Arizona

More Desert Rat Rally XIV (Quartzsite, AZ)

We’ve been so busy having fun that I haven’t posted in a while.  So, I’m forcing myself to get caught up a little bit this morning.  Here we go…

In my last post, I mentioned that we had some work done on the coach while sitting here in the desert.  On Monday, fellow Alpine SoCal member (Mike Fleming), aka “Engineer Mike” installed my steering gearbox bracket stiffener.  I purchased this bracket almost three years ago, but have been carrying it around in the “basement” since then – waiting for the opportunity to install.  Some Alpine Coaches have experienced stress cracks on the OEM steering gear bracket after a lot of miles, or for whatever reason…  Although the Urban Escape Vehicle didn’t show any evidence of needing this upgrade, I still decided to “insure” against this happening in the future by getting it done.  “Engineer Mike” personally designed and had this kit fabricated – so who better to install it.   Here’s a couple pics of the work:

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Engineer Mike in his all-to-familiar pose during Rallies.
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The OEM Hauck bolts had to be grinded off.
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David and Engineer Mike. Getting the Steering Bracket Upgrade completed.

After Engineer Mike finished up with the bracket, Thanks Engineer Mike!!  I then utilized the expert services of another Alpine SoCal member, (Orman Claxton).  Orman is a factory trained and certified Aqua-Hot technician.  It’s important to have the unit serviced each year to keep it running well.  And, we used the heck out of it back in Colorado during all the recent cold winter weather.  This is the type of service that I would normally do myself, but I decided to have the “expert” do it for me while I had the chance so I could watch and learn.  Orman replaced the diesel filter and nozzle.  He also adjusted the ignitor and replaced a worn housing gasket while I got training on cleaning the combustion chamber 🙂  Thanks Orman!!

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Orman Claxton performing Aqua-Hot service on the Urban Escape Vehicle.

Whenever there’s work going on, a crowd always gathers.  It’s mandatory for guys… just like when a hood goes up on a cool car.

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After a full day of getting stuff done on the Coach.  We went straight to the tent for another catered dinner.  Great BBQ ribs and chicken was had by all.  Sorry, no new pics of that –  you have to take my word for it – very tasty!  And they packaged up leftovers for anyone who wanted them 🙂

After our dinner, we joined others from our group at one of the community campfires.  We did this almost every night.  Here’s a pic in front of the fire of our nearest neighbors that we joined most evenings.  See you next time Jim and Sally, Greg, Igor, et al., …

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On Wednesday, or was it Tuesday(?)   Hmmmm, it’s all a blur now, we finally left our group campsite out in the desert and went into Quartzsite to see the “Big Tent”.  We spent most of the day wandering through all the vendor stalls.

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I forgot to take a picture of the “Big Tent”, you’ll just have to take my word for it – it’s huge… you could easily spend all day in there.  Although, I couldn’t help but notice that there seemed to be much more non-RV-related vendors than in years past.  A little unfortunate in my opinion, but the female-types seemed to like that.

When we returned to our desert group site, we were invited to join many of the Alpine Coach group members for a dinner in town at Silly Al’s Pizza.

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Sign on North-side of town.

It was crowded in Silly Al’s but we amused ourselves with the good company and some Karaoke (performed by others of course), while we waited for our Pizza.

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Pizza at Silly Al’s

The Pizza was awesome… worth the wait.  Or could it have been the long wait that made it so good?  Naw, it was really good!  We’ll come back here.

By Wednesday morning,  most Alpine Coaches had already left… I remember hearing that we had 73 Coaches in attendance.  Too bad we arrived so late to the Rally, but it couldn’t be helped with all we had to do at the house and the bad weather we experienced back in Colorado.

That’s all the update for now… I’ll catch you up on the rest of the week next time.  We had my Mom, Stepdad, Brother Steve & Cheryl come by with their ATV’s for the weekend and we also went ATV’ing  with some Alpine Coach group members before that.  I’ll post about it next time – Good times!

Arizona

Desert Rat Rally XIV (Quartzsite, AZ)

Well, we made it!  Here we are at our premier spot in the desert, just North of Quartzsite, AZ.

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We got here just in time on Sunday to partake in the Margherita Mixer Hour and then the catered Mexican dinner from Taco Mio.   Good times!  But, first let me bring you up to speed on our trip here.

As mentioned in my last post, we got the Harley downloaded from the truck and uploaded the ATV at my brother’s “dirt farm” in Casa Grande.

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After making sure everything was properly stowed again after our one night stay at the “dirt farm”, we headed out for the ~3 hour road trip to meet up with the Alpine Coach group at the rally that was already in full swing since the 14th of January.  We got here mid-afternoon and had just enough time to set up “camp” before we went into the giant tent that our group had rented.

It was great catching up with all the people from past rallies.  Many wondered where we had been.  The camp co-host, Ann Fleming, even provided Stilla with extra tickets for Margherita’s since we won the “award” for being last 🙂

Here’s a few pics from the inside of our huge dinner tent.  I took more pics, but unfortunately many were blurry, just a few came out alright:

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On Monday, Stilla and I, both took pictures around our boondocking site throughout the day:

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Our Alpine Coach Association, Desert Rat Rally XIV, community tent.

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Also, on Monday – I had some work done on the coach, but I’ll save that for my next post… the sun has been out for a while now, and I have to get on with the day.  So much to see and do…

I will post again tomorrow to bring you up to speed on activities since Monday… until then 🙂

Arizona, Colorado

We’re late, We’re late, for a very important date… (Casa Grande, AZ)

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It took a lot of work… but we’re finally back on the road!  Goodbye ol’ house 😐

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On Thursday, with the help of my Dad, (Thanks again Dad!) we finished up some last minute details on the house and then concentrated on loading the Harley into the pickup along with any last minute forgotten items.  Back at the Elks Lodge, Stilla had some of her German friends come by the Coach to say goodbye.

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On Friday morning, (our travel day), I found myself up on a ladder trying to get as much ice off the roof as I could.  I had to use a hair-dryer and broom to get the chunks of ice off the slideout awnings so we could retract them.  I gave up trying to get the ice off the roof.  A lot of the snow had melted the previous day and turned into 1 – 2 inch thick ice that stubbornly refused to break up and fall off.

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While I was working on the ice problem, good friend Danny surprised us by stopping by to say goodbye.  Bye Dan! We’ll keep in touch.

We finally decided it was best for Stilla to follow me (at a safe distance) in the truck.  I didn’t want any of the ice chunks falling off and going through the truck windshield.  So, down the road we went… with ice chunks slowly melting and falling onto the highway behind us… goodbye cold Colorado… we’ll see you again when it’s warmer.

It took 70 miles before enough ice had fallen off the roof of the Coach so we could hook up the truck up for towing.  We even stopped at the rest stop just before Pueblo, where I got out the ladder and tried to break up some of the ice, but it was still too thick.

Just as it was becoming dusk, we stopped at the casino/gas station after Santa Fe but before Albuquerque to get fuel and noticed that my running lights weren’t working on the truck.  The brake lights and turn signals were fine, but the driving lights wouldn’t come on.  I’ve had this problem before.  I think it has to do with the Vansco Multiplex system the Coach employs.  I’ll have to work on it once we get to Quartzsite.  Since we didn’t have tail lights on the truck, and I didn’t want to just hook up an emergency flasher light, (which I carry), we decided to spend the night at the casino.

They charge $20 for electrical hook-up at the casino but gave us each a $10 players card.  We enjoyed their buffet for $20 and spent another $20 playing the slots.  Fortunately, we won just a little at the slot machines so we pretty much broke even by spending the night there.

On Saturday morning we got rolling about an hour after the sun had come over the horizon.  We made it to Casa Grande just as it was getting dark again.  Whew!  Time to refresh ourselves for the night, catch up with brother Steve & Cheryl, Mom and Stepdad Jimmy.

This morning, (Sunday), I’ll download the Harley from the truck and upload the ATV which has been stored here at the farm.  Hopefully, we can make it to Quartzsite at a reasonable time this afternoon.  The party already started there and we’re late…  I’ve already heard from some of the Alpine Coach group that are there, hope they saved us a spot in the desert 🙂

 

Arizona, Colorado

There and Back Again (Colorado Springs, CO)

We made the final road trip to Casa Grande on Sunday with “stuff”… made it back to COS on Tuesday.

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Cloud bank coming over mountains near Santa Fe NM

On Sunday: We, (Stilla, Little dog “Coach”, and I), left our house at 6 AM after hooking up the fully-loaded trailer and made it to Casa Grande by 9 PM.  After 15 hours of driving, we met my Mom, Stepdad (Jimmy), Brother Steve and his squeeze (Cheryl), for a late-night dinner at the Iron Skillet Restaurant just South of Casa Grande. The 900 mile trip down here took us 15 hours and we only got 9.2 miles per gallon with the heavy load.  Every time we pull the trailer, it’s like having an open parachute behind you.

After a good night’s sleep at the “dirt farm” in my Mom’s house, we spent Monday recuperating from the trip.  We also downloaded a few items from the trailer to the Conex.  Most items, we left in the trailer.  Then we gave the trailer a good washing with my brother’s pressure washer.  It also took a good amount of carwash soap, buckets and ladders to clean off all the road-grime and magnesium chloride.  That magnesium chloride is nasty stuff.  They put it on the roads for ice control and it’s hard to get off the under-components of your vehicle.  The stainless-steel wrap on the front of the trailer and fenders have spots all over that will have to be buffed out now to get rid of the effects of the stuff.  We parked and locked up the trailer in a safe spot on the farm.  (Thanks Steve, Cheryl, Mom & Jimmy)!

On Monday:  We got a 6 AM start back to Colorado Springs.  What a difference without the trailer (parachute) behind us… we made the 900 mile trip back to COS by 8 PM and we got a much more palatable 14.8 miles per gallon 🙂

On Tuesday:  We picked up my 90 day refill of meds from the Ft Carson hospital that I had requested the week prior and we stopped by Home Depot (again) for a couple last minute things to finish up the house that’s for sale.  I had to special order some 3-toggle light switch plates that they didn’t keep in stock… I needed them to match the others that we had already replaced.  I also finally finished up the carpet and trim pieces on the garage steps, which is yet another home project that I never got around to completing when we lived there.  Now, if the weather would just cooperate, I can finish staining the rear deck and painting the front porch.  These are the last items on our list to complete so we can head South.  Hopefully we can complete this quickly and hit the road with the Urban Escape Vehicle.  We’re late for the Alpine Coach Rally in Quartzsite.

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Looking West from the driveway – For Sale sign in yard.
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inner garage door steps (finally completed trim pieces and tacked down carpet)
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front porch with partially completed concrete paint (using “Restore” product from Home Depot)

With any luck, my next post will be coming to you from the warm Arizona desert 🙂

BTW- If anyone else out there is selling a house, beware of scam artists on Craigslist.  We had someone use our pics and name to represent it as a rental… hoping to con someone into sending them a deposit.  My realtor found and fixed this on Craigslist but not before someone stopped by to look at the “rental”.  I guess these scumbags try to get people to come by and look at the house through the windows, and when contacted, the scumbag says he’s out of town, but if you send him a deposit to secure the rental – he’ll send them the rental contract and keys…  scumbags!

Colorado

House for Sale (Colorado Springs, CO)

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Yay!  We finally got the house on the market.  Link here to Zillow. Or here for the MLS.

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It’s been a grueling couple months… Now we can just hope it sells quickly.

Regardless, it’s time to move the Urban Escape Vehicle to warmer climes.  We plan on being in Quartzsite by the 14th or 15th for the Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally”.

I still have to make one more trip with the trailer to Casa Grande AZ.  I already loaded it with the final garage stuff (tool boxes, wall lockers, etc.,) and will probably head down in a day or two.  I’ll leave the trailer there this time and come back to get the coach and the Harley… then we’ll be free again!!  Can’t wait.

Colorado

We Can See the End (Colorado Springs, CO)

We are finally getting close to being able to put the house on the market.  The carpet is finally done, I guess the adage; “3rd time is a charm”, is true.  The original carpet guy finally just paid a competitor to order and install the carpet at his expense since we had already paid.  Here’s a view of the stairs in progress.

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And, here’s a picture of the finished stairs for your viewing pleasure.

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The downstairs “family room/game room” looks a little weird with the light brown color carpet (called Honeycomb 201).  It used to have a light blue/gray carpet that complemented the wall colors.  I hope a potential buyer doesn’t “dislike” it.

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This is the bar that we’re including with the house.  I just wasn’t going to remove that back piece off the wall because I anchored it with lag bolts to the studs and ran electrical outlets to it when I originally finished this room.  Removing it would just create too much additional work with drywall, paint and texture issues.

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We had new carpet put in the Master Bedroom and walk-in closet along with the stairs and everywhere downstairs except for one of the bedrooms where we decided to leave our King Size Bedroom set.  We just didn’t want to move it again and figured it might add value and an additional incentive to buy the house for the new-owner(s).

This is the chandelier we put in the dining room.  The old one was just fine, but it was brass.  This was no easy chore due to the extremely high vaulted ceilings.  I even had to make another trip to Home Depot to get more black chain so it wasn’t hanging too high.  It doesn’t look too bad I guess.

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The driveway concrete repair has been the most expensive task so far.  This is where I used to park the Urban Escape Vehicle and the concrete just wasn’t thick enough to handle the weight.  It had some pretty major cracks and had settled in places.  The concrete guys did all the tear out and re-pour in one day.

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Here’s a view out the front Den window looking up the street.  We haven’t been able to easily look out this window for a while due to the “stuff” I had to move out from the former tenant’s.

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We still have to clear the previous tenant’s stuff out of the Master Bath so we can give it a good cleaning and re-caulk where needed.

And there’s some wood-laminate flooring repairs I still need to make in the Great Room… sure glad I kept a couple boxes of the original floorboard.

We still need to finish re-staining the deck also, but that’s contingent on good weather, hopefully it warms up soon.

With any luck, we’ll finally have the house on the market at the beginning of the New Year.

I’ll try to keep you updated.  Stay tuned…

 

Colorado

Taking a Day Off (Colorado Springs, CO)

We finally took a day off (Sunday) from working around the house to help our friends Daniel and Monika move their daughter’s belongings back to their house.  Dan keeps up with the blog and knew about the new trailer purchase.  We were happy to be able to help, because as you know – what goes around comes around.

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Daniel

We were able to make quick work out of all the stuff that needed to be moved, the trailer ramp made loading easy.

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While we were on the way back to Dan and Monika’s house with the trailer loaded, we stopped by the house of our mutual friend’s – John and Angelika.  The Christmas lights and decorations are looking good Angelika 🙂

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We wanted to drop off a Coca-Cola Cooler that we gave them.  It’s much more satisfying to give some of our things to friends or family as opposed to selling them at greatly reduced prices or even taking things to Goodwill or ARC Thrift Stores.  We already gave John and Angelika our “retro” Jukebox that Stilla got for her birthday several years ago.  At least it’s in good hands and getting some use instead of being put in storage.

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NSM Jukebox “Digital Thunder” on the wall at our house (pic is a few years old)

While stopped at John and Angelika’s house – I used the opportunity to install the load-leveling hitch that I just got in from Amazon.com.  Their little cul-de-sac is much more level than the one at our house, and it’s important to do the installation on level ground.  With John and Dan’s help, we did some measuring and got the hitch installed at the correct height.  The load-leveling bars take a lot of weight off the hitch ball and distributes it more evenly, I’ve heard it described as functioning in a manner similar to a wheelbarrow.

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After we unloaded the trailer, Dan and Monika treated us to lunch at Applebee’s.  Thanks again Dan and Monika!

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We visited for a while back at Dan and Monika’s beautiful home and admired their awesome deck while our little dog “Coach” checked out the back yard and probably left his “calling card” somewhere… sorry about that Dan 🙂

Dan and I also made tentative plans.  If the timing is right, Dan offered to help me drive our stuff down to storage in Casa Grande.  With his help, we could drive straight there, drop off a load, maybe spend the night and then get right back in record time.  Dan is a professional truck driver by profession, (after his illustrious Army Career), so he’s no stranger to driving long distances.  We’ll have to see if the timing works out…

After chatting for a while and saying our goodbye’s, we drove straight back to the Urban Escape Vehicle which is safely parked at the Elks Lodge overlooking the pool that is (sadly) closed for the season.  This is the first day in – what seems like ages – that we didn’t spend the day at the house cleaning or painting something.

It was a good day off 🙂

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Urban Escape Vehicle at the COS Elks Lodge RV Park

 

Arizona, Colorado

Thanksgiving (Casa Grande, AZ)

Our work on getting the house ready to sell has been progressing fairly well, albeit slowly.  We (Stilla and I), often find ourselves asking things like; “Why didn’t we replace those outdated exterior lamps earlier?  Or why did we wait until now to change out that brass dining room chandelier?”  We’re drawing the line on putting in granite countertops and stainless appliances though ($$).  🙁  Early on in this house-selling escapade, we decided to not upgrade our white appliances and formica (or whatever they are) countertops as suggested by the realtor.  We’ve been just fine with them, and they still look and function great.  Hopefully, a potential buyer feels the same way.

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The interior repaint is almost done.  Just a few touchups here and there.  We hired a guy to paint most of the upstairs because of the extremely high vaulted ceilings… the last thing I need is to have another hip replacement because I fell off a ladder:)  The baseboards and trim have been the most tedious of tasks even though I’m only touching up the scrapes and dents for the most part.  By the way – I will never, ever, have another house with high-gloss white paint on doors and trim!  Er yeah… no problem there, the Urban Escape Vehicle doesn’t have  any painted trim – just real wood.

On Monday the 24th of November, the carpet guy that was scheduled to start replacement didn’t come through.  His associate ordered the wrong carpet!  The result is another week delay.  So I used the opportunity to get an early start on my promise to be in Casa Grande for Thanksgiving.

I left in the Silverado around 3 in the afternoon and got to my Mom and Brother Steve’s “dirt farm” by 8AM or so on Tuesday.  Stilla stayed behind in the Coach in order to help oldest daughter Jennifer watch the grandson while she was at work.

Here’s a front-view of my brother’s triple-wide.  My Mom and stepdad Jim have a super-long, single-wide at the front of the property.

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I got put to work right away with some fence projects.  Although, I did more supervision than actual physical labor as i’m sure brother Steve would validate.  In the pic below, we are using my stepdad’s Jeep to stretch the fencing.  My brother’s Steven and Ronald look on.

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Ron and Steve tacking the fencing to the post.  Ron is visiting from California and plans to stay and help around the “dirt farm” for a couple weeks.

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Stepdad Jimmy inspecting the mirror that brother Steve broke.   Just like my Mom always told us kids when we were growing up – “We can’t have anything nice.”

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We had quite a gathering of relatives on Thanksgiving day.  It was great seeing everyone.  Only my brother Donald from Florida was missing, however, his two kids Matthew and Christopher were there to represent him 🙂

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A good time was had by all.  Great food and great people!  It was also my brother Steven’s long-time girlfriend, Cheryl’s birthday!  That’s her holding the golden goose.  We ate and played games into the night… and then ate again.

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Here’s my wonderful Ma and her sister Kathy.  We affectionately call Aunt Kathy “Aunt Squirrely”

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On Black Friday, I decided to go trailer shopping.  So with my ever-helpful stepdad Jimmy in tow, we drove North to Phoenix and visited a few trailer businesses.  I did research on line and had determined that trailers seem to be cheaper in Arizona as opposed to Colorado.  We need a trailer to move all our “stuff” from Colorado and mitigate the costs of storage units.  I already have a storage unit in Colorado Springs and hope to be able to start moving stuff to the “dirt farm” as soon as we get the house on the market.  We’re also considering buying a “Conex” with the help of Mom and Jimmy to place on the “dirt farm” towards that end.

So here’s the result of Black Friday shopping:  A 7′ X 16′ dual axle cargo trailer from TrailersPlus.com.  It’s the “LoadRunner” model.  They had one model that was better, called the “ProSeries”, but it also came with a hefty price.  This one was a “Red Tag” special that ended up costing me ~$6,200 after taxes and permanent AZ plate.

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After sad early morning goodbye’s… I hit the road by 7:30 AM on Saturday in order to get back for the carpet install which was rescheduled for Monday the 1st of December.

I decided on an alternate scenic route out of Phoenix that saved me about 100 miles off the 900 mile route.  I took 87 East to Florence, then 79 North to connect with 60 East.  However, instead of taking 60 all the way to I-25, I turned north on 117 at Quemado which dropped me off on I-40 just West of Grants.  After that, it was a short interstate drive to Albequerque where I got on I-25.

It turned out to be a beautiful shortcut as the following pictures can attest:

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I drove straight through and made it back to Stilla at the Urban Escape Vehicle parked at the Elks Lodge in Colorado Springs by 10:30 PM on Saturday night.  15 hours total travel time.

Of course, on Monday the carpet guy calls and tells me that his associate(s) put in the wrong order AGAIN!  He will give me a $500 refund off the $2800 I already paid and I don’t have to pay the $500 upon completion.  He contacted another carpet company to do the work and they came by in the afternoon to measure everything once again.  So here we go again… I’m scheduled to finally get the carpet replaced next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I used the time to put Thompson’s Water-Seal all over the wood on the inside of the new trailer.  I also ordered a load-leveling kit from Amazon.com and some E Track components for load management.

Stay tuned for more house selling adventures… hopefully, we can put all this behind us soon and get to warmer climes.  We definitely need to be in Quartzsite for the annual Alpine Coach “Desert Rat Rally” in January.  But I’ll probably be making some trips with the Silverado and trailer to put stuff in storage at the “dirt farm” before then.

 

Colorado

Selling the House (Colorado Springs, CO)

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I have to apologize for not posting in quite a while.  My time has been totally consumed with all things related to selling a house.  It’s almost as if I have a “job” again 🙂

Every day we find ourselves painting, staining, cleaning, etc.,  and if we’re not doing that, it’s another trip to Home Depot for something or dealing with a contractor for drywall texture repairs, painters, gutter repair/replacement, or concrete driveway repairs…

I just haven’t had the time or desire to update the blog… besides, I figured who wants to hear about the mundane stuff related to selling a house.  I appreciate the folks that inquired about our status when I didn’t post for a while.  At least I know some people are reading the blog:)

In other news – We are still living in the Urban Escape Vehicle.  We were parked in the driveway hooked up to my 50amp outlet when someone complained to the local code enforcement “police”.   I have to assume it was a realtor that complained because there are currently a couple other houses on our street that are for sale.  We are at the end of a cul-de-sac and the Coach had been parked there for a couple years before we took off on our full-time adventure(s) in May of this year.  Oh well… we just moved over to the local Elks Lodge for a reasonable $350 per month and have been commuting to the house each day to get it ready to sell.

Hopefully we can get the house on the market by the beginning of December.

Meanwhile, I took a quick Thanksgiving break and drove the Silverado down to my brother and Mom’s in Casa Grande, AZ on Monday.  Stilla stayed at the Coach and the house  to help Jennifer (my oldest daughter) with baby-sitting  the grandson while she is at work.  I intend to get back by next Monday, in time for the new carpet to get installed.

Maybe I can find a reasonably-priced cargo trailer while I’m down here to help us with our “stuff”.

Please stay tuned… I’ll keep posting as time allows.  Time to go mingle with the relatives that are showing up now for Thanksgiving at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande.

 

Colorado

Got Oxygen? (Pikes Peak – Colorado Springs, CO)

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One of the many “must-see” attractions in the Colorado Springs area is Pikes Peak.  Therefore, on Wednesday, we took our visitors from Germany up the Pikes Peak Highway.  There are a few ways to tackle the summit of this 14,115 ft peak.  You can take the aforementioned 19 mile long Pikes Peak Highway which is famous for the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, aka “The Race to the Clouds“ and is touted as the highest….or you can take the Pikes Peak Cog Railway.  Of course, if you are so inclined, there is always the 12.6 mile hike up the Barr Trail.

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Pikes Peak from Garden of the Gods (photo credit: Wikipedia)

We chose Wednesday for a couple reasons.  First – the weather report was favorable and the sky was free of clouds, and Second – it fit into the busy schedule of things that Will and Jasmin still have planned for the short time they have left on their vacation.  Their flight back to Germany is this coming Monday.

We paid the toll at the entrance station/tollgate.  The fee was $40 per carload (up to 5 passengers).  I showed my retired military ID and got a couple dollar discount.  The attendant cautioned us that blowing snow near the peak may cause a road closure and stated that we should go directly to the top without delay because the weather was expected to get worse as the day progressed.  When we left the house the skies were free of clouds, however, by the time we arrived at the tollgate the clouds were quickly coming over the mountains from the West.  This is a common problem in the COS area… you never know what’s right over the mountains until it’s on you.

It was just below “tree line“, which is the point where the trees no longer grow due to altitude and climate, that we hit snow from last week’s cooler weather.

Here’s some pics I took through the windshield on the way up.

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Clouds coming in fast on way up Pikes Peak Highway.

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Pikes Peak Highway (view of Colorado Springs)

After driving almost 19 miles, we finally neared the top.  On the way up, I monitored the transmission temperature on the Silverado which went from ~140 degrees at the bottom to almost 215 degrees at the top.  I have  a “Tow” option on the Silverado, which allows me to press a button on the end of the shift lever to limit the upshifting.  It keeps the transmission in a lower gear and therefore the engine runs at a higher RPM.  This is better for the vehicle because it’s not shifting between gears all the time which is the leading cause of premature wear and overheating.  Higher engine RPMs equal better cooling for two reasons; 1) The cooling fan is pulling a higher volume of air through the radiator and transmission cooler while also blowing more air over the engine, and 2) The water pump is operating faster, therefore circulating more coolant through the system.

Sorry if that’s too much technical talk, I guess it’s the old Warrant Officer “Maintenance Tech” coming out again.  But, I believe a lot of blog readers appreciate this type of info.

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The wind was blowing pretty hard at the top of the peak, so we didn’t take too many outside pictures… just too cold 🙁

I made a bee-line for the world-famous donuts and hot chocolate.  The donuts are touted as the only donuts in the world made above 14,000 feet.  I like them… they’re not too sweet or covered in glaze or other stuff.

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Here’s Will and Jasmin enjoying their snacks in the concession area.

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We braved the elements for a picture in front of the Summit sign.

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Summit of Pikes Peak (L to R) Stilla, Joleen, Jasmin & William.

The Cog Train arrived at the top while we were there.  They left the doors open after all the passengers disembarked so we could step inside out of the cold wind and blowing snow.

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I took a picture of Colorado Springs below from the window of the cog train.  We were lucky that the clouds that had came in so fast from the West were up high making for unobstructed views.

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Joleen and Jasmin inside the Cog Train.

We braved the cold and wind (briefly) for another picture at the observation deck area.

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After only an hour or so at the top, we headed back down.

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Here’s a couple views looking South and West towards Cripple Creek.

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The wind continued to blow hard on the way down.  The rangers had put up cones at one point to prevent cars from coming up.  I guess they couldn’t keep up with the snow and ice that was forming across parts of the road.

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It’s important to use low gear going down the mountain.  I kept my automatic transmission in Low 1 and sometimes 2.  I only used the brakes a couple times at the hair-pin curves.  A technique I’ve always used when going down long grades is to only hit the brakes just before a curve… and when I must, I use them briefly and firmly.  It still surprises me how many people ignore this and ride their brakes all the way down which effectively takes a couple years off the expected brake pad life in just one trip.  Several tourists passed me on the way down – and when they did, you could smell their overheated brakes.

The further we went back down the highway, the better the weather.  The winds died down and the temperature went back up to a comfortable 75 degrees versus the 34 degrees at the top.

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After an uneventful trip to the bottom, we went back to the house.  Will and Jasmin had plans to borrow Joleen’s car to go up to Denver and see the sights there.

Until next time… hope you enjoyed Pikes Peak.