Garden of the Gods

June 7,
We found another free city park, the Garden of the Gods. It is a area containing many red rock formations. The first picture is balanced rock, near the entrance and along the way there was the Scotsman and the Cathedral Spires. From the visitors center, there was a great view of Pike's peak and some beautiful Indian Paintbrush wild flowers.

The Falls

June 6,
We arrived in Colorado Springs after a beautiful ride through the High Plains of New Mexico and Colorado. We are staying at a campground in the mountains, where there are many hummingbirds and stories of a bear that raids the dumpster at night. We spent the first night ready with lights and camera but he never showed. Actually wildlife has been scarce for most of our trip.

We headed for Seven Falls and on our way found the free city park, Helen Hunt Falls. The ride into Cheyenne Canyon and the Falls were beautiful. Many people were enjoying the picnic areas and hiking trails.

We then headed to the Seven Falls, where they were two, 200 step, staircases. One lead to an observation platform and the other followed the falls up the mountain. We chose the elevator and thoroughly enjoyed our view of the falls.

The critter at the bottom is real. He's a ground squirrel and there were bunches of them around the snackbar!

To Yuma and Back

May 27-June 4
After spending a few more days than we wanted to at Hal Burns Repair Shop in Santa Fe, we left for Yuma, Az. We had been told of a Mexican Doctor doing stem cell treatment for COPD. We had made an appointment for Memorial Day. The coach ran just fine through the mountains to Phoenix and then started to overheat on the last stretch to Yuma.
The campgrounds in Yuma are on their summer schedule and are virtually empty. We finally got one to answer and checked in for 4 days.
On Monday we crossed the border and went to the Purple Pharmacy, where we called Dr. Diaz's office. A car came and took us to his office, where we waited 5 hours. When our turn came, the doctor explained the procedure, gave Joe 7 shots and a list of directions. We were taken back to the Purple Pharmacy, filled the presciptions for vitamins and Joe walked back to the border(about 1/4 mile) without Oxygen.
Our trip back to Santa Fe was a little short of a nightmare, stopping and starting until the thermostat finally opened so we could go.
When we got back to Santa Fe, Joe could walk around without Oxygen....before the treatment he could hardly breath with Oxygen.
Jacob, at Hal Burns replaced the thermostat and we were on our way to Las Vegas, NM by 3:00.

Ride home on Rt. 84

May 25,
The rest of the ride home was full of beautiful scenery and beautiful rock formations.

Echo Ampitheater

May 25,
After a very loooooooooooooong ride though the Carson National Forest, where we were at times above the end of May snow line, we finally reached Georgia O'Keefe country. The colors and the late afternoon highlights were beautiful. While I was taking pictures, there was someone ahead of me, at the base of the ampiitheater, speaking in a normal voice that seemed quite loud even though I could not see him.

Crazy Trip to Ghost Ranch

May25,
After spending another day trying to get the coach straightened out, we headed to Ghost Ranch... a favorite hangout of Georgia O'Keefe, one of New Mexico's favorite daughters. Unfortunately construction prevented us from seeing the Rt. 84 turn-off and we ended ,up in Taos again. The trip on Rt. 64 was pretty and we got to see the Rio Grande Gorge and Bridge.........no, I didn't walk the bridge--didn't even like riding over it but it was impressive. Shortly after leaving the Gorge are we came across a group of strange underground homes. If we find an explanation, we'll post it.

River Road......home

May 23,
After a great mexican dinner in Taos, we headed home on Route 68, the River Road. The rock formations and the Rio Grande were very impressive. It also was much, much shorter than the high road. White water rafting rides are available heading back to Santa Fe. The water didn't look crazy but was still moving.