Colorado Rocky Mountain Road Trip (6-22-15)

June 22nd -

We meet in the lobby on our floor in the hotel.

Carla Sandwich  

We do our daily devotion and prayer as we have been doing every morning before we head out for a fun day of riding.

Chuck & Chris were sitting on the sofa, and Carla had no place to sit.....they let her sit in the middle....What a cute picture!!!





Enjoyed Lynn's very much.
She even had music to go with hers!!!!!
Today's word for me was "Friendship".
And I have to say we have it with this group.
What a great bunch of people.





We are on our way to the Rocky Mountain Nation Park today.

But first we need to eat breakfast.
Larry knows of a really good place in Idaho Springs, so we make our way there.
The pancakes are huge to say the least.
Very, very good too!












We get in a little traffic, again!!!!  This time in Granby...but it opens up pretty fast.












Doug has gathered money for the Rocky Mountain Park entrance from everyone but us.
Chuck and I pull into another lane, since I have my "senior citizen" pass!!
Sometimes its a good thing to be "OLD".  LOL








As we enter the park, the wildlife is out in force

There is a huge herd of elk that a few of our friends pulled over to see.
We pull off at another area and wait for them to catch up.
As we make our way through the windy mountain roads, it begins to get get cooler and cooler.













Snow is on the side of the mountains.
There was a perfect area to pull over and get pics by the snow, and someone before us had made the cutest little snowman.

























Onward and upward we make it to the top and pull off at the Alpine Visitors center and Trail Ridge Store.
Lots of people out here today....you would think they would be working!!!  LOL
The park was beautiful, and it was just a very nice ride through the area.


We exit, and decide it is time to eat some food.
The Smoke Ring in Estes Park is where we settle!
Diana has been in contact with a dear friend that is visiting Estes Park.
They have made arrangements to see her after they eat lunch.
The rest of the group is going to go into Estes Park and shop a bit.
Well, at least the women are...the guys on the other hand are finding a nice cool spot under a tree...oh but wait....I think they are going to walk to the local DQ and get dessert!

We girls figure we have about an hour to shop.
Off we go, and before you know it, that hour has gone and we are back at the bikes.
Remember I am on a "quest" for my Little pot!!!



I am in contact with Diana but where she is at has very spotty coverage.
I call her, and she says they are just about to leave to meet back up with us.
The next text I get is that they have stopped for gas and potty break.
First I text that we will wait for her, but I don't hear anything back....
I call her and she she says that they can't find Chris's wallet.
What!!!!
I know she is in panic mode right now.
We all decide to go ahead and go to the gas station they are at, and see if we can give them some moral support.

We get there, and Diana says she was in a hurry to get to the rest room, and handed Chris his wallet back when she got the pump going for the gas.
Chris has another story...but the bottom line is that they have no wallet.
The guy in the gas station has cameras, but he isn't able to play them back.
At this point in the game, Chris has been searched and re-searched...the bike has been searched, all the garbage cans outside and in the bathrooms have been checked.
Boils down to, the wallet is gone!

Chris calls the police of Estes Park, and they say they will come by and make a report.
We wait, and wait....but during this wait, Diana is able to get all the credit cards in his wallet cancelled.
Nothing has been charged on them at this point.

Can't take these guys anywhere without them getting in trouble!!

Thanks goodness!














Chris calls the police again, and explains that we need to be leaving so we can make our way back to Black Hawk before it gets dark.
The police officer finally shows up!
He apologizes for the delay....had an accident to deal with before us.
The report is made, and we get back on the bikes around 6:50pm.
As we make our way back to the hotel in Black Hawk, Diana says she has a phone call from the police dept. but since we are riding she can't hear it.


I took a picture right outside of Black Hawk at 8:22pm Colorado time....we made it back before the critters came out!
Off the bikes, Diana listens to her message.
Someone has turned in Chris's wallet...minus the cash!
We are just glad that someone turned it in.
Seems the new robbers don't bother the credit cards much, they just want the cash.








Since the time is pretty late, we opt to eat at the buffet again...as they close at 9:30.
We get there just in time.
Diana & I have free dinner vouchers for the dinner because we accumulated the points from our last nights machine playing.
Wow, this was a whirl wind day.
So glad we know that the wallet has been found and we can make plans to pick up tomorrow.
I know Diana and Chris were sick over the loss, but like I told Diana, it is ok...we are all ok...could be a lot worse!!!
Just glad the wallet was found.
Time to rest, as we leave out tomorrow for another fun day of riding the mountains of Colorado.