OMG! Golden wifi...

The incredible Rocky Mountains...



I had a real dinner tonight. I've been driving so that I have only eaten my Kashi and yoghurt, but this campground is pretty... well... SERE, so I had time to go out and have corn chowder and a half a turkey sandwich... yum... While I was there, I checked the wifi and found a weak connection from the coffee place across the street, but it needed a password. I thought I would write tonight and go back and post tomorrow morning. I don't mind buying a cup of coffee for free wifi... bartering is fine, paying is OUT! SO I fire up the old computer and as I start to write, I get a little wifi signal and here I am! So for those of you who listened to peebs, she didn't lie!

Quite a day today. I was staying at a campground in Grand Junction, which is at exit 37. For those of you who don't travel much, here's a huge tip. In most civilized states, the exits are numbered according to how many miles you are into the state. Left to right and South to North.. so exit 37 was 37 miles into Colorado... comprende? As I get on the freeway for a fairly simple drive to Boulder to visit my nephew, I am struck by a sign... well.. not STRUCk by it, but it stands out and yells at me "I-70 CLOSED AT MILE 55".

Great..

Everyone seems unconcerned, though, so I stay on the highway. I call the little number and, sure enough, it's closed due to a landslide. So they take us all off at mile... oh... 49 or so, and then it's an hour's drive through a windy road and we get back on at mile 62... not very good driving time at all.


following the river on I 70... notice how, as they widened the road, they didn't chop into the mountains, but rather elevated the west bound part. Very very clever.

The river cut the channel for the road in these steep cliffs...

I notice that my little van seems to be struggling, and then realize that the MEDIAN altitude is 8,000 ft! I actually had to use 3rd gear for the first time ever to get across the 10,800 ft. pass, and then was faced by the Eisenhower tunnel.

and snow..

The rest area about 20 miles short of the tunnel had snow all over it. Not a great deal, mind you, but it must have snowed some yesterday. Then, at about 11,000 ft, it started to snow. It was delightful, as it didn't stick or cause problems, and the tunnel is a wonder for sure.

I went to see my nephew, arriving quite late. We had a short visit and I gave him his favorite pillow (he'd forgotten it) and he showed Boulder to me. The last time I was there was in 1966.. on a trip with three dingy chicks... um... make that TWO dingy chicks and me... It's changed quite a bit (grin).

Boulder.. the college has been there since the 1800's...




Then I tried to find a campground in Golden, but the first one was full.. the next one, a GOOD SAM campground (and you can bet they are going to hear from me!) said I couldn't stay there because they didn't let people 'sleep in their cars"..

EXCUSE ME!?

I explained that I had a real bed. I have a real potti. I have curtains. I have..

no use...

so I called this place (across the street) and she said, "come right over"... and I did. No pictures, as it's a parking lot campground, but it has the nicest showers I've seen in a while...

So... tomorrow I'm off to Kansas.. somewhere... If I remember, there are some pretty good semi historical sites having to do with the westward trek. I am always in awe of the pioneers when I travel across this country. Imagine how difficult this would have been in a wagon... walking... breaking down.. .having kids... dying... going on and leaving people behind... When i was young, the story was that you could get off the main highways on the down side of the Rockies and find furniture and wagons and all kinds of stuff abandoned as they struggled to get over those incredible mountains...

my hat's off to them...

oh.. and as I came around the side of my van, there was a little grey bunny sitting right there on the gravel. No grass, no trees, no nuthin'... but this little bunny.

I gave him a carrot and he thanked me and moved on...

no time for a picture..

dang...