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Day 12: Sat Aug 2, 1997

 Went to church in the morning. It was a nice clear day and Pikes Peak was in bright sunlight against a clear blue sky. After church we looked out the window and there was a big storm over the mountains. We went back to the motel to change clothes and get our stuff for lunch, then headed off for Garden of the Gods to find a picnic shelter where we could eat lunch out of the rain which looked imminent. Soon after entering the Garden the road passes between two well known features, Balanced Rock and Ship Rock. We found a parking spot, there aren't many, and walked up on the rocks for a better view. Tried to snap a picture but nothing happened. The camera had what appeared to be a battery symbol and a flashing E so I tried to put the spare batteries in when we returned to the car. They were not the right kind of batteries so we wouldn't be able to shoot any photos until we got the correct ones. Just as well, it was too rainy for good pictures anyway. We searched for a shelter but there were none. We had seen one in another city park, just one, and it was pretty full. We drove on to Palmer Park, it's big, and not crowded, but also has no shelters. We finally picked a picnic table under a pine tree, looked almost dry. I set up the camp stove and we made spaghetti in a pot we had brought along in case we made spaghetti somewhere. Worked pretty well except we made too much and I dumped the excess off in the woods for the animals. It was still a cheap meal.

 That night we went to pick up the film but it was not back yet. We had dropped it at King Sooper, but decided to check Walgreen's to see what their processing was like and also get some camera batteries. Their one-hour processing sounded good, they even did the size prints we wanted (3.5 x 5). We also got a small magnifier, a flat fresnel lens ($1.99) for reading the fine print on maps, works well. Talked to the guy at the store for a while, then left. I tried the batteries in the camera, same problem, it wasn't the batteries. Then I opened the camera and found the film had not caught. When that was fixed the camera worked. I put the old batteries in and kept the new for spares. About that time a scraggly looking fellow came up to the car window. Sharleen said to be careful. I rolled down the window a bit and he said he and his wife needed something to eat. He was trying to find work and had been living under the I-25 bridge for 10 days or so. We had passed under that bridge many times and had seen cops dealing with people there. I asked if the cops harassed them there and he said yes. I asked him if there was a place nearby where he could get something to eat and he said 7-11 was just around the corner. I told him to meet us there and we drove around to it, meeting him there. He checked the sandwich rack but they were out, he asked us to get them 2 cokes. We tried to get them to get something better but he pointed out that there was no way for them to keep any food. Then we gave them $10 so they could get something somewhere. They were very happy. We passed them a short while later hiking up the street, we stopped for a light beside them and I pointed out a Taco Bell just up the street. He said that's where they were headed and thanked us again.

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