THE BAYFIELD BUNCH TACKLES THE ROCKIES

SUNDAY NOV. 4/07 UPDATING FROM FRUITA, COLORADO. 11:10 COLORADO TIME.

FRIDAY NOV. 3 A crispy cold morning but no wind so it didn't seem too bad as we left Limon, Colorado. No symptoms in the night from any kidney stone or tick problems so we packed up camp & launched ourselves up onto I-70 & headed west about 8 a.m.. Traffic was very light again under sunny skies as we rolled across the golden Colorado plains. Mountains on the far horizon & no trees for as far as the eye could see sometimes. Can't imagine living somewhere like this but there was the occasional old farmstead here & there. We woke up Garmin Gertie, our GPS system & programmed her to take us through Denver. Made a couple of "Rest Area" stops & about 11 o'clock we were right smack dab into the Denver traffic doing battle with the locals. Surprisingly, we just kind of rolled right through town without any major dilemmas. That is nice when that happens. By the time we reached Denver's west side we were climbing into the snow capped mountains already. Hills & grades increased significantly & the Damon began earning her due. I was immediately thankful we had decided on this I-70 route instead of the Colorado Springs way because on the long uphill grades we were definitely in the slower minority. Had we gone the other way on the 2 lane highway we would have had miles & miles of traffic backed up behind us in no time. Coming out of Denver it's 6 lanes quite a ways before dropping to a 4 lane highway with 2 in each direction. The scenery was of course nothing short of spectacular. Just like pictures you see on post cards. A long climb up to the Eisenhower tunnel & then a really steep 6 mile drop down the other side. A lot of gearing down in order to stay off the brakes & at times I was down into the lowest gear we had. Winding roads & tight curves every step of the way. The Chevy Vortec engine & Allison transmission were working some major overtime & both performed superbly but I could see where in this situation, the diesel engined rigs with their superior power probably had a big advantage over gas powered rigs. We made one pit stop in Silverthorn just to give ourselves & the motorhome a rest. Later in the afternoon we got tangled up in a couple small towns just off of I-70 looking for a place to park for the night but eventually got out of them & back onto the interstate. Glenwood Springs was one I re-call. Kelly found some State Parks near Rifle, Colorado & one of them had hydro so we decided on Rifle Falls S.P. It was a long winding & narrow 15 mile road that finally landed us in a picturesque valley far off the beaten path at Rifle Falls. Only 14 campsites with 3 pull-thrus & they were tight. Before we knew it we rounded a bend & the road ended. Only a very small area to turn around & we couldn't make it because some cars were parked where they shouldn't have been parked. Had to shut er down & unhook the car, back up the motorhome & wiggle around a tight squeeze putting one of the dual wheels up over a curb!! By this point I was tooooo tired to bother with even thinking about getting mad so we just made the couple hundred yards back to one of the pull-thru sites & shut er all down for another day about 5 o'clock. It sure had been a long grind with added stress in the mountains for sure, but here we were, safe & sound with the toughest mountain driving behind us, & the Bayfield Bunch had made it through another day:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))