Captain’s Blog May 19, 2011 (Day 13) Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO

Ron and I decided that we will be moving on tomorrow. Our first plan was to head to Rocky Mountains National Park but with an elevation of over 10,000 feet we nixed that idea. Ron is still not 100% and had some difficulty at 7000 feet. Also the weather up there is bad enough that some of the roads will not be opened until June.

Since we are mobile we have opted to head to Moab, Utah to Arches National Park. The weather there is much better and the elevation much lower. It is a little off course for us but we decided to follow the weather instead of worrying about adding miles.

It is overcast with more rain expected later today. We spent the morning planning and preparing the MH for the next leg of our journey.

While I did laundry Ron took Jewel for a walk. She decided she wanted to bury her squirrel. She does this at home and Ron always has to retrieve it because she will always leave it behind.

 

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After lunch we took a ride to the United States Air Force Academy. It sits in a valley in Colorado Springs surrounded by mountains. We were able to take a  self-guided tour through the Academy.

LINK: http://www.usafa.af.mil/index.asp

Our first stop was to view the B-52 Bomber on display. The B-52 bomber has been the backbone of America’s manned bomber for more then half a century.

 

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We were unable to take in the Cadet Field House/Falcon Athletic Center because there was a graduation in progress.

We stopped at the Visitor Center and learned the history of the Academy. We then took the walk-way to the Cadet Chapel. It is one of the most distinctive buildings in the country and offers an excellent view of the cadet area.

 

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A schematic of the Cadet Chapel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Chapel houses a Protestant Chapel, a Catholic  Chapel, a Jewish Synagogue and a Buddhist Temple.

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The Chapel overlooks the the Cadet area.

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Next, we visited the Catholic Chapel that was also quite beautiful.

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The Jewish Synagogue and Buddhist Temple were equally as beautiful.

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As we were leaving the Chapel it started to rain. The mountains were socked in with big black clouds.  When we arrived it was 60 degrees but quickly dropped to 45 degrees. As we were walking back to the car it started to hail.  Although the hail was small it hurt when it hit your skin. We weren’t able to finish the tour  at Doolittle Hall because the base had  stopped access to that area.

On our way out of the Academy we noticed how very black the sky was. Little did we know that a tornado had touched down not far from us  right in Colorado Springs. Fortunately there was very little to no damage done but OMG there we go again. Both Ron and I are very aware of the possibility of encountering a tornado so we are very watchful.

We drove back to Cheyenne Mountain through heavy hail, winds, then rain then sunshine all within a 25 minute drive.IMG_0345

 

Lots of Hail Falling on our Heads

 

r0n Note notice campground tag still on windshield ?
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Tomorrow we will be heading to Utah. We will not be doing a marathon run like we did getting here. Planning on stopping if anything interesting pops up.

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