Sunday
It is a short drive from Crawford State Park to the town of Gunnison; forty
miles of breathtaking rim drive along the north edge of the black canyon.
From there, it's another hundred miles through Lake City, over Slumgullion
and Willow Creek passes, and down (not very far down) into Creede. Creede
is not quite as high as Leadville. It is a little over a thousand feet
lower. Elevation 8,800 feet.
Judy was still feeling a little woozy (like seasick) from yesterday's
adventures, so we decided not to admire any more spectacular drop-offs. We
drove back through Hotchkiss, around though Delta, south through Montrose,
and up highway 50 toward Gunnison. It's a good drive. Purple and white
lilacs in full bloom. We just keep gobbling up great scenery.
It was a good day for spotting ring-neck pheasants and yellow-headed
blackbirds. And we saw a roadrunner, crossing the road, out in the valley.
As soon as we popped out of the hills an ultralight swooped into view, doing
a great impression of a crop duster over a freshly green field. No soaring
on thermals for this guy. He was a banking turning diving swooping machine.
We ran the Navigator program on the computer for this leg of the trip. Judy
kept an eye on it while we worked our way there. We ran it on the
"motorhome friendly" option. While we were driving up highway 50, before we
got anywhere near Gunnison, the Navigator directed us to turn right on the
Blue Mesa Bypass. Our highway map didn't show a Blue Mesa Bypass. We were
skeptical. We slowed down at the turn but didn't commit. We looked to our
right and saw a dirt road as we went by. Thirty miles of dirt road in the
Motorhome? I don't think so. Immediately, when you screw up, the Navigator
calculates the next best route, given your failure to act properly in the
first place. The next best route? Ten miles later. The Slumgullion
Bypass. We didn't fall for that one either. We stuck to Highway 50, until
we got to Highway 92 on the map. Past Blue Mesa Reservoir to the Highway
intersection. We turned right onto a road completely covered by tumbleweeds
on our side. I made a wide turn. That didn't seem like a good sign, but it
didn't get any worse than that.
We've driven some small winding steep roads this trip. It's not very fast,
driving the motorhome towing the Jeep, but it has never been a problem. The
Bounder has plenty of power to get up the hills, and plenty of braking to
get down, and there hasn't been any traffic on these roads. We get to motor
through the mountains at a convenient pace, with a pretty good view of the
road.
We made an early afternoon arrival at the outskirts of Creede. We're at the
Antler's Lodge and RV Resort, right on the river. This felt more like a
trip. A two hundred mile day of slow driving. That's more like it.
Tomorrow. Back to work.
