Road Trip to Maine - Highs and Lows 08-16-16

It was a gradual up, up, and up drive.  I-70 follows the Colorado River  which becomes smaller as the road goes higher into the mountains.   I had forgotten how steep and winding the road is - steadily climbing it goes through several tunnels until it reaches the top at the Eisenhower - Johnson tunnel which is at a high altitude  and is very long.  I didn't take any pictures this time, but posted some to my blog when I drove I-70 the last time.  I can't locate the tunnel pictures, but here is the link for my trip in 2011.

http://delquilts.blogspot.com/2011/05/on-road-grand-junction-to-denver-co-05.html
Then over the top and down, down, down until one is just south of Denver and then, suddenly everything is flat as far as one can see.

I had an early dinner at a Subway in some little town just off the highway and drove until 5pm Mountain Time, so it was 6pm Central Time here in Colby, Kansas, at another HIE.  It was 93F, but very dry, and inside my room I think it was about twenty degrees.  I eventually  had to turn on the heat to warm my hands so I could work at the computer.   Now it is 11pm and I will just label the pictures and go to bed.  Tomorrow on to Missouri.

This is the Colorado River, right up against the highway.

 

Occasionally white water rafts can be seen negotiating the rapids.  There are two in this picture, one on the far left  and one right in the middle of the image with a bush partially blocking them.

Sometimes the rapids are interspersed with calm water - a break in the terror.

 

And when the water is calm there are wonderful reflections.

 

On the other side of the road there are elevated roadways for the southbound traffic. It is a really narrow canyon.

 

 

Here is the entrance to one of the tunnels.

And the view inside.

And an "artsy" view as I came to the exit.

I tried to get a picture of the sunflowers blooming along the roadsides and in the median, but this is the best I could do.  They do well right against the pavement because they get the  water runoff.

Ski trails dominate the hills behind Vail and other ski resorts.

 

There is the tree line up at 12,000 Feet.

 

And down through the mountains until one hits bottom at.....

The east side of the Rockies.  This is just past Denver looking north...

 

 

 

...and looking south.

And on and on....

...and on.

I pulled off the road at a ramp accessing Vona, CO, to use my cell phone.  I couldn't hear for the road noise.  Here was this abandoned house.

 

 

The pavement immediately turned into a dirt road.

And the usual acre of junked cars and trash.

And on and on.... including the road construction.  Of course they do it in the summer, when else would there be sunshine and no snow.

 

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SAQA Conference - Denver 05-22-11

On Wednesday driving through Colorado's mountains I broke my prescription sunglasses.  I was okay all the rest of the week wearing my half glasses, but I knew I need to find a place that to do a repair.  I skipped the first morning sessions and checked with the concierge who sent me to a place about five blocks away.  I thought the walk would do my psoas muscles good so I set off, not many people about, but Spring was obviously present!

This is the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall which has a busway down the middle - free rides. 

 But I kept walking.

All along the sidewalks the large pots have been planted with pansies.

In the very middle of this picture is a pedicab being peddled in the busway.  He slowed, smiled and said something I couldn't hear, but I was still determined and shook my head.

There are alleyways off between the buildings.  They seemed well maintained and clean, but a great contrast to the flowers and freshly leaved trees on the Mall.  I was trying to remember when I last walked in a city, but I can't.  Must have been San Jose sometime in the last year, but only for a few blocks.  I finally ran out of steam yesterday morning and took the free bus for about a block to the street I was seeking.

My glasses were fixed in about 45 minutes and I walked all the way back to the motel.  Stopped at the Rite Aid, a Colorado tourist shop for postcards, a Starbuck's for a latte and the delicious Cook's Fresh Market for some lunch to take back for Ruth and I.  The Chicken Salad was outstanding.  I was too hungry to take a picture!   This cow must be the sole survivor of a great herd and appeared to have been standing there for a long time as she was a bit beat up. 

 
This sign along the roadway in Boulder just makes me laugh.  I had to go around a couple blocks to snag a picture, but it was worth the gas - I'm smiling about it right now!
We have been so busy and I have taken pictures, but no time to get them 'cleaned up' and captioned.  I'll try to find some time soon.  Too bad I can't do it while driving, or while Ruth Powers is driving!  We haven't yet decided which way to go to eastern Kansas where Ruth lives, but the TV weather reports have pushed us in the direction of driving NE to I-80 and across Nebraska.  The weather on I-70 through the middel of Kansas is somewhat intimidating.  The tornado in SE Kansas yesterday did not do any damage in the vicinity of Ruth's house.

On the Road - Grand Junction to Denver, CO 05-18-11

A lot of pictures tonight - 13 to be exact - and an adventurous day for me.  At the advanced age of 72 I finally drove in a snowstorm.  Not a terrible one, but bad enough, and the snow did not stick to the ground.  Maybe it did behind me, but not right where I was.  I was amazed that drivers kept to the speed limit, only a few of those 90mph fools who think they own the road.  I wasn't afraid, just cautious and careful at 60-65.  As for the pictures.  I hardly ever look toward the picture, I just point the camera in the right direction with one hand and click the shutter, all the while keeping my other hand on the wheel and my eyes on the road.  When I can't do that I don't take pictures.  And sometimes, as you will see, picture taking becomes impossible.

I put captions below the pictures - you can click each picture to enlarge.

In Grand Junction the sky was low and very dark and the Colorado River more than filled the space from river bank to river bank.  Here it looks almost placid, though it was running fast.

Just a short distance later I followed the sign that said I-70 and ran into construction (a forewarning for the rest of the day) and a STOP sign to get on the highway.  I thought it was odd, but with construction one just takes one's chances.  It turned out I was on I-70 BL - BL standing for Business Loop.  With all the construction I decided it would be easier to keep on the BL rather than try to figure out how to get back to my starting point and on the Interstate.  About 12 miles later I was back in business and sailing along on the REAL I-70.

Quite a few miles later I pulled off at one of the "Parking Area" signs which are generally intended for trucks, but there wasn't anyone there and I wanted to try to adjust my camera - which required reading the manual!  Here is the Colorado rushing to the west (left of picture) right after making an almost horseshoe bend, guided by this massive abutment.  Most of today the river was on my right, but this little loop road went over the river and back again about a mile further east.  

There is a nice rest stop and tourist info center in Rifle, CO., where I stopped to use the facilities and found myself taking the binoculars out for a walk.  Red-winged Blackbirds, scores of swallows, some grackles, and one little yellow warbler, but they are so quick and so secretive I couldn't see it well - might have been a Prothonatory Warbler.  This picture is a different kind of wild mustard called Rocket. 

The flowers are smaller and the foliage (below) is different. I should look it up, but I am too tired tonight.

There were several plants I am not familiar with - I'll look them up later also.

Yes, more construction.  This time I-70 became a two lane road - one lane in each direction.  Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic and almost no trucks.  The speed limit was forty and the construction zone went on for miles and miles.  

As I drove along at 40mph I could get a good look at the Colorado, now a raging torrent.  Notice the train cars higher up on the right - they look like ore cars, but I don't know what was in them.

Up and up and up, until I was spacing my breathing due to the altitude.  11,156 feet is enough to press in on my chest so I know that I need to regulate my intake and outgo!  I do love driving through these particular tunnels - right through the mountain that rises up pure white above the entrance. It was spitting snow and the pavement was very wet.  Since I started driving vehicles with cruise control I am in the habit of letting the cruise control take over, but one cannot do that when the pavement is wet.  So, it takes more attention and more control and more adjustment of the right foot and is, therefore, more tiring then using cruise control.  Of course, you all know that, but just in case someone has forgotten...!

When I came out the other side it was still cloudy, but not raining.  However, the distant trees were dusted with snow.  Maybe the shadow of the mountain protects this area somewhat.

Not for long!  Within a few miles it really started coming down.  It wasn't cold enough for the snow to stick to the pavement which was very wet.

I put down the window on the passenger side to take this picture of the snow rushing past.

 
Finally, I took this shot with the snowflakes splatting on the windshield and put the camera away.  The storm just got so bad I could only concentrate on driving.  There was even lightning (and, presumably, thunder) with the snow! 
I managed to get into Denver just as everyone was leaving work and drove around for almost an hour trying to find the hotel which has minimal signage.  All the one-way streets amidst the towering buildings were so confusing I couldn't ever turn the way I wanted when I wanted.  My GPS is not working right - I never think to update it and it can't even find a Starbuck's.  I have postponed my attempt to cut down on my Starbuck's habit until I get back home. 
When I stood at the counter at the Comfort Inn the first person I saw that I knew was Linda Colsh, here from Belgium for the conference and a visit with her family on the east coast.  I knew that she would be here, since she is on the SAQA Board, but to see her first thing after such a stressful day, was just like receiving a prize!  I joined her and a couple other Board members for dinner at the Brown Palace Hotel, connected to the Comfort Inn by a second floor pedestrian bridge.  We can go back and forth to our meetings without going outside in the rain, wind, snow, whatever Nature throws our way. 

On the Road - St. George to Grand Junction, CO 05-17-11

Oh, my goodness!  What a lot of wide open country - glorious views and open road - I'm in my element.  How I have missed Road Trips over the past four years - I know I have already said that, but I am having such a wonderful trip I have to say it again.  Not much traffic, especially not many trucks, only a few showers and a little wind. As you can see it was mostly cloudy, but the sun peeked through enough to set off the red rocks and those glowering dark mesas.

Then, all of a sudden, around a curve up pops a little settlement - way out in the middle of nowhere.  I wonder what these people do out here, although there is some agriculture and occasional herds of horses or cows.  This little village is well established, but I didn't catch a name.  Beyond the next curve, more of the vastness of the western high desert plains.

At 6000+ feet the fresh snow was visible all around on the even higher mountains.  Temperature was about 40F here.

It was clear if one looked straight up when I turned east on I-70 - this is where it begins off of I-15 and it goes all the way to Baltimore, MD.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_70  It was the first Interstate project started in the US. 

I actually continued north on I-15 about two miles beyond the I-70 turnoff so I could get gas at Cave Fort, UT.  Some years ago I was driving west on I-70, just tooling along admiring the scenery, and turned south on I-15.   As soon as I did my fuel light came on - with nary a sign of any civilization.  I didn't know what to do, so I started looking for a turn off that showed some sign of human beings and not far along I saw a water tanker truck refilling at a construction site.  I found my way in and asked the driver where the closest gas could be found.  He directed me north again to Cave Fort.  Fortunately, once I got to the turn off,  the highway off ramp and along the short distance to the Chevron station is all downhill, so I sort of coasted into the pump.  I'm sure I was running on fumes (in the Dodge Caravan).  In the Lexus when the electronic trip page says one has ZERO miles to go I have always been able to make it to a station.  This time I still had about a hundred miles left, but stopped and filled up at $4.09 for old times sake.  I don't know where the next closest station might be, but it was probably further than I could have gone on that previous trip.   I've decided I am not ready for the funny farm - I remembered this adventure from 2007 and also where to find an Arco station in north Las Vegas and I think it was about six years ago when I stopped there last.  But there is the question of what I had for breakfast.  Dunno!  

About seventy miles into Colorado there were several heavy showers.  You can see them ahead in the center of the picture - long streaks from the clouds to the ground.  There are just a few early raindrops on my windshield.  It was very dark and 41F. 

 
But before too many miles went by the clouds were higher and thinner and some sunshine came through.  There are lots of "View Areas" along the way - no facilities - so motorists can stop to see the rock formations and the wide vistas in every direction.  I didn't stop at any this trip, but I have many times before and they are worth the time.  Frequently there are signs and images explaining the topography and history.

 
This is that fabulous pass that goes down, down, down (when heading east) at a rate of about 6% grade.  Narrow and twisting, it lets out into the folds of a massive escarpment and the highway shoots straight across to another distant range of hills.  The rocks are much redder, but, as in all these pictures, it was gloomy enough to mute the values. 
Grand Junction tonight and on to Denver tomorrow.  It is only about 250 miles, but most of that is through the Rocky Mountains, going to a high altitude and with much winding roadway.  However, it is all at least two lanes in each direction, divided, so, barring snow, it should be an easy drive.