Found the booth, visited with Nicky and Ryan and watched Pappa Hack on crutches with his broken ankle, hobbling around the booth! Big crowd and we'll see how the bookings happen, but lots of activity.
Yes they were working:
Wanted to beat some predicted bad weather and get into Utah by nightfall, I left downtown Denver at about 1:00 pm. Of course Pappa Hack suggested heading North to Rt 80, but I was bound and determined to see the wonderful sights of the rockies and also head to Moab Utah for some picture taking on Sunday.
One quick stop at Wal-Mart to replace the "lost GPS", see previous post! As I left Wal-Mart on the west side of Denver there was a few flakes of snow falling, not to worry weather report said late afternoon evening snow storm. I was certain I was ahead of any bad weather...
Up the hill and the snow just kept getting worse and worse, accumulation of about 1/2 foot and hour with near white-out conditions, and of course inexperienced winter drivers everywhere, generally in front of me! It was not real slick but some of the trucks were having a hard time on the steeper grades, most were pulling over to chain up as the warning lights were blinking. Well top speed was about 25 MPH most of the way. I stayed in 2 wheel drive over the top with no issues, but stopped in SilverThorne for some lunch and slipped it in 4 wheel high and headed down the other side...interesting driving nearly all the way to Grand Junction.
Top of the hill:
One particular area Glenwood Canyon was interesting. For a long time I was following during the harder part of the climb a Volvo with what looked to be a very inexperienced snow driver...he was having a hard time and would occassionally run off the right side of the road onto the berm, I thought looking for traction, but now I am not sure....well I grew tired of watching in near terror as this moron struggled along and pulled in to a rest area to stretch my legs and hit the head.
As we entered the top of Glenwood Canyon it got slick and a little icy with some snow built up in the middle and sides of the road, not an issue if you stayed in the wheel tracks...but when passing it was a little unnerving making the lane change. All the while I was having no issues, truck was doing fine, 4 wheel drive was working well. Plus the truck was loaded down so light rear end was not an issue.
While driving down Glenwood Canyon in the curves I kept noticing tracks which would suddenly veer off the road and scrapes along the guardrail. I noticed this numerous times and even a couple times in the center of the road with fresh scrape marks on the median divider. I thought to myself, somebody is having a really bad day.
At the end of Glenwood Canyon near the hot springs was another rest area and I decided to take another break, the highway was only wet at this point and I expected to be able to make much better time from here on to Moab.
Lo and Behold there was the beloved Volvo with both sides totally smashed in, huge scrape marks and dents down both sides, this was obviously the car I had been following earlier and by the looks of the car the one who had been playing tag with the guardrails down the canyon.
Not being shy and always looking for an opportunity to relish in someone else's misery, I had to wait and see who came out of the rest room and claimed what was left of this Volvo...BTW - it was a nearly new car when I first saw it.
So after a few minutes, this young couple approach the car. She is raising hell with her spouse and it looks like a war is brewing and when she sees the car again the sparks really begin to fly. I decided that a conversation with these people was not a good idea...and had it not been dark at this point in time, I would have snapped a couple photos, because it was a true Kodak Moment.
The rest of the journey to Moab was uneventful and quite pleasant. I arrived at about 8:30 pm, hotel, good cocktail and a decent steak!!
Who could ask for more...
Spent this morning in Arches National Park and the weather is fantastic, cool and very clear bright blue skies...the red-rock is shining...will post a couple pics tomorrow, I think maybe I got a couple good ones...
Lunch is over, now heading to Salt Lake City...office day tomorrow and will spend a day or two in Salt Lake with friends...
Capt Jim
No comments:
Post a Comment