Royal Gorge Bridge

We had a marvelous day of sight-seeing, rest, and relaxation yesterday. It was good to take a break from driving. We're staying at a very nice KOA. You know I'm often complaining about KOA's. One positive about the KOA's is that they are nearly always available at any place, no matter how remote. These folks were very accommodating when we needed to reroute, and we ended up spending an extra night here. It was a good thing we spent the extra night because the bridge took up half a day's time. Had we spent just one night, we wouldn't have been able to spend as much time at the bridge.

This is our campsite.

A brief thunder storm was moving in when I took these pictures, but there was still plenty of time to sit outside and take in the view of the valley.

Zooming in, we could see the uprights and steel cables of the bridge. You can see it about 1/3 down from the top of the image below.

The KOA provided a shuttle to the bridge and back. The bridge park itself was a spendy proposition, but we got a AAA discount. Mike coughed up the coin to ride the zip-line across the expanse of the gorge. We headed straight for the gondola ride across (included in the price of admission). While we waited, I was able to get this first picture of the bridge.

We rode across with four guys from Sweden. That was kind of fun.

The zip-line was located on the far side, and so Mike got off, and I rode back across in order to video him as he came. And, no, I am not a zip-line kind of gal. I'm not afraid of heights as long as there's a barrier, and the zip-line was above my pay grade...955 feet above my pay grade to be precise.

We spent too much time gabbing with the Swedish guys, and not enough time looking. I had the gondola to myself as I headed back the other direction. Here was a shot looking straight down. Sorry about the reflections off the glass.

That's the Arkansas River and there were rafters below.

Looking in the other direction, I was able to get this expansive view of the bridge. Incredible, huh? Consider that it was built in 1929. What an engineering marvel!

Here's another shot looking in the opposite direction.

Mike and I worked out a plan where I'd text him when I got back, and he'd text me when he was next in line for the zip-line. It was hard to see him take-off, but I ran the video and caught him as he came across. You can see the video below. It's very difficult to see when he takes off, but keep watching just below the rock line and a little to the right of center. About 20 seconds into the video, you'll see him come into view. If you can't see the video, then click right here.

Well, don't you know he was talking fast when he got back to my side. From there, we walked across. Here's how it looks starting out.

Here's some information about the general area. Pike's Peak is visible in the opposite direction, but it didn't make much of a picture.

The bridge is suspended by bundles of cables. They start out in bundles of around 30 wires, and then come together to form this large cable that extends across the gorge.

From there, we could see someone crossing on the zip-line, and I've indicated one of the gondolas with a red arrow.

This sign described a bridge on the railroad below. Honestly, I couldn't pick it out, but the information on the sign was interesting.

Here's a pano of the entire area. Mike photobombed my pano. He was taking his own pano.

This was carved into the planks at the middle of the bridge.

From the middle, and looking down, you can see the Arkansas River with the railroad running along its right side. Many of you encouraged us to take the train, and we thought about it long and hard. No doubt it is a memorable experience, but having just driven more than 1200 miles in 4 days, we weren't up for any more riding as a captive audience. It turned out to be a good choice for us because we thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing day spent mostly at our RV. We will most certainly be back here at some point in time, and the train will be on our list for then.

There were flags of all the states along the sides of the bridge, also known as "America's Bridge."

We hastened to find Oregon's flag where we took the requisite selfie. It was quite windy up there, but plenty warm to be out in shorts and short sleeves. (Not representative of my new haircut.)

Our shadow selves were so excited to see Oregon's flag, they opted to sing the Oregon State University fight song. Yes, it was embarrassing. We should have left them at the KOA.

In places, one could look between the planks to the river below.

Heading back, we could see the visitor center off to the right in the image below.

Here's some information about the Arkansas River below. Until yesterday, I'd never heard of the Arkansas River. After reading this sign, I can see that it's time to show a little more respect.

And, honestly, how many times do we have to go over this? Please put your fishing poles away.

We were just about bridged out by this time, and so we stopped into the cafe for some really terrible sandwiches, which were about 90% bread. While we ate them, this guy kept staring at me. I think he's really PO'd about his body.

While we waited for the shuttle to come, I noticed this "Legacy Wall."

Here's what the sign says.

Indeed, inside the visitor's center were some pictures of the fire and the aftermath. Below, you can read the legend accompanying the pictures along with some information about the fire. Consider it was only rebuilt five years ago. (Remember that you can make the image larger by clicking on it.)

We also spent a little time in the gift shop where I scored the first refrigerator magnet and shot glass of the trip. Mike also scored an "I survived the zip-line" t-shirt. Ya gotta have this stuff, you know? Life is short.

It was early afternoon when we got back to the RV. I did some laundry and baked this Dutch Apple Pie for Two. We had it after dinner with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very tasty.

It seems a good time to point out that we bought this larger truck camper because our first truck camper had no comfortable place to sit. This one has some nice reclining chairs. Let's just see how that "comfortable seating" effort worked out for us.

Well, at least someone is comfortable.

I'll end by showing you a couple of pictures I forgot from our time in Vernal. While we were out doing our shopping, we passed by these two beautiful bushes all in bloom. The flowers look, for all the world, like hibiscus, but the foliage on the plant did not. Whatever they are, they were beautiful.

We're moving on this morning. We want to stop in again at the grocery store. On our last shopping trip, I'd done some meal planning, but neglected to think about items we need to replenish. So there are just a couple of more things we need. Also, Mike wants to pick up a diesel can and some straps. We'll fill the diesel can with fuel and strap to the flat bed trailer. We always, always, always carry extra diesel, and we've never needed it. For this trip, we didn't because we're already hauling gasoline for the ATV's. I pointed out there was room on the trailer to also carry some diesel fuel, and so Mike will make it so.

It's a short day of driving to Taylor Park Reservoir today, and we'll be spending six days there. It'll be our first opportunity to ride ATV's and it's the whole reason for this trip. I'm hoping to have some fun days ahead to tell you about. It is a remote area, however, and so it's possible there will be no internet access. If you don't hear from me for a few days, that will be the reason. We'll catch up when I get back into cell phone range.

For now, thank you to all who have left comments and shared personal stories about your own camping and road trips. I really love hearing what memories are generated as you follow along.