October 6, 2017
Santa Fe, NM

Today we drove the 13 miles into the town of Santa Fe. The first thing you notice is the Pueblo/Adobe style of all buildings (business and residential). They are even the same light brown color. The main town center of Santa Fe is mostly comprised of arts and craft shops as well as galleries, churches, and museums. There are many restaurants, cafes, and food shops of various assortments as you would come to expect from a tourist town. The area is rich in history and culture.

The famous Loretto Chapel with its mysterious spiral staircase....

Here is the spiral staircase. The mystery is that no one knows who constructed it, what type of wood was used, and how it supports itself....

Of course Santa Fe lies along the Santa Fe Trail....

 Shops and galleries....

The Basilica....

Street view of shops...

And more shops...

 And more shops....

And more... Even a rooftop restaurant.

Santa Fe is a really neat town with lots to see and do, especially if you're into arts and museums. Also, the New Mexican cuisine is fantastic (and will light your fire).

October 3, 2017
Santa Fe Skies RV Park
Santa Fe, NM

We finished our time in Colorado with a trip to the mountains. Colorado College Hockey was having an exhibition game in Breckenridge and Steven secured us tickets and hotel rooms at the Doubletree (what a great deal).

What a beautiful town....

The Ice Rink....

Snow on the peaks...

Steven running the team through warm ups.....

Game action....

It was a great game (but very cold) and CC beat Lethbridge (a Canadian college near Calgary) 4 to 1.
We had dinner that night at the Breckenridge Brewery and said our goodbyes to Steven. The next morning we had a light breakfast with Julie and Katy and then headed back to Denver. We said our goodbyes at Julie's house and drove back down to the motor home in Colorado Springs.

Yesterday we left Colorado Springs and drove south on I-25 for 140 miles passing Pueblo and Trinidad, and up over Raton Pass (7,834 feet in elevation) at the Colorado, New Mexico border. We stopped overnight at the KOA in Raton, NM. This was the same place we stopped in April of last year heading into Colorado. This is a no frills KOA and just good for an overnight stay.

The next morning (today) we drove south 170 miles on I-25 past Las Vegas (no not that one) to Santa Fe. Santa Fe Skies RV Park is located in southwest Santa Fe near I-25 and Hwy 114. Santa Fe Skies was highly rated in RV Park Reviews but I have to say we are very disappointed.

The nicest part of the park is the sign......

gravel roads and sites......

On the side of a hill... gravel (and weeds) everywhere.

Rolling hills of Santa Fe in the distance..

The sites are very narrow and unlevel....

Our step just barely cleared the stone wall....

We will be here for 11 days and will be driving over to Albuquerque (50 miles) for the International Balloon Festival which runs from 10-7 through 10-15. And of course we will be going into Santa Fe. Oh yeah, can't forget... Marilyn just read the RV Park brochure and they mentioned that 17 miles down the road is the town of Madrid which was made famous by the movie Wild Hogs...... oh yeah, gotta check that out..... maybe put on some leather and ride our Zappy's in to town   ;>)

September 20, 2017
Cheyenne Mountain State Park
Colorado Springs, CO

Well it was an interesting two weeks at Chatfield. Two days after we arrived we got in the car to go over to Julie's house. The engine cranked and cranked but finally started. Then I noticed all of the maintenance lights were on. We knew we had a  problem and needed to get the car to a Honda dealer. Luckily there was one within about 10 miles. We took off and I immediately knew it was going to be questionable if we could make it to the dealer. I had no power steering and the fuel injectors were misfiring when I tried to accelerate. We limped into the dealer and we were told it could be Monday before they could do the diagnosis (this was Friday). We had them drive us to Enterprise so we could get a rental.
On Monday they called and said a rodent had chewed up the wiring harness and it will cost $1,300 to repair, and it will take two days to get the part...... what can you say other than OK.
We had noticed a lot of rabbits around our site and talked to the park about the problem. They admitted they had a bad outbreak of mange and the coyotes and fox have been hit hard, leaving the rabbit population to run wild. We considered leaving but there were no other parks with openings. We settled for changing sites and found one with only an occasional rabbit sighting (and no droppings). The next day I called our insurance company and filed a claim. Allstate went to the dealer the next day and approved the claim and auto deposited the funds in our bank account... now that is service. The dealer had the car ready the next day and we picked it up...it worked great.
The next three days we stayed at Julie's house (as planned). We got back to Chatfield late parked the car, sprinkled and sprayed animal deterrent all around the rig and the car. After checking for varmints numerous times that night, the next morning Marilyn saw a rabbit near the car and scared it off. I popped the hood and could find no trace of anything. I started the car and it was fine. An hour and a half later we got in the car to leave and, you guessed it, hard to start and all lights on.....
We limped back to the dealer... 15 minutes later they confirmed (and showed us) the chewed wire. This time they were able to repair the wire and $150 later we were back on the road. With 3 days left at Chatfield we split up, Marilyn took  the car and went to Julie's and I went back to the rig to prep for leaving.

So today Marilyn showed up at 10:45am, we packed up and hit the road by 11:15......we weren't going to leave the car unattended long. We drove 68 miles south, back to Colorado Springs, to Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

You can see the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain just above our campsite......

Our cul-de-sac

Right after we got set up, the first thing I did was sprinkle and spray animal deterrent around everything (now we're paranoid). I don't know if we'll have animal problems here but these State Parks are the perfect environment...... only time will tell.... stay tuned.

September 6, 2017
Chatfield State Park
Littleton, CO

We made the short trip back over to Chatfield State Park. The trip was a meager 20 miles and we have made this trip a few times now so it doesn't get ant easier than that.

We are in site 154 this time. Just a few sites away from where we were before and of course all the sites in this loop are really nice.

We will be here the standard two weeks before heading down to Colorado Springs.

September 3, 2017
Castlewood Canyon
Castle Rock, CO

Today Julie thought it would be nice to go see Castlewood Canyon. Since none of us had ever been there and it's located within 20 miles of Aurora, we were all overdue for a visit.

Castlewood is a State Park located between the towns of Parker and Castle Rock. It is a beautiful canyon with huge outcroppings of rocks with pine trees and a stream.

We had a great time and finally got to see another beautiful Colorado Park and it was right in Julie's backyard.......