Trip - Day 8

July 20, 2017

Today we drove into Colorado Springs, Colorado https://coloradosprings.gov/ from Casper, Wyoming.  It was a much shorter driving day than we had been doing, but still put us in comfortable range to reach Lubbock tomorrow.  We saw antelope again today!

We were able to take the bypass around Denver, E470 https://www.e-470.com/Pages/PayingTolls/Paying-Tolls.aspx.  We kept waiting to see toll booths, and were ready to pay, but no booths were present.  We figured out, finally that we were a License Plate Toll customer, and my traveling companion would receive a bill in the mail about the toll.  It looked like it might only be $1.55, but I assured her if it was more, I would be willing to pay my fair share.  

We took a tour around the Garden of the Gods http://www.gardenofgods.com/, after a brief stop in the visitor’s center. We had a picnic in the free city park, donated to the city by the founders.  I had a left over salad for my picnic.  I had never even heard of the Garden of the Gods, so if my traveling companion had not known about it, I would have missed it. 

On our way out, we went through Manitou Springs, which was an awesomely interesting looking town, touristy and old west combined.  The Manitou Springs http://www.manitouspringsgov.com/ and Pikes Peak Cog Rail starts in Manitou Springs. 

We had an early night in the motel tonight.  For dinner, I had the rest of the Indian Taco I had ordered the night before, and could not finish!  Once again, it was nice to have internet access.