return for a morning hike to see the rock formations in different light. Our 2.6-mile walk took us through the center of the park then around the eastern perimeter where the morning sun made the formations jump out against the clear blue sky and Pike's Peak. We also saw a small herd of big horn sheep and a solo rock climber working his way up a crack in the face of South Gateway.
The 90-minute drive to our next campsite in Longmont, Colorado took us through thick Denver traffic at 2 pm. Our campground is a state park featuring several peninsulas twisting around numerous ponds. We were greeted by lots of birds and a chorus of bullfrogs. Our campsite backs up against one of the ponds and Charlie tried to jump right in upon our arrival. It was very windy and felt cool, even though the air temperature was 73 degrees, so we restrained her. This location is within easy drives for visits to Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park.
We found a dog-friendly bar patio in town, which had great food and beer.
]]><![CDATA[4/29: Pike's Peak, Cripple Creek]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:33:00 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/429-pikes-peak-cripple-creek-garden-of-the-gods​We woke up to warmer weather and clear skies. But the forecast called for increaing clouds. We were first in line when the gates opened on Pike's Peak Highway at 9 a.m. The gates are at 7,400 feet. For $10 per person ($15 in summer months), you can drive your own car up the 19-mile road to the Summit at 14,115 feet. We learned that the last six miles of the road were still closed due to icy conditions. They get their biggest snow storms in April and May in Colorado Springs.
The winding drive has a speed limit of 25 mph, due to the tight hairpin turns and sparse guard rails along steep traverses. In addition to a close-up view of the alpine peak, there are views of the Continental Divide Mountains, lakes, forests and the surrounding area. We got some great pictures and a short-hike through a snowy picnic grounds. There were few other people, so we let Charlie off leash. She loved scampering and rolling in the snow.
We decided to continue west on Highway 24 to the backside of Pike's Peak to the town of Cripple Creek - an old gold-mining town. It's now filled with wall-to-wall casinos. Most are converted restaurants and bars. But there are a couple of moderately sized hotel resorts. We found a traditional bar/restaurant where we enjoyed a delightful lunch. Angie got spicy green chili and I had a Reuben sandwich. We sampled a couple of regional IPAs also. On the way home, we did a driving tour of Garden of the Gods
Back at camp, the weather was still mostly sunny, so we sat outside to catch up on our blog updates. Angie made a delicious dinner of broccoli stir-fried in garlic, fresh salad and brisket. Hank had smoked a brisket and and pork before we left. Angie portioned it and vacuum sealed it into individual meals. We have been eating out a lot so we are going to have meat leftover after this trip.
]]><![CDATA[4/28: Red Rock Canyon, Manitou Springs]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:30:06 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/428-red-rock-canyon-manitou-springs​The forecast called for continuing overcast, so we deferred trips to the prime attractions of Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods. Instead, we hiked four miles through Red Rock Canyon. Charlie made it the whole way! Afterwards, we visited the quaint village of Manitou Springs with its steep hillsides, Victorian houses and early 20th century, brick downtown.
]]><![CDATA[4/27: Santa Fe, NM, to Colorado Springs]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:28:25 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/427-santa-fe-nm-to-colorado-springs​Angie has named our new truck "Ruby". She had called her last one "Saphire". Well, Ruby got broken into the working world by towing our 20-foot Lance trailer on the five-hour, up-and-down journey from Santa Fe to Colorado Springs. We descended from 7,700 feet to 4,700 before climbing back to 6,000. We averaged 11 mpg in our turbo-charged V4, travelling at 65 mph.
There was snow on the ground, but not on the road when we arrived at our campsite at the Air Force Academy. It was cold and overcast with a low ceiling. We couldn't see the mountains around us. We did our laundry and listened to our audio books. We just finished "Shogun" and are in the middle of "Diamond Eye", which is a well-written, fast-paced historical fiction about a female sniper in the Russian Army in WW2.
]]><![CDATA[4/26: Taos, Rio Grande Gorge, Puye Cliff Dwellings]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:23:40 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/426-taos-rio-grande-gorge-puye-cliff-dwellingsWe broke in our new truck with a 150-mile round-trip up the Rio Grande Gorge to Taos Pueblo. The adobe pueblos are one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US. For a cost of $25 per person, you can enter the village to view the ancient, two- and three-story adobe row homes, and visit shops and vending stalls. A Spanish church was built there in 1619 and destroyed during a revolt in 1680. We saw the ruins. The church was rebuilt a block away in 1850. It was a cool, overcast day, so the the village wasn't as photogenic as Hank remembered from a previous visit in the late 80s. It was free to visit back then. We took a few photos and bought some cookies and pie made by the seller in an adobe oven under the crop drying racks. Then we headed into town, where we had an lunch that included a delicious drunken chicken pot pie featured on the show Diners, Dives and Drive-ins. 

Since we were so close, we drove to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge for some photos. Unfortunately, the cloudy-sky and the rusty metal combined to provide a disappointing result. Trying to salvage the day, Hank suggested we visit the Puye Cliff Dwellings on the way back to Santa Fe. The cliff dwellings were occupied by about 1,500 Santa Clara Pueblo Indians between about 900 and 1580 AD. Unfortunately, we arrived about 15 minutes before closing and 90 minutes after the last tour of the day. These days you cannot view the dwellings without buying a guided tour at a cost of $25 per person. Angie was fascinated and disappointed that we couldn't see it. We have to come back! That's ok with Hank, who really enjoyed Santa Fe and could imagine living there.
]]><![CDATA[4/25: Octane GMC]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:20:32 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/425-octane-gmc​Before our appointment at the GMC dealer, we fit in a 7:30 am Vinyasa yoga class. It was a challenging workout. And we enjoyed the private showers afterward. Our campground had no showers.
We showed up a little early for our 9:15 am appointment at the GMC Dealer - Octane GMC/Buick. They got us in and promptly determined that our transmission needed to be replaced. The cost estimate for the repair was $9k. Our mileage was 1k over the warranty on the drive train! However, the service advisor told us he would talk to GMC to see what they could do to defray the cost. While awaiting their answer, he offered to connect us with the Sales department to explore trade-in options. We agreed.
GMC responded pretty quickly, offering to cover 60% of the cost. Unfortunately, the leadtime for a new transmission to be shipped from Detroit was 10 days. We looked at four trucks and test drove two of them. We discussed possibly renting a car and extending our stay in Santa Fe. We fell in love with a beautiful GMC Canyon AT4X, which is an off-road trim version of Angie's previous truck. We didn't really want an off-road truck, but the stock model was a boring gray color, while the AT4X was a sexy candy-apple red color. They gave us a great offer on our trade-in and we took the plunge. We left the dealer with a brand-new truck, stopping back at the Cowgirl for a celebratory dinner.
Back at the campsite, our camp host, Ken, hung out with us for bit. Ken looks like Joe, but he's had a very different life. He's from Brooklyn, but he has spent most of his adult life in the West. He was drafted for the Vietnam War, but failed his physical because of bad peripheral vision. What a blessing, huh?
Seems like Ken has had lots of different jobs, including working at a streetside newstand, home construction, project management, touring musician and campground host. He pulled his 30-foot trailer with a 1970s Chevy pick-up. He was replacing the fuel pump during our visit. He also had two Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked behind his trailer. He had great stories to tell about his band that played hotel lounges on the California Coast between La Jolla and Santa Barbara for two years before things fell apart. Before that, he had hitchhiked around the West with his guitar and long hair. He's got a daughter in NC. He wrote a song for her.
]]><![CDATA[4/24: Truth or Consequence to Santa Fe, NM]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:18:30 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/424-truth-or-consequence-to-santa-fe-nm​It took us three hours to arrive at Santa Fe. We camped at Hyde State Park, at 8,300 feet seven miles up a mountain from Historic Downtown Santa Fe. At 7,000 feet, Santa Fe has the highest elevation of any state capital. Sorry Denver!
We had to wait for some squatters to vacate our campsite before we docked, right next to the colorful camp host, Ken, who was an older, spitting image of Hank's younger brother, Joe. Then we headed into town for some live music at a dog-friendly patio at the Cowgirl bar and restaurant. The solo acoustic guitarist, who called himself "March Divide", played some original songs along with some relatively recent (to us) pop tunes. 
We struck up a conversation with a couple at the next table who turned out to have moved to Santa Fe after retiring in Virginia Beach. They gave us a list of restaurants and bars to visit in Santa Fe and gave lots of love to Charlie.
]]><![CDATA[4/23: Tuscon, AZ, to Truth or Consequences, NM]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:11:39 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/423-tuscon-az-to-truth-or-consequences-nm​We had long (for us) 4-1/2-hour drive starting East on I-10. We ran into some construction west of Lordsburg, which put us in bumper-to-bumper, single-lane, 5 mph traffic for about five miles. Hank noticed a strange whining noise that we initially thought was coming from the semi-tractor trailer in front of us. But as we began to accelerate to normal speed, we discovered the sound was coming from our truck!
The sound was correlated with throttle application and release, rather than tire rotation. So we suspected a drive train problem. We stopped for gas in Lordsburg, NM, and asked for a referral to a mechanic. We stopped at All Makes Automotive, where Victor and Dewey did a test drive with Hank. They heard the noise, but could not diagnose the problem. They suggested we head to a dealer in Las Cruces, which was about an hour past our planned exit at Deming, NM. 
We continued driving east on I-10. The sound dissipated, so we made the stressful decision to try to make it to Santa Fe, where we were planning to spend three days. We got an appointment at Octane GMC in Santa Fe, said a prayer and turned north at Deming toward Truth or Consequences, NM, which was our scheduled stop for the night. We barely noticed crossing the Continental Divide at a meagre 4,600-feet of elevation between Lordsburg and Deming. 
We drove through Hatch, NM (famous for its chili peppers) and made it to a beautiful lakeside campsite at Lake Caballo State Park. The 11,000-acre lake was formed in the 1930s when an earthen dam was built across the Rio Grande. Charlie had a good swim and game of fetch on the beach. But it was cool and gnats drove us crazy, so we didn't spend much time on the beach or outside the trailer at our campsite. We enjoyed a morning walk along the heights above the lake before hitting the road.
]]><![CDATA[4/22: Mt. Lemmon, Main Gate square]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:07:17 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/422-mt-lemmon-main-gate-square​We started the day with the 27-mile drive up Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway, which climbs about 6,000 feet from the valley floor to the highest point in the Santa Catalina Mountains.  The drive traverses several climates from Saguaro forests to hoodoos to 9,100-foot alpine. These mountains are called "sky islands" because discrete peaks were thrust up from the flat valley floor when the Pacific Plate collided with the North American plate.
The road was built by prisoners at Catalina Federal Honor Camp, which operated between 1939 and 1973. The ruins of the camp are named after Gordon Hirabayashi, who was interred there after being arrested for violating a curfew for Japanese Americans. Gordon was born in Seattle, graduated from Auburn High School and the University of Washington. He challenged the legality of his internment and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where he lost in a unanimous vote in 1943. The case was overturned in 1987, after Peter Irons, a political science professor at UC San Diego, uncovered evidence that the government knew that there was no military reason for the internment, but withheld that information from the Supreme Court.
"We had the constitution to protect us in 1942. It didn't because the will of the people weren't behind it," Hirabayashi said. It takes "constant vigilance" to assure that the Constitution works as intended, he said. 
We passed many cyclists climbing the moutain and got some amazing views. We stopped for a hike around Rose Canyon Lake at 7,000 feet. There were lots of fisherman angling for rainbow and brown trout. Charlie enjoyed a cooling soak near the shore. The name of the lake had a special significance for us, because Hank's sister-in-law, Rose, just passed away on April 12. At the top the mountain we found a ski resort and observatory. 
After our drive, we had a delicious lunch at a Mexican restaurant named "Guadalajara". They made salsa and guacamole to order at tableside. After lunch, we drove to the Main Gate Square neighborhood outside the campus of the University of Arizona. There were great restaurants, shops and pubs, but it was relatively quiet on a weekday afternoon. We had some coffee, then headed back to the campground, vowing to return again sometime.
]]><![CDATA[4/21: Silverbell Lake, Saguaro National Park]]>Tue, 30 Apr 2024 22:59:57 GMThttp://hankandangie.com/blog/421-silverbell-lake-saguaro-national-park​We drove to a city park that had a lake which offered boating. When we arrived at Silverbell Lake, we were greatly discouraged. It was only a 10-acre lake. There were dead fish floating all around the shore. There were several fisherman, but no other boaters. The water was died green. Pass!
Plan B worked out, though. We found a funky bar that featured live music at brunch on a dog-friendly, shaded patio. We enjoyed a couple of solo acoustic guitar acts and a delicious meal. Then we took a drive to Old Phoenix, which we thought was a historic center, but turned out to be a movie set, with an exhorbitant entrance fee. Also, it was not dog-friendly and we couldn't leave Charlie in the car on such a hot day. Instead we drove through the Saguaro National Park. We learned that saguaro can grow as high as 70 feet and can live more than 150 years.
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