Strasburg/Colorado Springs

Before driving into Kansas yesterday, I spent a last full day in Strasburg followed by two days in Colorado Springs. In Strasburg I visited a local museum which is sponsored by the Comanche Crossing Historical Society. Comanche Crossing is the nearby location where on August 15, 1870 the final section of a Kansas Pacific Railroad track was completed which marked the completion of an east coast-to-west coast continuous track; the track crew laid just over ten miles of track in just nine hours to win a barrel of whiskey--certainly a great motivator. The original railroad station, along with other local buildings, were moved to the current museum

location and have been furnished with lots of historical items. One of the railroad station items is a wooden kitchen cabinet which is the same one I have at home in a refinished condition; my cabinet, which my grandmother called "a Hoosier" (possibly another brand of cabinet) was her first piece of furniture after marriage. And, although the weather was mostly great for my last day, a late afternoon storm produced large enough hail to break one of my RV vent fan covers which required a first time trip to the top of my RV for a Gorilla Tape repair; the campground staff reported a measured piece just over three inches in diameter.

After departing Strasburg, I spent two days in Colorado Springs visiting another of my former Navy friends and his family; like my other Navy buddies I have seen on this trip, Mike and I went to flight school together and were assigned to the same active duty squadron at NAS Cecil Field, Jacksonville. We did a wonderful afternoon tour of the Air Force Academy; it is a huge facility with plenty of open space and beautiful landscaping. The Academy's chapel, both exterior and interior, was just stunning to tour in person; it is scheduled for a four year repair beginning next year where all 24,000 stained glass panes will be removed/reinstalled--taking about 32 miles of new caulking. The chapel's massive pipe organ has 4,333 pipes and is tuned monthly. Recently, a first year cadet was allowed to play the organ and had a nice performance--I suspect a skill not normally found on Academy applications.

After leaving the AF Academy we visited the nearby Garden of the Gods, a local 480 acre park with unique red rock formations. It was donated to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909 by the estate of Charles Perkins, a Burlington Railroad president, with just a few stipulations: that it be free to access, that intoxicating liquors be prohibited, and that it be mostly structure-free.