We stayed several nights at my son’s new place in Cripple Creek, Colorado. He bought this place in July after several years of saving and scrimping and living in a camping trailer. Patience and persistence pays off.
His house is an old log cabin built in 1902. A newer two car garage/barn with a with a loft was added later. He’s been looking for quite a while to find a house that gives him a place to work on his vehicles, do his projects, and have some space for his dogs. We’re really proud of him. It’s a neat place on the outskirts of Cripple Creek. I asked him if he had anything that he wanted me to work on, and he knows I love projects, so he said that the garage door was having some issues closing, and that there were some electrical issues in his garage. I investigated the garage door and it appeared to have something to do with the sensors, and I tried aligning them without success. So Kathy, myself, and the dogs took about a 3 mile round-trip walk up to Ace Hardware to see if I could purchase some new sensors. They didn’t have any, but the Ace Hardware guy said that I could possibly mount them about a foot apart on a rafter and see if that would work.
On the walk back from Ace Hardware we stopped at a little sandwich shop and shared a club sandwich and some chips and sat outside in the warm sunlight. There was a Dollar General store down at the bottom of the hill and Kathy wanted to stop by and pick up some basic supplies. The dogs and I waited for her outside. We found a cute property complete with an old Ford truck.
When we got back to the property, I disconnected the sensors and mounted them up on the rafter, reconnected the wires, and wouldn’t you know – the garage door worked. So I re-mounted the sensors on a more solid surface at the bottom of the garage doors, adjusted the alignment, and rewired them. Now the garage door opens and closes as required.
The electrical took a little bit of investigation, but it appeared he had some loose connections in the common wire in a couple of his junction boxes. So I clipped the ends, reconnected them, and now his lights and extra outlets work in his garage. For me, it was a very fun day. He had asked me to take a look at his fireplace as well, and I had forgotten to do that on both of the days I was there. Sorry, Peyton.
We headed up to the casinos to get a pizza for dinner, and ended up taking it back to his house for to eat with beverages. Peyton makes handmade soap, and he had a special order to complete that night. Kathy and I were very interested in seeing how that process was done. The soap making process itself is amazingly easy. You combine some sort of oil or lard with lye and it eventually, after several days (in a cold process) will create soap. The challenge comes in when you’re trying to make it smell nice or do the “hot” process, which requires heating the oils and combining it with the sodium hydroxide. That can create a very bubbly reaction, which we got to see. We did purchase 6 bars from him since we’ve been using his soap on this trip and it always works well and smells nice. If you’re in the Colorado Springs, Woodland Park, or Cripple Creek area, here is a link to his Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/share/16Ggj9xuA3/?mibextid=wwXIfr
The next day, Kathy and I decided to go check out Cripple Creek so we headed up towards the casinos to browse the various antique shops, curio shops, and tourist shops. One of the buildings in particular was very interesting as it had been gutted and completely redone on the inside to contain a mining sluice/waterfall between the big meeting area upstairs and the second hand store downstairs. We did try a little bit of our luck in one of the casinos to double our money, but we ended up just donating our bets to the casino.
I had asked Peyton whether he had a lawnmower, and he said he’d been looking for one, but new ones at the stores were $300-500. So I got into Craigslist and I found a really nice Husqvarna lawnmower with a Honda engine and agreed to meet the guy in Colorado Springs. The drive down the mountain was filled with fall colors.
When the guy showed up, I tested the lawnmower, and it started up on the first pull. We took the handles apart and managed to stuff it in the back of the camper, and Kathy and I headed back up the hill. We stopped at the grocery store to get some steaks and vegetables for dinner, and texted Peyton that we were going to barbecue.
Peyton got off a bit early that night so he was there when we got back. He was happy for the new lawnmower, and quickly mowed his immediate backyard, which had grown about 12 inches high. He has a little fire pit thing in his backyard so we cleared that out and added coals and cooked some potatoes and steaks over the fire. It was a nice treat. We got to meet his new girlfriend, and she was a hit because she brought fresh hot banana bread; one of our favorites. She seems to be a wonderful young lady and we had a great time visiting and getting to know her that evening as we burned wood on the fire.
We we all set our goodbyes because he was gonna be leaving early in the morning. To be frank, we don’t get up that early anymore. I had told Peyton that I was gonna mow his property. It took me about three hours but I cleared the entire lot and really enjoyed the workout. Kathy was chuckling at me because apparently I got a little sunburned. I had not thought about putting sun protection on. We cleaned up, took showers, packed up Howie and headed over to Victor to check out that old city. It was a fantastic visit, and a well needed rest by staying for a couple of days in the same spot.
Here are some additional photo over the days.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/30250930-1002-cripple-creek