Colorado Springs, Colorado

We woke up at 6am and were on the road by 7am.  Karen took the reigns for the first four hours of the dark and gloomy drive.

However, the clouds broke and the rest of the drive was decent, all the way to Colorado Springs.

We stayed at a brand new KOA campground in Peyton, Colorado, a suburb of Colorado Springs.

We had some great Beyond Burgers for dinner, then we noticed the skies quickly darkening.  At 6:50pm I became concerned and read that the Thunderstorm Watch had become a Severe Thundertorm Warning.  There was a report that tennis ball size sized hail and damaging winds were approaching!  We had 15 minutes to take cover.

We had enough time to re-hook the truck up to the trailer, knowing that it takes 120 mph winds to push over a stationary trailer that's hooked up, but 60 - 80 mph winds can push you over if it's not hooked up.

Fortunately, we were spared the worst of the storm.  We experienced dime-sized hail and tons of rain that produced small streams around our trailer, but nothing more.

The next day we woke up to clear blue skies to what eventually became an 85 degree day.

While we were in Colorado Springs we:

• Rode bikes and had a picnic in the Garden of the Gods, a national landmark
• Visited the small, eclectic town of Manitou Springs
• Ate ice cream cones at Pikes Peak Chocolate
• Cautiously opened a bag of potato chips that blossumed due to the high altitude
• Visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings
• Experienced minor headaches getting used to the altitude, 7,500 feet!
• Climbed the stairs to the top of Seven Falls

Our first trip to Colorado was fun and memorable.