In 1929, Rock Island was competing with Union Pacific and Burlington in offering both escorted and independent (unescorted) tours of Colorado. The two-week, escorted tours left from Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, the Twin Cities, or Dallas-Ft. Worth every Saturday in the summer starting June 29 and ending August 31. Passengers from Des Moines, Omaha, St. Joseph, and Kansas City would leave the next morning. The tour price with a lower berth from Chicago was $178 (more than $2,500 today) including all transportation, lodging, and meals.
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Since they were independent, the unescorted tours could leave any day. The booklet offered five fifteen-day tours and one fourteen-day tour. Most of the tours started at Colorado Springs, visiting Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Then several went to Denver for one to three days followed by five to eight days in Rocky Mountain National Park. However, one spent most of the time in a resort called the Flower Garden in the San Isabel Forest while the economy tour spent the entire time at a hotel in Manitou. Tour prices from Chicago ranged from $125 to $250 ($1,800 to $3,600 in today’s dollars) depending on how many side trips, such as motor coach tours or horseback rides, were included.