Rocky Mountain High

Today we crossed the Rockies! Madeline and I got an early start, and with a good send-off from Lisa, who was catching a flight home after seeing Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado from the front seat of a Model A, we ran the 36 miles from Colorado Springs to Canon City without issue. We passed the Holiday Inn in Canon City, and saw Ted and Joe working on the brakes on Diana's roadster pickup. We joined in the fun as spectators, and after a breakfast from Denny's, we were motoring westward again.

The way west was one spectacular view after another, as the road rose and fell. The steeper climbs gave way to climbing lanes, but the hills certainly tested our little wagon. On the final approach to Monarch Pass, at the Continental Divide, I stopped to remove the air maze from my carburetor in an effort to give the engine a little more air. This action seemed to work, and we cruised the remaining hills at 30 mph or so, until we crested at 11,312 feet above sea level. It was great to be 'over the hill' - but we gave our brakes a workout on the way down.

We had lunch in Gunnison, and took some time to visit the Pioneer Museum there, where they had a number of buildings housing artifacts from Gunnison's pioneer days to the present. It was a great place to visit, although the curator threatened to put our wagon into their automobile collection. The road rose and fell on the way from Gunnison to Grand Junction, where the green of the mountains gave way to the barrens of western Colorado. We arrived in Grand Junction exhilarated and exhausted, both. This was a great touring day, and certainly one of the most difficult driving days, too.