Part 18: Colorado Springs to La Junta, CO

20210917-28

The Trip

We had been in Colorado Springs many times, but never visited the Garden of the Gods.  We had the time, so we loaded our rental van and hit the road.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

We arrived at the main parking lot just as the sun was dropping below the edge of the monolith.

To the south from our observation deck we could see other monoliths in the distance.

The hogback runs north-south and there were other outcroppings visible from the road.

The profile is called "Kissing Camels".

Garden of the Gods is very popular and there are tourist busses that carry folks past the various outcroppings.

A very pronounced outcropping was visible to the north of the visitor's center.

We drove back to our host's place in Black Forest and were treated to an awesome sunset.  We spent the night and next morning headed back to La Junta to check on the progress of the paint job.

Good progress had been made on the painting.  The cab was essentially complete, but the doors, windows and seals needed to be installed.

Existing hardware was removed and prepped for paint too.

The doors were removed and painted.

Fenders were removed, sanded and dents were removed.

The cab was masked and the tire carrier was prepped for black paint.

Another customer's rig was brought to the shop for service.  This is a big truck.  Thor is a 1017 which means 10-metric ton capacity, 170 horsepower.  The red truck is a 2535 which means 25 metric ton capacity, 350 horsepower.

The rig was owned by a German family that was traveling in the U.S.  The living quarters are a "Bliss Box" made by Blissmobile.

Painting and re-assembly takes days, so we loaded our rental van and headed to visit our friends Brad and Laura in Durango, CO.  To get to Durango, we had to transit Wolf Creek Pass.  Ascending the eastern flanks of the pass gave us a great view of the Aspens turning color.

We were perhaps a week early for the "full color".  Even so, the colors were awesome.

Near Del Norte, we passed a herd of buffaloes grazing near the road.

The buffalo did not seem to care about the traffic noise.

We had an awesome time in Durango and when our visit was complete, we returned eastward through Alamosa where I spotted a new GVX truck parked outside a Mexican restaurant.  This is one of their new models based on the Ford F750 platform.

Further east we got a nice view of Blanca Peak, one of Colorado's "Fourteeners".

To the south, towards Taos, NM, the sky was dark with rain.

The underside of the head, cleaning in progress.

Thor's engine block, without the head.

The output of the turbocharger system is routed through the manifold at the center of the photo above.

Thor's valve cover which is used as part of the turbocharger system.

The old exhaust manifold on Thor's engine had cracked - again.  The manifold had been repaired some years back by welding the crack.  But, the crack reappeared and a new model manifold was substituted.  The new manifold has thicker components and will hopefully resist cracking again.  Above, Rob drills a hole for the Exhaust Gas Temperature sensor.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2021, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.