My guess is that with the photos that Charlotte will shoot, the book will be twice as big this time around. She has already posted some great stuff on Instagram and Facebook and has more available. Biggest obstacle will be internet access to get them up.
Today as we hit the road, we have another day of driving. Rain and the 75mph speed limit make it difficult as the trucks fly past at 80. No stops for Roadside scenes today. Instead, I will break up the trip with a visit to some familiar places.
The weather clears as we roll into Denver. At the stop, we turn on the hot water as the kids and Wendy want a shower. This should be interesting: showering at 70mph while winding through the roads outside Denver. All goes well, but after we are done, a check of the levels in the tanks tells us that 4 showers used ¾ of our fresh water and filled the grey water tank. This does not bode well for 4 days in the back country in Arches.
The RV screams as we start the climb up to 11,000 feet and the Eisenhower Tunnel. I count off the elevation as the truck keeps shifting down gears, screams louder and louder and starts losing speed. At 45mph, it starts to hold and I accept the fact that I am destined to ride the right lane with the flashers on with the other trucks. The mountain tops are capped with snow and it looks like they had some fresh snow recently.
We hit the tunnel, and I know that most of the drive is now downhill. I have one more pass to climb on the way to Vail, but if memory serves correctly, that one is not as steep and long as getting up to Frisco.
As we come out the tunnel, we are met with what looks like a foot of fresh snow. What a change from just a couple hours ago.
I have decided to stop in Frisco to visit a very old (aren’t we all now) and dear friend Jon Clark. We knew each other from High School and the neighborhood, bonded our friendship during college, and then cemented that bond with numerous trips to Colorado skiing.
He meets us at the Walmart lot outside town and I follow him downtown to The Boathouse for lunch. Although the time is short, just a couple hours of getting together can let you catch up and make it feel like you have been together for days. We enjoy a great lunch and catch up family and friends. We talk about some old times and discuss what we are planning for the summer. I am blessed to have friends who I have kept in touch with. Some only once every few years, but every time we talk, it is as if we were just together yesterday.
He told us that it was a record year for snow (over 500 inches) and that is showing in the runoff we have seen in the streams. The weather outside is drizzly and COLD. There is still some snow on the cars and ground.
We bid our farewells, and head off to Glenwood Springs. Along the way, we are all watching out the windows taking in the sights. This really is beautiful country. We look at the big homes in Vail. Talk about doing a ski trip soon (we talk about this often – just never pull the trigger). I remind them that we always have a place to stay with Jon and Anne.. I talk to Jackson about the weather patterns in the mountains and why there is desert on one side, arid landscape on the front side of the range and then so much snow at the high elevations and then arid conditions on the backside of a mountain range.
We pull into the RV lot at the Hot Springs, and grab out suits. The weather here is much warmer (70 degrees) though we would be fine even if it is cold. The pools are split into 2 different temps. The larger pool at over 400 feet long and 100 feet wide is 90 degrees. The smaller pool is the same width but only 100 feet long and 104 degrees. The water feeding these pools comes out of the hot springs at 122 degrees and is mixed with the water currently in the pool to cool it off. They cycle between 3 million and 4 million gallons of water a day through the pools. That’s a lot of hot water!
This break is just what I needed. Although driving the RV is not difficult, it is tougher than the cars we drive. I have to constantly keep my hands on the wheel, and I am somewhat tense as I muscle the wheel as I pass or other cars pass me. This leaves me a bit stiff and sore after a few hours, so a couple hours in a hot spring will be great. It has been a LONG 4 days prepping and driving, and knowing that we are hours from our first destination gives me a boost.
We drop some quarters in the “bubble chairs”, float around the pools and then decide to get back on the road. Originally, I had planned on spending the night here, but the pools have refreshed me and we plan on getting as far as Grand Junction. That will put us just a couple hours out of Arches and Canyonlands.
We miss the roadside stop (it was a block off the road) where we want to dump and refill with fresh water. Again, the iPhone app AllStays RV Dumps finds the spot, and the AllStays Overnight Parking Walmart finds our overnight spot. We call the Walmart and are again welcomed to stay. After a 4 mile detour to find gas, we pull in around 10:30 and decide to do the shopping in the morning. We have been making a list of items we need. Supports for the shelves I built (yes, Fritz 1 – we should have used the thicker boxes from Uline), and a pad for the bed among other things. I grab a beer and my iPad, do a little reading and then get a GREAT night’s sleep.
It will probably be a few days before my next post. I will keep up daily, but will not be able to upload as I doubt we will have cell phone access at our campground. We will be 18 miles off the road, deep in the heart of Arches National Park in a campground with no hook ups.