Even as he pledges to continue his long-shot bid against John McCain in the GOP race, Mike Huckabee plans to veer off the trail to give his second paid speech in a week Friday night in Colorado.

The former Arkansas governor plans to speak at the annual retreat for the Leadership Program of the Rockies in Colorado Springs, event organizers said. He's also expected to meet with Focus on the Family's James Dobson, who has endorsed him.

Huckabee made a sharp and surprising turn last weekend to give a speech for an undisclosed fee to a youth leadership organization in the Cayman Islands, even after losing three straight contests to McCain in the Potomac Primaries.

The fee he's charging for his latest campaign detour is not known, but Huckabee repeatedly has said he needs to honor his speaking arrangements because it's the only way he has to pay his bills.

"The taxpayers aren't paying a dime for me to campaign and I don't take anything from my campaign so I have to make a living," he said last week before heading to the Cayman Islands. "I do that through my writing and my speaking. ... There will be a few more times when I've got to go out and make sure I can make my mortgage payments just like everybody else has to do. I am not independently wealthy."

Huckabee still is trailing front-runner McCain by about 700 delegates.

FOX News' Serafin Gomez contributed to this report.