Day 18, May 25, 2011

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

We woke to many of the nights parked trucks and campers pulling out.  It was 6:00 and I was ready to roll.  Bob was a bit slower getting up but he’s the driver so if he’s not in a hurry, Bucky and I aren’t either.  I made orange juice since he said we would drive a bit and then stop at a rest stop for breakfast.  Orange juice holds Bob over pretty well ‘till we stop. 

Wow – Eric was right!  With the blue sky and sun shinning, a few patches of fog we set off into spectacular scenery.  The Colorado river out my side was really rushing.  The mountain tops still had snow cover and the rocky mountains, cliffs, ledges, hills whatever you call them, are beautiful. 

We pulled over into a rest stop after driving about an hour or so.  The rest stop had a bike path that continued on for quite a while that we had spotted earlier as we went through road construction at 40 mph.  The rest stop had access steps directly to the water so Bob let Buck take a look.  I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.  I took Buck back out for more sniffing around while I read the information about the area.

Back on the road for more sights to behold. 

Bob here to finish up the ship’s log for today.  We put some major miles in today.  Made it from Cameo, CO, to Grand Island, NB.  The googler puts that at 630 miles.  The mountain driving was great fun.  Lots of ups and downs and turns.  The road was wet and dirty in Vail Pass due to snow melt.  And it even snowed a bit on us while going through there.  The truck is very dirty now.  What a mess.  Big cleaning needs to be done when we get home.  The truck pulls so great up the hills.  And going down with confidence of large brakes and a engine brake.  We got 9.8 mpg on this tank, and I’ve been driving 72-74 whenever we’re not winding around in the mountains.  Once we got east of Denver everything was boring.  Flat and straight.  Paula’s been reading Davis Phinney’s book, “The Happiness of Pursuit.”  She went through quite a few tissues.  I’m looking forward to reading it when we get home. 

We pulled into the truck stop in Grand Island, 745 miles on this tank.  Got 76 gallons and then found a nice parking spot amongst all the trucks.  I had seen how big the store is when I paid so I told Paula she’s got to come check it out.  It’s very nice.  Movie theatre, barber shop, massages, game room, a few different food options, huge store with all sorts of stuff.  Then Paula made pizza and smoothies while I kept my foot up since I can’t elevate it whilst driving.  We’ve been watching the Eddie Murphy bio on the tv while dining and logging. 

So, tomorrow should be easy, the googler says it should take 8 hrs. from here to St. Paul.  Time to take a shower and go to bed.  This trip has been tons of fun for us.  If anybody is reading this I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  Thanks to all our friends and family that have made this trip so wonderful.