My Family's Pilgrimage to Pike's Peak
A zig-zagging adventure in our rented SUV
Last weekend, my family and I flew to Colorado to visit my son “J,” who is stationed there in the Army. We flew from Cincinnati to Denver on an economy airline. I felt a bit like a celebrity as, being a “prestigious” credit card holder for this airline, we were able to board immediately.
This airline flies Airbus 319s and 321s, and boy do they cram the seats in those planes. In this cramped space, my back is usually in severe pain after about an hour, but this time, due to my wife’s pre-planning and ingenuity, I had a cushion to sit on. With my windbreaker jacket rolled up at the small of my back, I was sitting pretty with a novel in hand, Slaughter House-Five, one that I had been meaning to read for a long time.
I had an aisle seat, and a young woman sat directly across from me. For her carry-on item (we are allowed one free carry item) she had a small pet carrier placed on the floor under the seat in front of her. Two tiny dogs were within, sometimes staring up at her lovingly with mooning, cow-like eyes. They didn’t make a single noise for the entire flight. We joked about how we should have brought my wife’s cat, Macy, with us. (She, Macy that is, would have been peeing blood within the first 10 minutes.)
After landing in Denver, we made our way to the car rental area, accessed by shuttle buses. My wife, using our airline points, had reserved a large SUV in which to drive down to Colorado Springs. As usual, wanting to save our precious money, we declined getting the rental company insurance. The rental lady warned us sternly that we would be liable for any damage to the vehicle, including hail. Yet, at an additional cost of $40 per day, we decided to take our chances. The SUV they picked for us was a Ford Expedition, and what a wonderful beast it was, complete with an enormous sunroof and a large tablet-like screen fastened to the dashboard, which included GPS navigation and a theatre-sized view of the rear when in reverse. We made our way south to Colorado Springs, being sure to activate the “Avoid toll roads” setting. (We also declined the Rental company’s toll road advance pay option.)
Kentucky, where we make our abode, has plenty of hills to look at, but they are always covered with trees and other various and sundry green vegetation. Thus, even if we wanted to, it is hard to see what’s underneath. This is not so in Colorado, so for our trip south to Colorado Springs, we were gifted with grand views of naked and snow-topped mountains and hills if not more frugal and sporadic spots of green.
Our Army son “J” got a weekend pass and joined us at a Jack-in-the-Box close to Fort Carson. We do not have this particular restaurant in great quantities in our area. I personally liked the cheap tacos and fries, but the rest of my family were mostly unimpressed. After dining, we sent the boys off in J’s car for some bar-hopping action while we, the parents, did the mundane food shopping duties at the local Walmart (all part of the Ott family travel package, these parental services).
We rented via VRBO a split-level home nearby the base, situated in a solidly blue-collar neighborhood. The place was haphazardly but satisfactorily furnished with an eclectic collection of items likely purchased at flea markets. There was no woman’s touch about the place with few decorations on the walls and a kitchen, while large, just sufficed in equipment (the dishwasher was in a frightful state). Little attention was given to the home’s front and back yards, which featured a sampling of Colorado Springs’ most persistent and successful indigenous weeds among patches of gravel and dirt. No matter, we had plenty of other better views to be seen on this trip.
The house featured plenty of places to sleep, and that’s what counted the most. No matter what, with eight people, there are never enough beds. As per usual, some of us required the use of couches and a blow-up mattress, all part of the fun of vacationing with a big family. No one in my family, except of course for my wife and me, can countenance the idea of sharing a bed with another, even related human being.
The next day we visited Pike’s Peak. Quite making up for the diminished view of Colorado from our rented kitchen windows, what a thrill it was to zig-zag up a mountain to a height of 14,000 feet! And what a wonderful sunny day in the 70s it was. Taking every advantage at my disposal, I kept the massive Ford’s sunroof open for the entire journey up. At mile 16, we had to park and catch a school bus for the rest of the way up. The temperature went from the 70s to 45 degrees. It was surreal going from a late spring day into winter conditions in a matter of a half hour at the most. We walked around in snow in our shorts, and had great fun throwing snowballs off the peak and into the endless chasm below. The views were amazingly gorgeous and only limited by my small mind’s ability to grasp it. Just as with my experience with the Grand Canyon years before, I would not have been shocked to find that it was all a vast painted image placed before our eyes. The trees in the distance looked as if they had been dabbed by the light brush strokes of an magnificent artist quite beyond our human comprehension. The whole thing for me became a prayer of thankfulness to an endlessly loving and giving creator.
I’m stopping at this high point in my story. It was all back to earth after that with a mandatory brake check stop for the trip back down the mountain. We somehow avoided the damaging hail and toll roads, and had an otherwise lovely time.
