Basalt

Ridgway to Basalt, by way of McClure Pass. Colorado Highway 133 from Hotchkiss through Paonia, Somerset, past the Marble turnoff, Redstone, and Carbondale. Another one of our favorite roads. McClure Pass. Not a dramatic “winding wonder” (as Elle calls it), like Red Mountain Pass, not even nine thousand feet high, but wide-open and scenic; rolling hills entirely covered with Aspen. No color left on the hillsides now, except for the color of the million or so leafless aspen trunks. Quite a bit of cottonwood and narrowleaf cottonwood color left in the river bottoms. With an early start, we were through it all and settled in here in time for the afternoon games.

Today’s crock pot torture: pot roast, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onions. All day.

A busy week next week. Jobs in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, and Aspen. We’re parked in the middle, so we’re within twenty miles of everybody.

No waxwings, but we have seen some Lewis’s Woodpeckers.