Road Trip Day 1 - Vet Rally Friday

August 16, 2013
Colorado USA

The ride to Cripple Creek and Colorado Springs

Road Trip! We rolled out of the drive about 6:30 am under clear but hazy skies. We are kicking off this summer's second road trip with the Salute to American Veteran's Rally in Cripple Creek so while we were eager to ride out, we were in no particular hurry. Of course, the first stop was breakfast. We had thought to stop at a favorite eatery, Aunt Alice's Restaurant in Longmont CO but they were closed (vacation I think). We rode on and found ourselves near a familar Denny's in a Denver suburb so we started the day with a Red, White and Blue Breakfast.

Sure, you can ride I-25 from our neck of the woods straight through to Colorado Springs and arrive in a couple of hours if the Friday morning commute through Denver goes smoothly but where's the fun in that? We chose to ride along the foothills to Hwy 285 and on to Hwy 67 at Pine Junction where we turned south and followed the lazy and scenic route through Deckers to Woodland Park.

Scenic Ride along Hwy 67 and the South Platte River is a great way to kick off a road trip.

The Blue Jay Inn in Buffalo Creek, CO is a historic 1880s boarding house listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1974). Last I heard it was being restored but renovations appear to have stalled. This is one of those places that comes to mind when you think - if I ever win the lotto - ha!

In Woodland Park CO we turned west on Hwy 24 and then south again on Hwy 67 at Divide CO. Although we have ridden this road many times before, this is our first trip along it as the POW/MIA Memorial Hwy (the stretch of highway between Divide CO and Cripple Creek CO) designated as such recently by the state due to the efforts of local veteran organizations.

Little Ike Tunnel, once an old railroad tunnel converted to a vehicle passage was bypassed in the early 1990s when Cripple Creek legalized gambling and tour buses needed a better route. Prior to that it was a one lane tunnel that required stop and honk before passing through and later it had a stop light at each end... It is now closed at both ends and is reportedly deteriorating. It seems a shame to let a beautiful historical structure go to waste.

We arrived in Cripple Creek before noon and just in time to score (for the first time ever) free Red Friday T-shirts. I grabbed the last medium size available. Wearing a red shirt on Friday signifies support for our troops.

On the agenda for the day -- purchase our Rally shirts and rockers to avoid long lines tomorrow. We stood in a fairly long line today but it moved quickly and now we have shirts for the POW/MIA ride first thing in the morning. We strolled the town and shopped a few of the vendor booths that were already set up.

About mid-afternoon, as the usual clouds started to build we rode down the mountain to our accomodations in Old Colorado Springs. We travel along Highway 24 through the canyons bearing burn scars and stay in a motel about a mile from where all the serious flooding happened in Manitou Springs just a few days ago. I couldn't get a good picture of it but I got a good visual of the horrible damage on the west end of Business 24 in Manitou Springs. The recovery will be long and expensive and this is only the first year after the wild fires.

After checking into the motel, Tim made a gas (and beer) run while I checked in with the Folks and got our belongings squared away in the room. We topped the day off with a mile long stroll along Fountain Creek (the one that just flooded - signs of that all along the way) to our favorite eatery - Savelli's - in Manitou Springs which miraculously survived the flooding. A couple of beers and a dish of the best eggplant parmesan on earth made us happy campers. We spent the evening lounging in front of our room and talking about the roads we will ride in the coming days.

Today's mileage = 213 miles

Slide show of today's ride/rally = 93 photos

Alternate link to this slide show