We broke the law and the law... ignored us.

Pikes Peak is in the clouds to the right of the right hand big tree.

Tonight we are safely and quietly parked in the parking lot of Stratmoor UMC in Colorado Springs, Colorado. We haven't heard back from our two phone calls and one email to Pastor Dave yet about being ALLOWED to live here but we think that's a good sign, since the crowd will all get to meet us tomorrow at their 10:15 fellowship Time and the 11:00 am Praise service.  Yes!  A band!





Speaking of being ALLOWED... but let me show you something we only saw one other time on the plains. A train load of windmill blades!  Not blades for drawing water from a well.  Not blades for milling wheat.  But modern electric generating station wind mill blades.  Each blade was on two flat cars, because they are so long.  I imagine there are very few rails straight enough to get these blades to their field of operation anywhere but on the plains of Canada or the US.  But they sure can't overnight them Federal Express!



Now back to being ALLOWED... But wait!  Check this out!  we went to a Kings Food Store tonight near our home and found THIS!  An antique motorized bucking bronc for the kiddies and it was still set to cost only 1 cent a ride!  Mona refused to ride it for a pic, and she made me leave before the clerk called security.



OK. Finally. ALLOWED.  All last week we told you, and others we met through the week, how we'd been staying at the one Walmart west of Denver where overnight parking is allowed.  And we knew this to be the case, because of all the over-nighters in coaches of every size, fifth wheels and smaller trailers, and cars, parked everywhere each night.

 Some folks seem to live nightly in their cars, head off to work every day and park there again every night. One guy pulled Mona's heart strings.  We could see him reading a book every evening in his front driver's seat for hours until the light went out.  He'd be gone before we were up each morning. I have no idea where he, or others, bathed, but I assume in the 24 hour Walmart bathroom.

Last night and this morning I took a couple of shots to be able to remember this interesting modern Hooverville (with a very eclectic blend of social status). Last evening around 11 pm I walked the lot and counted over 30 overnight parkers. This morning, when I took a walk at about 8:00am I was able to greet several folks just rising (one young lady in a slight state of undress behind her tinted windows) but all were friendly and their dogs barked happily to see me.


Where do they all come from?

Some, like us, are full timers seeking to save money and enjoy proximity to shopping and restaurants.

Some are vacationers, looking for DITTO as above.

Some are obviously professional truckers just resting for the night.

Some are transient workers who need to save a few bucks in order to eventually live somewhere more permanent.

Some have lost jobs, homes, and families. Some have been kicked out of their families.

Some are young kids following in the crazy footsteps of Jack Kerouac and the 1950's BEAT GENERATION or the sixties HIPPIES..


And some just want to be left alone.  They like being totally independent, even if it means abject poverty. Freedom, and independence, being more possible in the USA, especially in the west, than almost anywhere else in the world.

So we return this afternoon from a wonderful day in Golden at all the Buffalo Bill Days events (see our Face Book posts). We hook up the car, check the lights and tow functions.  Mona gets into the passenger seat and settles back when for the very first time she sees what neither of us have seen all week.

Too hard for you to read?  Obviously for us too!

Try a CLOSEUP:

Then she looked out the left side window, Just as I blast the twin trucker horns to announce we are moving and everyone should dive for cover.  And this is what she sees.

Oh. Still too far away, eh?  Yeah. For us too. Try THIS:

Now here's the deal.  We called the store before we ever showed up the first night.  They told us , "No problem!" So whats up?

Well, some of these people, so we've learned, have been coming here every night for weeks, even months.  No one checks on them, we all used the trash bins several of the local stores pay for and none of us left a mess anywhere that I could see. (Well. One of my cherry tomatoes fell off a stem and smashed on the pavement but, hey... it was a CHERRY tomato!). No one checks on the bins either.

Bottom line:

-Overnight parking is NOT ALLOWED, but rules unenforced will always be broken until they are.  Even, as in our case and the case of the person who told us to park here, in ignorance.

-We were not towed.

-No one was towed.

-We all, even the poorest of us, bought stuff at Walmart.

-BUT.... we WILL check out the signs from now on no matter what the local management says.  Sometimes the right hand really doesn't know what the left is doing!

Good night!  Morning fellowship with coffee and goodies at 10:15 am is coming FAST.

-Ken