Day 6 - Through the mountain pass

Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Posted from: Gunnison, CO

Miles driven: 256

Total trip miles: 1158

Well today we fought the road and, well, let's just call it a tie. 1) We sought out road construction like its was our new hobby. 2) We ruled like kings and queens at tight fitting gas stations (because no one else could move when we pulled in and blocked everyone). 3) The rumors are true; Colorado really does have good beer.

Construction: 

A particularly special stretch of construction was 9 miles of rarely applying Matt's foot to the accelerator. One hour and 20 minutes later.... We really wish that was an exaggeration. But what made it special was the guy in front of us smoking weed while we sat there. He was higher than a kite. 

But never fear! We had lots of ways to entertain ourselves. We had books and crossword puzzles and-- Oh wait, the passengers all get car sick, so we didn't have any of that. We had... Well, let's just say we had to entertain ourselves. And it got a little bleak for a while when flatulence became funny...Then Matt thought it would be funny to lock the passengers ability to roll down their windows. My eyes are watering just thinking about it.

Gas stations:

We are kinda big for your average gas station, but when you are not on an interstate or a main trucking route, that's about all you get. I seriously look like the people on the Tarmac at the airport with the little orange lights attempting to advise Matt in and out. Now don't get me wrong, all of the talent is on his side. I just stand there and try to look like I have a clue. 

So in one lovely locale of the fuel variety (aka a gas station), we wedged ourselves in and blocked the entire half of the station. The guy at the pump next to us informed us it was the busiest station in the area. And the diesel was flowing at an incredibly slow rate. Matt went to use the loo and it was only at 6gal when he came back. So meanwhile, a big concrete pumper truck pulls in and blocks us in. Matt asks the guy if he's going to be a while and he says no. So we wait...and wait...and wait. I finally decided to walk into the station and let him know that he is kinda (to no fault of his own) shutting down the place until he moves so we can move. Come to find out, he had been in the potty the whole time. An older gentleman who saw me looking around and knew I belonged to the rig causing all the problems (I think he was secretly, or maybe openly, enjoying the excitement) said, "Sweetie. Your guy is in the sh--ter." Well okay then. I guess the timing on these things can be easily misjudged. Needless to say he eventually came out and I stood like I knew what I was doing to "help" Matt back out, and we were finally on our way...28 minutes later. Our longest refueling so far. The 9 miles of construction came after this, so I am pretty sure the gas station people put a curse on us or something. 

In other news, we hit the 1000 trip-miles point at 10,000 ft on the Kenosha Pass. 

We stopped at a grocery store to pick up a couple things...Okay, let's be honest, it was right next to a brewery called South Park Brewing and Matt wanted a picture of himself in front of it. (We were kids of the 90's and immature enough to still laugh when we see the words south and park together.) We actually turned around to accomplish this. The only reason we bought any groceries was because we took up no fewer than 14 of their parking spaces while we did it. Don't get me wrong, it was not exactly a hopping place, but still.

We drove through 4 mountain passes today, but the last one was the biggest. At almost 12,000 feet, it gave the truck quite a workout. We finally reached the summit and stopped to cool the truck down. The ride down would be hard on the breaks. Matt kept saying how glad he was to have a truck with an engine break.

We finally arrived at the Mesa Campground in Gunnison, CO around 3:30pm MDT (after leaving Estes Park at 7:15am MDT). We were hungry and goofy, so we went back into town for a night out at a local brewery. It was a great time! The kids got the day off from their dish duties and we got a day off from cooking. We also learned a new game that we had brought.

To round out the day, we enjoyed the perfect evening weather and sat at the picnic table. The kids did some scrapbooking (more on that in another post), and Matt and I read magazines. The only thing that could have made it better is if we weren't down-breeze from our neighbor's sewer hookup...which wasn't hooked up all that well. Matt had the duct tape in hand ready to seal it a bit better for him, when I suggested we go for a walk. Disaster averted. We left the kids there to enjoy the fresh Colorado air.

The end of the evening was almost perfect, except that as I was filling my water glass out of a newly opened two gallon jug, the spout broke and I had 2 gallons of water everywhere. We grabbed the first towels we could find which happened to be my newly washed bath towels. Ugh. Oh well. I really had been thinking about washing the floor and doing more laundry. Check and check.