Sunday, September 19, 2010

Breakfast Ride with Locals

After getting back from our hike at the fossil beds we spent a day or two relaxing. The parts for the washing machine came in and the service tech came out and replaced the parts. Now came the moment of truth. I shut the door, turned the machine to the normal cycle and hit the start button. Sheesh ! Same Problem! Now we have replaced the control board, the door locking switch and the door latch. I was starting to feel like this machine is not suppose to work no how no way. The service tech got on the phone to call Whirlpool and was on hold for a long time. While I was waiting for him to get a Whirlpool tech on line I started going over the problem. Everything that controls the door locking process was changed except the door. I started looking closer at the door and I noticed that the inside trim ring on the door was not snapped in all the way right next to the door latch. This would prevent the latch from getting into the proper position for the locking mechanism to engage the latch. I snapped the trim ring tight to the door and tried the starting cycle again. Viola! It worked. I tried it several time to make sure and it worked like it was suppose to. Wow, after 4 service calls and 3 and a half months I find out it was a simple fix of snapping in a plastic trim ring. Oh well at least we now have full laundry service.

One of the things Maxine and I want to do as we travel is when we are in a nice area for motorcycle riding is to make contact with the local GWRRA chapter (Goldwing Road Riders Association). We are about 12 miles outside Colorado Springs and they are home to the largest chapter in the state. I found their website and called their chapter director to see if they had any upcoming events or rides. They were having a breakfast ride on Saturday morning. She gave me all of the info and was real happy about us wanting to attend. They were meeting at a local supermarket parking lot and were going to go eat breakfast then ride up into the mountains to find fall colors. It would be about an 185 mile ride. Cool!

There were about 36 people on the breakfast ride. We rode to a restaurant in Manitou Springs. I can not remember the name but it was in the quaint touristy section of Manitou. We were seated on the patio with town and mountain views. The weather was perfect and the atmosphere was terrific. It was a buffet and they had a cook that would make fresh omelets and eggs. I have to say that it was probably one of the best breakfast buffets we had ever been to and trust me, we have been to to many!

Here is a few pictures of the group and restaurant.

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After breakfast we departed and rode to Victor Colorado. Victor is around 9000 foot elevation and is an old mining community. There are numerous old gold mines and one new one still working. The ride up to Victor was spectacular. Max and I are going to go back up later next week so we can explore the town and mines at our own pace and stop and get photos of the spectacular views on the way up. We rode from Victor to Cripple Creek which is another mining town but this one has a few casino’s. We then headed north through some canyon’s up towards Denver then back down towards Monument. It was a long day but a very fun one. Maxine and I never could have found the roads like this to ride on if we were on our own. Getting in touch with local chapters is the way to go to find out where to eat and ride.

Rest stop outside of Cripple Creek 

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Max talking to our tour guides before we headed through Deer Creek Canyon

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We got home around 5:00 and rested for awhile, then I decided to get a few pics of our campground.

We are parked in the upper lot. Not real scenic but level and great sat and internet connection.

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A couple of ponds with stocked trout

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Flowers everywhere

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Sunday is all about football so we will stay at the rig and root for our team. As the week progresses we will head back to the mountains for a photo tour. Go Chiefs!!

 

 

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