August 3 - 10, 2026
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| On Monday, August 3 we did a day trip from the campground to Ouray, to Silverton and back. This is a view of downtown Ouray. |
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| We drove the Million Dollar Highway. We've heard that it's no big deal, or that it's really scary. There were a couple of drop offs that went down what seemed like a thousand feet with no guardrails, but for the most part it wasn't too bad. That being said I wouldn't really want to pull the 5th over it if we didn't have to. |
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| A view from the highway. We had lunch in Silverton at Lacey Rose Saloon. They're known for their prime rib french dip sandwiches so that's what I had. It was really good! Afterwards we went to the Mayflower Gold Mill and did the self-guided tour. I won't even claim to understand everything I saw as it was all on such a huge scale. We've seen gold mines, but never really a mill where they take the ore and process it except small operations. |
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| From the mill the ore was carried across the valley from the mine near the top of the mountain on the left. |
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| Ore bucket. |
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| Men sat in the ore buckets or the chairs like the one below to "get to work" in the mine. What a commute! |
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| Chair used to take miners from mill to mine and back. I don't think this one is OSHA approved. :-) |
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| Custom ore chutes. |
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| Balls were used in the grinding process to crush the ore into smaller pieces. |
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| This was the 'floor' we were walking on. |
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| This with added water broke down the ore some more and if it wasn't fine enough it was sent back to the top to go through again. |
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| In these bins they would float off different kinds of ore: gold, silver, copper, lead, etc. |
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| I've seen these used to separate gold, but I've never seen one so big. |
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| This is the size I've usually seen. These pictures were not all of the ones I took, as there were others that documented the whole process. John could explain it all but not me. |
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| The mill. If you're in the area it's a good tour to take and we enjoyed it. |
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| Some pictures of the road back to Ouray. |
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| On Wednesday, August 5 we went to Garden of the Gods RV Resort. It was full hookups for $79.55 per night. Our site was between two trees and that kept the trailer a bit cooler. It was a nice park except for the road noise. The last day we were there John fixed some delamination on the passenger side slide. It was pretty much just flapping in the wind, but now it's solid. |
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| We took the Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak. There are 156 turns and no guardrails on the road up to the top so we decided get up the easier way. |
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| Some views on the way up and at the top. |
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| It's hard to see but if you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see the cog rails going up the mountain. |
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| Our train at the top. |
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| They only gave us 40 minutes at the top, which was barely time to eat lunch and use the restrooms. |
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| Views on the way back down. |
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After we were finished we went to Garden of the Gods. |
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| Balanced Rock |
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| Yes, we fit between the rocks on the road. |
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| Some views in the park. |
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On Saturday, August 5 we went to Denver West/Central City KOA in Central City, CO. |
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| We have full hookups for $102.35 per night. John wanted a cement pad to do some repair work on. It really is a nice site. |
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| Sunday quite a few people left, and this morning (Tuesday) a lot more left. |
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| This is our current problem. The welds on the back of the 5th wheel are broken. They didn't do a very good job of welding them in the first place. Now we're trying to find someone at our next stop to weld them until we can get to Affinity RV in Goshen, IN to finish the job and put the side skirts (behind the slides) back on. The other thing we had here is that the washer/dryer combo started flashing lights when it was drying. John pulled it out last night and vacuumed out the lint hose and got as much out as he could. I called Splendide this morning and they emailed what to do about it to fix it. John got that working this morning and now is back out there working on taking the other skirt off and taking pictures of more broken welds. Life on the road is not always fun and sightseeing. But we know that the Lord has it under control and has it all planned out. We're just waiting for Him to tell us! Tomorrow we'll be... Roving on... Lord, You have been our dwelling (refuge) place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. Isaiah 90:1-2 |
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