High noon at Colorado Springs

That's when we arrived....noon Mountain time. Here's the recap:
We decided to cut "cross country" in a straight line for Colorado Springs from Hays, Kansas. This meant getting off the interstate and taking U.S. Hwy 40. Talk about nothing....nowhere....no one! I mean, we were looking for the lone tree somewhere. If one of the Lanes had to go to the bathroom so bad that we couldn't go further, the other 5 of us would have to just close our eyes.
We finally found a little "welcome center" at Ft. Wallace, Kansas. A little lady showed up to open the place after we stopped, and she and the Lanes were the only ones there. She sold us each a "pop" for 50cents each. Of course, this meant out in Colorado somewhere....treeless and all....nature kicked in. We found a small store (FINALLY), and Marissa took Darcy for a walk while the other Lanes went inside "for a walk". What did Darcy do? Step on a "Dog-Gone" sand spur (we think). She yelped and whined for the next...oh....hour??? Really, maybe half an hour.
So we left the store and drove with open grasslands on both sides of us for another 2 hours. I mean there wasn't even a car in front or behind us. It was like a scene out of some Science Fiction movie. And the best was yet to come. We had to turn on Hwy 94, and there was a sign...."No Services for 70 Miles". Ansley whipped out her cell phone and said "Does this mean I have no cell service for 70 Miles?" Julie and I split a gut laughing. I told her...."No, silly....it means there are NO SERVICES AT ALL for 70 miles....no gas, no phone, no stores, no nothing!" Her idea of no service meant going out of range of a cell tower....my how times have changed.
But what happened...just over one of the buttes? There it was....Pikes Peak....barely visible.
After arriving at Colorado Springs, we checked in to our hotel and then immediately went and visited the Air Force Academy. Everyone bought T-shirts (Will got a hat), we saw a movie on the Academy, and then we went to the Chapel. How beautiful was all of that? Following this, we went on the campus of "Focus on the Family". As we entered, Julie began to whisper. I said, "Why are you whispering?"...and she replied, "This is like the Mecca for "Stay at home Moms and Homeschoolers.......what if Dr. Dobson is here?"
We will be visiting their welcome center tomorrow.
Right now, we are getting ready to go to the Flying W Ranch for a Western ChuckWagon Dinner and Cowboy Show, and then tomorrow morning we are taking the Cog Railroad to the top of Pikes Peak. Following that is Garden of the Gods, and on to see old Doc Dobson.
My cough is a nuisance....but I feel o.k. Keeps those comments coming.
For some reason, John Denver's music just keeps coming to my head.
"Rocky Mountain High".
---WJLsr
P.S. to Jane and Ilene....Julie received her Associates Degree from Young Harris College and her B.S. Degree in Education from North Georgia College. The nephew is Joshua Primm and he goes to Georgia Southern University in a Georgia Tech program.