Day Five (October 12)

            Saturday morning seems like a very long time ago.  We started out the day in Green River, Utah and are ending the day in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

            We drove a lot and stopped very little, mainly because all the scenery was visible from the car and the places we would have normally spent time were all national parks.  Oh, well.  Not having those parks open to stop at probably cut two days off our travel time.

            The word of the day, clearly, was mountains.  I had not thought much before about how many different kinds of scenery mountain driving affords.  Beautiful is an inadequate word, but I am too tired to come up with any detailed description right now.  I will say that I love the bright yellow leaves of the aspens.

            At Monarch Pass, my brother and I both learned rather quickly that we don’t do well at 11,000 foot elevations.  We stopped to take a picture of the snow-covered peaks (and there was plenty of snow right there in the parking lot, too).  We got out of the car and before even taking a step both realized that it was best to stand right there by the car for the picture-taking and oohing and aahing.  Upon standing, I was a little lightheaded and dizzy.  John felt out of breath.  However, we had done all right in Gunnison, even walking several blocks downtown looking for a restaurant.  I guess the 3,000 foot difference made a difference!

            We took a long and winding road trying to get to Royal Gorge outside of Canon City, hoping to see the gorge even though signs said the bridge was closed.  No luck there, but we did see the sad charred remains of a forest fire.  Sometime I will take Joseph back to Canon to see the relatives who still live there.

            And once in Colorado Springs, we navigated to my son’s apartment and took him out to a movie (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”) and then out for some really good Jamaican food.  We are going to spend some more time with Joseph in the morning before heading east toward Colby and beyond.

            So the mountain driving is done, and tomorrow (Sunday) will take me through very familiar territory.  The plan is to reach Bartlesville sometime on Monday.