Day 4 - Alamosa to Colorado Springs

Today's adventure took us to Great Sand Dunes National  Park (#42). Wow! What a huge pile of sand! To get to the actual dunes, one has to cross Medano Creek, which is an amazing feature itself! During the spring snow melt, which is now, there's a lot of water in the creek. By August, it will be a trickle. As you can see from the pictures, there were LOTS of people there -families with kids out for a "day at the beach". We hiked up to the top of the nearest little dune - enough to see the kids riding their dune boards down the back side. What fun! As you know, walking in soft sand can be a real slog! Some brave and very fit people had climbed all the way to the top! Even though the temperature was only in the high 60s, the sun was strong and sand was quite warm. Can't imagine being here in mid-July.

The coolest thing about Medano Creek was watching the "surge flows". Mesmerizing! I'll try to download a video clip.

After our lunch under the shade of a tree in the parking lot, we left the park and headed north to Pueblo ("Steel city" - huge ugly mothballed steel plants along the way) and on up to Colorado Springs. We're on the east side of the mountains - snow covered peaks to our west, the plains of Kansas to the east.b We'll be two nights at a very old LaQuinta.

Tomorrow Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak.

Spanish Peaks, south of Pueblo

Remembrance of my former life in NY!

Day 3 - Grand Junction to Alamosa, CO.

A long day of spectacular mountain scenery! We were on the road by 8:15. First stop was to go a ways up the Colorado National Monument loop road,  just south of Grand Junction. Spectacular canyon views! Lots of great hiking trails, if only there was time!

Then back on US50, heading south to Montrose., where we found the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (#41). Wow! An unbelievably deep canyon, carved by the Gunnison River over the eons. We learned about the Gunnison Tunnel, which took water from the river out onto the Uncompahgre valley, making it a fertile agricultural region. We also learned about the crazy explorers who tried to go down the canyon and the attempt to build a railroad (they gave up halfway down). Lunch with Ann and Bryan overlooking the canyon in beautiful sunshine.

Then, back down the mountain, back to US50 and along the beautiful Blue Mesa Reservoir.  Turned south on Rt 149, a "scenic shortcut" known as the  Silver Thread Scenic Highway because it follows the winding Rio Grande River. (THE Rio Grande!) This awesome road took us over two summits over 10,000 feet and through the little burg of Lake City, nestled in the mountains and home to seasonal residents. Rt 149 heads southeast and goes out of the mountains onto the central Colorado plains. Industrial agriculture.

We finally arrived in Alamosa at about 7:00 and checked into the Riverside Inn. Not sure how (or why) I had reserved this place. Its right out of the 60s! But the price is right! All the usual suspects were way over priced, IMHO. Nice city park across the river for morning walk. 300 miles today.

Lake City

Riverside Inn

Day 2 - Ely to Grand Junction, CO

Another perfect weather day, although a bit warmer, into the mid 80s by afternoon. We drove the first 60 miles on US 50 from Ely to a neat "oasis" for breakfast. We've stopped here before so we knew it was worth the wait! Its called "Border Inn" and it includes a restaurant, casino, motel, gas station, RV park, c-store....anything you could want. 60 miles from Ely and 90 miles across the desert to the nearest town going east, Delta, Utah. That 60 miles from Ely to Border is beautiful - up and over a pass about 7700 feet.

Although it is Memorial Day, we didn't notice much traffic until we got to I-15, where US 50 crosses and continues east. Northbound on I-15 was pretty heavy!

The views and extraordinary geological features from Salina and for the next 100 miles or so heading east on I-70 are awesome.  Rest areas featured Native Americans selling their artwork. After that it gets pretty desolate until you get to Green River and Grand Junction. We checked in at an Econolodge in G. J.  (quite nice, actually!) and met our friends Bryan and Ann who are kinda sorta following our route in their camper. We had a nice Italian dinner at the restaurant next door. We'll meet up with them tomorrow in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, about 70 miles south of here.

US 50 The Jefferson Highway

Border Inn

Dry Lake Bed - pure white alkali

I-70 

Day 1 - Home to Ely, Nevada

Perfect day to start our adventure. Bright Sun, low to mid 70s, great roads, no traffic! We headed south down through Grandview, Owyhee and the Duck Valley Reservation, into Elko and continuing south to Ely, Nevada. A 460 miles day. Easy peasy! Spectacular lunch break at Wild Horse Reservoir. We've traveled this route on several occasions so there was really nothing new but, nevertheless, Nevada is spectacular! We are always surprised that from Wild Horse Res all the way to Elko and Ely you are driving through a valley at an elevation of 6000'!

In Ely we stayed again at the Jailhouse Motel (in cell #145) and had a wonderful steak dinner in an actual jail cell in the "Cellblock Steak House"! There are many interesting murals along the Main street, which also has  many empty storefronts.  Ely is where pick up the famous US Rt 50, the "Lincoln Highway" or "the Loneliest Road in America" as we head east into Utah.

It all fits!

Wild Horse Dam

Original Rt 50 marker

Ely Labyrinth

We had to pay the bill to get released