Back again, and so are you. That's good to see. Let's get back to it. I mentioned that our next stop had been in the Copper Mountain area, but to get there we had to go through the bulk of the high country, including Vail Pass. That's the area that was closed before we went through on the way down to Moab (result of a massive car pile-up in the blizzard they had ), and it was also closed just before we were to head home (another weather-related car accident...notice another pattern here). So here's what happened between Grand Junction and Copper Mountain. Hold on tight.
When we went through Glenwood Canyon we managed to see part of the highway that was wrecked by the rockslide of March 8th. The hole was right through the roadway, and I could see the rebar sticking out where there had been pavement before. It appeared as though they had managed to fix the holes on the westbound section before we went through last weekend. Traffic was backed up going towards Utah, but we were moving well eastbound. Point for us. The mountain passes were next...
We made it through the hardest part with minimal difficulty, as far as the weather was concerned anyway. There was a big difference for the Thorup boys though on this leg of the trip . We had been leading the way on our first trip through the mountains, but we were tailgunners on the return trip. That meant that instead of being able to haul @$$ to build up some momentum before an incline, we were riding behind Ralf who was now pulling his YJ behind the Grand up the mountainside. Things got a little tricky.
As we had gotten closer to the mountain passes we could see snow falling from the clouds. Sometimes it fell away from us, and sometimes we drove right through it. There wasn't any snow covering the roads, but as we got further up (and down the other sides) there was some slush I guess. Nothing too much, but not the dry pavement we would've preferred. Ralf could gain some speed on the downslopes and would then lose it pretty quick on the next incline. Usually we'd end up behind an 18-wheeler and follow them up the slope. Cliffe had to drop into 2nd a couple of times to keep chugging away. I joked with Steve that we may have to shift into 4L if we got going any slower. It was interesting that on a couple of occasions, as we are tucked in behind a big rig going uphill, that some moron would lay on his horn at us as they passed, as if we were holding up traffic... Not sure where they were going to go, but I guess some of those American drivers can pass through a tractor trailer but can't get around a couple of Jeeps. On the downslopes I had to stay in 3rd a couple of times to prevent overrunning Ralf. We had managed to run in 4th coming from home, but didn't have anyone in front of us for that part. Sean took off up the incline as we approached the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels so he could keep in gear. We caught up to him on the other side without any problems. Ralf may have been a little on edge through the mountains, I know I would've been hauling over 5000lbs behind me, but he didn't seem any worse for the wear afterwards.
While we were at the gas station in Copper Mountain, we saw some guys from California who were heading for Ohio of all places. Sean talked with them for a few minutes, and we ended up seeing them again several stops later as well. The plan was to reach a ways past the other side of Denver, stop for gas, and maybe dinner, and then figure out a plan for the rest of the day's driving. We wanted to get as far as possible as we still had a long way to go, and like I said before, when you are heading home you just want to get there. So off we went.
We reached Denver around 4:56pm MT. There wasn't any snow really anymore, so we managed to avoid the storm we had been worried about. We kept on truckin' and planned to stop for gas whenever Ralf was going to need to fill up. Once he let us know shotgunner/navigator Steve picked Fort Morgan as the best spot. We had to fill up to make it past the Bermuda Triangle of nothingness east of Sterling and the first spot for gas in Nebraska. We ended up eating at Memories, a little restaurant in town that was recommended to us by the lady at the gas station. We filled up our stomachs ( the prime rib was great! ) and checked the map. We were back on the road at 7:50pm MT with a plan of hitting somewhere in Nebraska to sleep.
We crossed the state line at 9:32pm. North Platte was an hour and a half away, but the call was made to crash in Ogallala, NE. We grabbed the first hotel, got our rooms, and went to bed. It was probably around 10:15pm when we got parked in the hotel lot. It was a nice place. Ralf was asleep in about 34 seconds, and Steve didn't even have the TV on to go to sleep. We would be up early to get going. No time to waste. Mom was having dinner at 4:30 on Easter Sunday. Would we make it in time?
Life is still good... Stay tuned fellow virtual travellers.
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