On Monday we moved on from Moab, Utah to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. After that we were going to do a couple of nights of boon-docking, as they call it in the RV biz. So no hookups or WiFi, but Vanna has WiFi, so no problem. Unfortunately, the Vanna WiFi quit working exactly one week after we left home. To reset it, Doug has to climb up on a tall ladder and get on top of Vanna to push the reset button. Not only is this dangerous, but Vanna doesn’t have a place to haul a tall ladder around the country. Absolutely moronic planning back at the Leisure Travel Van factory. So we spent one night and I said, “Yeah, right, I have had enough of boon-docking,” and we came on over to Colorado Springs yesterday. No pictures of the ill-fated boon-docking, but a couple more of Moab.
And I do have to redeem Doug regarding the high-centered jeep on the top of Imogene. That was not our jeep. We were taking the picture of another jeep that should never have been on Imogene because it wasn’t high clearance. But Doug did trick me into going up there. When we rented the jeep and said we were going up Imogene, I said clearly that I had been up Imogene and did not care to go back. He said that I had not because he had only been up there with his brother Terry. Well, I knew better, but he kept insisting I had not been there and I caved. That, my friends, is called gaslighting. Here’s a picture of the jeep we were actually driving. I still look happy, so maybe it was at the bottom.
Anyway, back at the Broadmoor. The Broadmoor was built in 1918 by the oil tycoon Spencer Penrose. It sits at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. Absolutely stunning place.
In 1920, Penrose invited about sixty wealthy hoteliers for a paid two week stay at the Broadmoor. This group was dubbed the Hundred Million Dollar Club because that was their approximate net worth at the time (all sixty of them. Different times). Since most of them were from the east coast, Penrose paid for their train fare cross country. This was during Prohibition, so he advised each man to bring five bottles of their favorite cologne, a euphemism for liquor at the time. Penrose commissioned a special railroad car for the liquor, with the outside marked: “Flammable: Gasoline.” (When I read that I had to think what if some poor guy thought cologne really meant cologne and ended up sitting there reeking of some smelly stuff while having to watch everyone else sip fine bourbon for the next two weeks.). Anyway, at the original hotel bar where the group met there are several giant murals on the walls depicting the club. Here are two of them in the room we ate dinner in last night (not my picture). In the one on the right the men are playing polo, one of the activities.
So this is probably it for now. I’m blogged out and we are headed home on Saturday. Traveling is fun, but it can also be tiring and inconvenient. Yesterday afternoon when we arrived, it was 100 degrees. Literally. We pulled up at this nice hotel in Vanna, looking hot and bedraggled. Doug explained to the bellman that our luggage was kind of strange because we had been in a travel van. The bellman did not seem concerned, but I knew how Doug felt. What are these RV people doing here with their mix of logoed nylon bags (not me) and free range hanging clothes? But, hey, it’s America, and most Americans are fairly nonjudgmental about how you got here or what you have on when you arrive. They just valet park your travel van and mind their own business. I like that.
A. Roam of My Own: Travels With Annie 
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