It was a muddled departure, not a great night’s sleep for starters, and despite

a relatively light load it took over three hours until we were finally out the gate,

later still leaving Gerlach [note need for chains or snow tires] where the new postmaster has short-cropped maroon hair and wears calf-high boots.  At least on a Wednesday morning.

Just about where the AC went out last year we experienced a considerable wait

for roadwork,

after which I was obliged to pass a Taco of Cali lamos all decked out in camo for fall hunting, for

some reason, to catch up with and keep pace with the pilot car, then it was Fernley for minor

groceries, Fallon for gas at which point L. took over while I remained fairly comatose all the way

to Ely – with a small pause for lunch at the Antelope turn after Cold Springs – for refueling, after which I drove again. We made a small stop in the Western Desert’s intense winds for the dogs

and us to pee, careened in crosswinds into Delta for motel and, great find,

the Ashton Burger Barn on the Topaz Highway, then back to the motel with this anomalous

Texas M3 in the parking lot for another not so great sleep.

Groggily up in the morning I drove an hour into the sun to Salina where Linda

took us onto the Interstate while I drank motel coffee and dozed

all the way to The Trail Through Time which seems to have had a burn since we were there

last…94 degrees, with breeze. Linda continued on 70E through spectacular geology to Rifle, famous for Lauren Boebert [“she wants your freedom”], gas at the Cum ‘n’ Go and me to drive

less interesting country to Minturn where we turned onto 24, climbed steeply past Gilman and

after two nameless passes [one being the Continental Divide at 10,400′] descended to Leadville, which proved to be a truly awful wannabe tourist pit with stationary traffic, cheaply tarted up victorian architecture and trashy backstreets which, seen while avoiding downtown’s clogged main, were actually kind of interesting in a down-at-the heel way…photogenic, even, but it was late and tired and not worth making the effort despite the weirdness. Fortunately we’d decided

ahead of time* not to stay in Leadville so pressed on to The Loyal Duke in Salida, who were great, as was dinner outdoors at The Fritz as live music played in the Riverside Park across the

street where this MGTF, visiting from Connecticut, was parked.

After dinner we retrieved truck and dogs, returned to the Duke for rest only slightly better and

first thing Friday dove into an hour+ shopping in Safeway, after which L. got into 4th of July weekend’s line of RVs creeping south down the Arkansas to Cotopaxi at which point we turned for Westcliffe [last gas], the Gardner post office and home to find Marilyn still cleaning [milagro for us!] so while she and L. talked I got most of the food in and once she left made lunch…we then collapsed until John Barr arrived around 3:40 to help unload the heavier stuff

and stay chatting, during which I semi-surreptitiously managed to get a lot of the things at least distributed…dinner was simple and welcome as was bed, trying for much-needed rest soon after.

 

*I originally thought it would be an interesting place to overnight but after reviewing various options on the internet it seemed best to bite the bullet and continue another hour downstream. Our pass through town definitely reinforced that decision.