After a wonderful farm fresh breakfast and a quick tour of
the farm including visiting he calves and viewing the eagle nest, we hit the
road – Thanks for a wonderful if short visit Michael and Barbara.
We wanted this drive to be scenic and fun after 1000 miles
on Rt 36 across the planes. We headed
out into the foothills and along the secondary roads on into Boulder. Stopped to pickup some new map books - CO, AZ
- no CA yet, too far off I guess - we are doing pretty well on the no GPS plan
other than the last few miles each day as we find our motel or camp site.
We had planed for 7 hours of driving plus a lunch stop or 2,
but goal for he day was Telluride before dark.
Joe got the first mountain road driving up the twisties out of Golden on
a short stretch of Scenic Byway, then I took over at 285 as we began our first
climb for real on this trip. When the
road was too steep for OD, we were in 4th and running 4.2k RPM - I
watched the temp gauges carefully and after about a 10-15 min climb in those
conditions I noticed the temp creep up beyond the rock solid baseline we had
observed from NY through MO in the 90s.
We did not want to overwork the engine too early, and I wanted to be
sure that it would cool down quickly when we reached the top of a climb. Sure enough, no issues and back to cruising
in OD.
The schedule was impacted by a couple of construction zones
and one 15-mile detour. As we hit the
detour, in the town of “South Park” we decided this was a good place for lunch
and hit the South Park Brewery and Tap Room for a snack. We had a nice chat with the bar tender and
the only other 2 customer - a couple from CA on vacation.
Then back on the road again.
I had to sample the brews, so Joe was back behind the wheel. The reason for the road closure and detour
was a river that overflowed and covered the roadway. They have had a ton of rain here in the past
few weeks, plus the snow is still melting.
However, we are encountering 70 to 80 degree days and sunshine every
since we crossed the boarder to CO. We
have not had the chance or need to test our waterproofing solution yet - No
complaints…
We arrived in Telluride greeted at the campground by my
sister who had arrived the day before and setup a small version Taj Mahal
complete with a tent suite for me and Joe -
After dinner last night, we took the tram up and over the
mountain into the village on the other side.
It was a nice relaxing activity and kept us up late enough to sleep well
through the midnight returns of the campers from the music and bars in
town. It was a cool night with frost on
the tents in the morning.
I think both the car and we need a couple days a little
R&R -
This morning we had a nice breakfast at camp and are
preparing for a day of music and a short hike up to a waterfall near the
village.
Daily miles - ODO 37,180, total mileage = 2,773
No comments:
Post a Comment