No one told us which to to turn at the fork!?! (you will have to enlarge the picture)

Abandoned gold mining town

Pike's Peak

I can't believe I did this

Before leaving South Dakota, Marty and I visited Wind Cave. I enjoy going through the caves and stuff. We wanted to do jewel Cave also, but somewhere in the 15 miles that separate the two caves we changed our minds. big surprise huh?

We ended up near Pikes Peak. We also found ourselves back in the mountains, they seem to draw us in. Anyway, we camped at a nice campground that was nearly empty. We drove through a couple of abandoned gold mining towns. Part of the scenic drive included a loop through the towns, we also ended up in the area that they were actively mining. I don't think that was part of the route. Those truck are so big! One tire was bigger than Ruby. I drove over the Royal Gorge Bridge. You can't see in the picture, but it is a wooden suspension bridge that spans over the gorge 1,000 ft. That is not a type--1,000ft! Marty will tell you how I feel about wooden bridges, as well as low water bridges. Not my favorite!!

Speaking of Ruby, don't forget about the mileage challenge. I will give you a hint, she is due for another oil change.

We headed east yesterday morning, nothing real exciting, drove half way thru Kansas and stopped for the night. Today we finished Kansas. Very flat.

We are in Branson Missouri now, we will be here for two nights. Probably just do some exploring and planning our day tomorrow. There are a couple of parks and scenic drives in the morning and maybe a show and buffet in the evening. Then we should be off to St. Louis on Friday morning. All plans subject to change any second!

Nice to see mountains again. The Ozarks.

Rachel, I hope you had a nice birthday! I miss you.

Andy, Jody, Darin and Kendra, thanks for taking such good care of Abel. Kendra you are exercising him too much, I don't know if I can keep up with him when we get back. hahaha

Happy belated birthday to Bob. I hope you enjoyed your surprise visit from Scott.

We're off to explore, talk to you soon.