The cog rail is really quite interesting. There are only three of these things in the U.S. Beside's Pike's Peak there is one at Mt Washington in New Hampshire and another somewhere in Michigan. This one is the highest one in the world. the equipment is produced in Switzerland (makes sense) where they have 31 of them operating.
We got set to go about 9 a.m. and it took off promptly at 9:20 for an hour trip to 14,000 feet. Great views on the way up, but we were fogged in at the top. From 12,000 feet we could see about 75 miles. The cog rail has quite a history behind it. I'll let you read up. We had a great time. We had a great time. http://cograilway.com/alongroute.htm
It took about an hour to get to the top, and hour at the top, and an hour coming back down. We sat across from a great couple from Texas. We've spent a little bit of time talking with folks, but here we had a couple of hours and made it nice. Always so impressed with how people react to Mohamed. You can tell they they always enjoy meeting him and hearing about his story.
One cool thing was that this place was the inspiration for a poem for "America the Beautiful." we are thinking that it was probably clear they day that Katharine Bates visited Pike's Peak, otherwise it might have been called American the foggy."
We loaded up and got out of Colorado Springs about 2 p.m. for another 8.5 hour drive. We stopped along e way in Hays, Kansas at a neat little microbrewery/restaurant. http://www.lbbrewing.com/
Glad we stopped, but took extra time. Mo is driving and I'll finish from 10 - 12 midnight.
Mo had chicken and rice (but had beans with the rice this time!).
Our trip is winding down now. We have one more significant stop, in Nashville, TN. I talked with Aubrey Grant this afternoon and he gave us a couple of recommendations to hear some music. I'm hoping to see Aubrey for a few minutes tomorrow night after he gets off work.
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