Friday is a bad time to head for the mountains.
The folks who bought the Arctic Fox, after making some adjustments to their new hitch, hooked up their truck to the Fox and drove around the block. At the end of the block is the elementary school my grandkids attend, and being largely empty this time of year gave them a chance to drive around the parking lot and get used to the feel of the trailer. They made it safely back to the Fox’s usual spot in the driveway, so it looks like there's nothing left to do to the Fox or their truck, except tow the Fox to their RV storage lot on Thursday afternoon.
I'm not sure what I will do after that, I was considering going to the high country Friday, but Friday afternoon, especially during tourist season is a terrible time to try and find a boondocking spot in the mountains, because not only would I be competing with all the tourists looking for a boondocking spot, I would also be competing with the locals that head for the mountains on a Friday.
Now I could go out to my property near the 11-mile reservoir and stay there until Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, and then head for the high country, so that's a possibility. Still, I was looking for a place with a little more altitude and a bit cooler weather than the 9000 or so feet at my property, but that is a possibility.
theboondork
In this picture, you can see the Midnight Rose casino just to the right of center, and that used to be all that Rick Holland owned in Cripple Creek. But now he owns everything from the left side of the picture to all the blue awnings on the right side of the picture.
Here's a brief history of Rick Holland’s life that he shared with me one day. I know I’ve told the story before, but maybe it bears repeating.
Rick was a construction worker, married and with a very young couple of kids. One day, he fell at work and injured his back, and was no longer able to do construction work. He went from job to job but couldn't find anything that paid what construction work paid, and along with becoming addicted to the prescription painkillers for his back, his life started spiraling down until he was on the verge of losing everything, including his family.
When he reached "rock bottom" and everything seemed hopeless, he saw an advertisement in the paper for a brand-new restaurant chain opening up called "Wendy's" that was looking for people to buy into the restaurant chain and become store owners. So he begged, borrowed, and mortgaged every dime he could get his hands on and bought a "Wendy's" franchise.
With years of hard work, the one store was successful, and instead of wasting his money on fancy cars and impressive homes, he bought other Wendy's franchises in different states and poured every dime into the stores.
The income from all of those restaurants gave him enough money to get a foothold in the gaming industry in Cripple Creek, and now Rick owns almost everything you see in this picture ...… and if that's not a real American success story, I don't know what is.
They trick you with the theater sign; if you look behind the large doors, you can see fire trucks.
I think the Midnight Rose runs more buses from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek than any other casino.