Our final days in Colorado

On Monday, July 10th, we walked around the shops in Woodland Park and did laundry. By Monday the monsoon season had hit full swing! On Tuesday we did some grocery shopping in the morning. In the afternoon we had some friends from Denton who are in the process of moving to Monument, Colorado out to the park for soggy hot dogs and s'mores (because it was so rainy). 

Early Wednesday morning Byron took his truck into the shop. He wasn't there long. The mechanic took one look at his truck and told him that to fix the issue they would have to remove the cab and their shop was not equipped to do that. He told Byron that he will be able to make it down to Texas if he is not pulling anything. So we made the tough decision to leave the next morning without the RV. Our old church was so gracious and let us leave the RV in the parking lot of their office building. 

Since it was our last day in the mountains, we decided to spend it doing something fun. We drove down to Manitou Springs and went on a quest to find all of the mineral springs around the quaint town.

If you ever wondered why Colorado Springs is called Colorado Springs - it is because of the mineral springs in Manitou. Rainwater and melted snow from the mountains soak into the earth and become heated and mineralized. It then flows up into the limestone where it becomes carbonated and then comes out of natural and drilled springs all over the town of Manitou. There are 8 springs in all and each of them taste a little different, so we brought water bottles and made it our mission to sample them all! 

The Shoshone Spring:

The Navajo Spring:

The Cheyenne Spring:

Stratton Spring:

Twin Spring:

7 Minute Spring:

Wheeler Spring:

Somehow I didn't get a picture of the Iron Spring Geyser, 

This picture is from The Mineral Springs Foundation website.

Iron Geyser:

When we were done, Mig asked me why I didn't tell him that they would all be gross! Ha!! I didn't think they were all gross, but there were definitely some that none of us liked.

We really had a fun trip from Texas to Missouri, to Colorado and back. It was longer than we expected and there were truck troubles and thunderstorms mixed in, but we made some lasting memories and had such great family moments!! 

Just so I don't leave you hanging on the condition of the truck - we made it back to Texas safely late on Thursday night (July 13). Byron took the truck into a diesel mechanic here in Texas that used to work in a Ford dealership. He did NOT have to take the cab off and was able to do all the necessary repairs. The truck is now ready to head back up to Colorado and retrieve the RV and should make it back home safely.