28 May - Cardinals vs Rockies Baseball Game and Last Night at Buckley

28 May
Our last day at Buckley.  Took care of some packing up this morning in preparation of departure tomorrow morning.  Reviewing maps, checking geo coordinates for our next stop, stowing the barbecue grill and table...

About 1100 hrs we left for the ball game.  Yesterday at Barbie and Jake's we figured out a location where we could park our truck and then car pool in with them in their small sedan - much easier to find a place to park..  So we drove there and moments later there they were, and about 20 minutes later we arrived at Coors Field.

As expected it was hectic!  The Rockies are in first place in their National League division, so attendance at their games is heavy.  Even at that, we got right in and after checking in with Fan Services we headed to our seats.  We had not even sat down yet and there was Jim and Vicki Freese!  Jim is here from Des Moines working a Veterans Hiring Fair in Colorado Springs, and the Cardinals just happen to be in town, so what an opportunity.

Vicki and Jim Freese, Ed and Doreen Schellhase

My Wingman from our Iraq deployment.  Jim and I served together for many, many years with the Iowa Air National Guard.

Jake and Barbie's neighbor provided our tickets, and they could not have been better seats!  We were directly behind the Colorado Rockies dugout and there was just one row of seats between us and the field!  WOW!  We could almost hear the grass growing!

Pre-game activities on the field

Too close to receive a tee shirt!

Grounds crew puts on the final touches as the United States Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team performed in the outfield.   Video below taken by Jim Freese   

This is the final game of a three game series with the Cardinals.  So far they have split so this game decides who wins the series.  

We were hoping to see Yadier Molina behind the plate for the cardinals but he was off today.  

The weather was fantastic, probably the nicest day we've had since we arrived in Colorado.  It was 66F at gametime and sunny.  Sunscreen was the order of the day.  Attendance was announced at 48,372 so as mentioned before, the stadium was packed.  

Our great seats provided a field level view!  You better be paying attention, though as foul balls could come flying at any time.  There was no screen between us and the batters.  Here we see former Chicago Cub Dexter Fowler stepping up to the plate.

A great view!!

Last year we sampled a hot dog at each ballpark and rated them.  This year we are mixing it up a bit and not limiting it to just hot dogs.  

Why have a hot dog when you can have an elk brat?!

Nicely cooked, fresh bun, provided with sauerkraut, grilled peppers and onions.  I held off the mustard and ketchup so as not to mask the flavor.  The elk meat was delicious as it had some spices added which gave it a bit of a zing.

Great game and the Rockies would go on to win 8-4.  All four Cardinal runs were solo home runs, but that would not be enough.  The Rockies had one three-run  homer by Parra.  Each team had 10 hits and neither committed an error.  Great baseball!

Ed, Doreen, Barbie and Jake

It was a FANtastic day at Coors Field!  Thank you so much to Barbie and Jake for arranging the ball tickets, for their hospitality and for their friendship!  It has been a great visit to the Colorado Springs and Denver areas, and tomorrow we head west to Grand Junction CO for two nights.

27 May - (updated) Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, Dinner at Barbie's

27 May (updated)
The day started sunny and warm(ing) but has turned nasty.  There has hardly been a day since we hit Colorado that it has not either rained or snowed.  There have been a few but very few.  But even at that our stay has been great and we have seen a lot of sights.  Today we headed to the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, at the site of the old Lowry Air Force Base.

When I enlisted in 1972 Lowry was used as an Air Education and Training base. It was USAF School of Applied Aerospace Sciences.  Our avionics, munitions and other specialties came here for training.  Lowry was a bit unique as it had no runway, so it was considered for closure in 1978.  When Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) came around in 1991, it was a prime target and in 1994 it closed.  Interesting tidbit, Lowry also served as the interim US Air Force Academy from 1955-1958 while the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs was being built.

Big ol' BUF (RB-52B) out front. The "R"B-52B indicated reconnaissance.

Wings Over the Rockies Museum

 The museum has a great selection of aircraft, spacecraft and other aviation memorabilia.  Here are a few of the photos we took:

EA-6B Prowler.  This specific aircraft was flown by President George HW Bush while he was in the Navy.

Collins Radio, Cedar Rapids Iowa, proudly represented!

Display of the Colorado Minute Men.  From 1953 to 1959, the Minute Men Flying Team of the Colorado Air National Guard  flew demonstrations similar to the Thunderbirds.

3/4 scale replica of the Star Wars X-Wing Fighter

The B-1A Lancer bomber.  What a beautiful aircraft!

A Ram Air Turbine (RAT) provides emergency power in case of primary and backup power failure.  

F-86H Sabre

Douglas B-18 Bolo

F-104 Starfighter

F-102 Delta Dagger

F-101 Voodoo

F-4 Phantom

A-7D Corsair.  This aircraft was also flown by the 132d Fighter Wing in Des Moines until replaced by the F-16

They have dedicated a whole room to the Colorado  Air National Guard.  A great display!  Just a couple pictures below.

Colorado Command Chiefs.  I went to Command Chief school with CMSgt Annadele Kenderes, pictured lower right.

Part of the space display

They have their own ham radio station on-site.  DE (This is) K0WAR, Wings over the Rockies Amateur Radio Station

 There are many other displays we did not post photos here, but all in all, very worth while stop.  They have done a great job presenting military aviation history here in Colorado.

This afternoon we headed to LaFayette CO for dinner with Doreen's cousin Barbie Puzio and her family.  Not long after we arrived we were joined by Barbie and Jake's son Tommy and his wife Kristen and their children Colby, Raleigh, Zoe and Zea.  Tommy and family had been to a baseball tournament and stopped by for dinner.

Doreen, Barbie and Kristen

Jake, Tommy, Ed and Colby in front

(Back) Barbie, Doreen, Kristen, (Front) Zoe, Zea, Raleigh

They are great baseball fans so we had a lot to talk about!  Tommy went to Notre Dame University with Matt Macri from Des Moines who played baseball with Danno and later went on to play for the Colorado Rockies.  We had a great time talking to them and then enjoyed a fantastic lasagna dinner with all the fixin's.  Barbie gave Doreen a beautiful plant that we can take with us as we travel, and Jake hooked me up with some Coors Colorado Native Saison beer!

Tomorrow we will take in a Colorado Rockies baseball game with the Puzio's and then Monday we will pull chocks, depart Buckley and head westbound to Grand Junction CO for a couple days.

26 May - Argo Mine Tour

26 May
Today we headed west of Denver to Idaho Springs and the Argo Mine.

It is actually more than a mine.  The Argo complex also includes a massive tunnel and a huge mill operation.  In the late 1800's work commenced on building a 4 mile long tunnel to connect various mine shafts and provide a pathway from Central City to Argo.  This would provide a route to bring ore to the Argo mill for processing, and a pathway to rid water from the mine shafts.   The tunnel was finished in 1910 and by 1914 the mill was operating at full capacity.  It continued to operate off and on until 1943 when there was a disastrous floor.  Four men died when they blasted in a mine shaft and it released a massive underground body of water.  The water completely flooded the Argo tunnel and it was closed.  Today the tunnel is sealed except to vent water, which is piped to a purification unit and provides water to the town of Idaho Springs.  A short distance of the tunnel is now open to tourists and we got to see it today.  The mill building and much of the equipment remains and it is also open to tour.

So tours operate on the hour and we arrived a bit early, so we started off learning how to pan for gold.

The admittedly buy their sand at Home Depot and "seed" it with small flakes of various fools gold and actual gold.  the portions are seeded to ensure each customer finds one or two flakes of gold. 

Doreen being instructed by our tour guide.

Doreen finds a couple flakes of gold!  Todd Hoffman (Gold Rush TV Show) would be proud!

Once the tour started we watched a video about the Argo complex and learned about the history of Argo and various other aspects of the mining process.

Our tour guide explains the processes

A gold nugget and another rock with gold imbedded

One of the old pay records used to document miner's pay.

A map of the tunnel and all the mine shafts connected to it.

One of the original pictures showing the mill building.  The tunnel entrance is behind it.

After the classroom presentation we headed out to an equipment display where the tour guide demonstrated a slanted table that uses water and vibration to separate gold from other materials.

A demonstration of "the widow maker", air-powered drilling machine, used to drill holes into the rock for blasting materials to be inserted..  The term "widow maker" comes from the powder it generates sending silica airborne which is breathed by the operator and causing symptoms like black lung disease.  Later they developed drills that used water which cut the dust in half.

We then boarded a bus and traveled up the mountain to the tunnel entrance.  As we departed the bus we spotted two long horned sheep on the mountainside.

We then proceeded to the tunnel entrance.  The area is strewn with old mining equipment such as ore cars, tools and other equipment.  As I mentioned before, the tunnel in sealed about 50 ft in with a thick steel plate with the exception of water pipes bringing water from the tunnel to the purification plant.

Entrance to the Argo Tunnel

Security door has been added so the entrance can be secured.

Water pipeline exiting the tunnel

Inside the tunnel where it is sealed, except the water pipe connections

The water purification plant just below the tunnel entrance

One of the old signs

Just outside the tunnel entrance is what used to be a large air compressor facility.  One of the compressors was removed to recycle the steel in support of World War II.  Most of the other air compressor remains.

One of the two large air compressors used for breathing air, tunnel ventilation and to power drilling equipment.

We then touted the Agro Mill building which is where the ore goes as it exits the tunnel.  It is processed and it goes through the mill building and pure gold results.  The building is massive but it needs to be as the ore is very heavy.  Here are just a few pictures (I took a bunch!)

The mill building is very tall

The is called a rotary tipple.  It can be moved horizontally and then rotates (tips) to dump ore in the appropriate ore bin

This shows the tipple and the ore bins

Ore is transported from the bins up to a holding areas shown here.

The milling process used many nasty chemicals to include cyanide, mercury, etc These chemicals were mixed with the ore to help extract it

A grinding machine used to crush the ore and extract the gold

Amalgamation tables.  They were coated with mercury which mixed with the gold, was heated and vaporized separating the gold for the waste and leaving nearly pure gold. 

 

Ball mill used either ceramic or steel balls to help crush  the ore and extract the gold, similar to a rock tumbler.

 

Displays of various mining equipment in the museum on the lowest level of the mill.

Looks like an old telephone butt set!

Blasting equipment

That's enough pictures, but believe me there are plenty more to see!  We had a great time at the ARGO mine today and learned a lot.  We both felt touring the ARGO mine helped to tie things together with what we see on the Gold Rush TV show.

Tomorrow we will drive to Lafeyette CO and visit Barbie and Jake Puzio,