We left the timeshare about 8 AM, taking highway 9 through Breckenridge on our way south. We stopped in the mountains just before we got to the top of the crest of Hoosier Pass, the views were fantastic. This is isolated territory, yet there were several large homes on the hill above us. We took pictures then drove to the pass, elevation 11,541'. The vista's were great from here, we took pictures of the mountains, most of them are part of the "14er's", all have elevations of over 14000. From the pass we dropped rapidly in elevation, passing through places like Alma and Fairplay.

We eventually got to the Royal Gorge where we stopped for more pictures, I had not been here before so was interested in seeing it. The Gorge is a few miles off the main road and according to the tourist book it is very commercial and expensive, you pay one fee for entrance and access to all the rides and amusements located there.

We stopped at a picnic area before getting to the gates, while John changed into shorts I walked around and noticed that across the road was a sign that indicated a large picnic area at the top of the hill. We drove up to it and found we had wonderful views of the Gorge and even looking back to the bridge that crosses it. We were delighted since we were not interested in the commercial aspect, only wanting to see the Gorge and take our pictures. We drove the half circle through the picnic area, it was located near the edge, John scared me a couple of times by walking down the hill to get closer to the edge and take his pictures! It is a spectacular area, but I think the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is more so.

We left there and drove to Canon City where we ate lunch and then 'on the road' again. We drove south on Highway 67 to Wetmore, then took Highway 96 to a turn onto Highway 195, marked as a scenic drive to Colorado City.

On this road through the lower mountains was "Bishop's Castle", a tall rock structure, the picture attached will show it better than my descriptions. Lots of tourists here, including about 20 motorcycles. The man that built this 'thing' was working in an area away from the castle and as I passed I overheard him telling visitors that he had been building this for 30 years in his spare time. He has a full time job in Pueblo. Interesting, but the prices in the gift shop were were very high. I did buy John a $34 T-shirt as a donation; it is unique with a picture of the castle on the front.

We proceeded on our way as it was getting late in the day and we had a few miles to get to Walsenburg, on the freeway, I-25. Colorado City is where we joined it, and still it was 50 miles to Walsenburg. When we arrived, we were quite surprised to find very few motels, and later we noted a lack of restaurants. We found a room at an old motel, the room was so tiny we hardly had room to put our bags. Good thing it was cheap!

We walked around the downtown area, it isn't much, some historic buildings and the old RR station with a memorial to the local coal miners. For dinner we stopped in a busy restaurant on the main street, it was the only one open, when we stepped inside we were able to stand in line and read the menu, dinners started at $25.00. Since we weren't that hungry, we walked to Carl Jr's and John had a salad, my stomach was upset and I opted for just the piece of pie that we had bought at lunch.

We walked a bit more and then went back to the motel, we must be getting old, we tire easily!

In the morning we looked for coffee, there certainly wasn't any in the room, John went to the office, they didn't have any either, he went to Carl Jr's and bought us some!