We awake with the temperature having dropped to zero Celsius early this morning. We ran the electric cube heater all night and it appears to have warded off any freezing issues with our water lines. Phew! I did however have a restless night thinking about what might have happened. Hopefully I shall sleep better tonight in Moab, UT.
Today I ran out of superlatives for the views and scenery through which we drove in Colorado. Stunning, Incredible, Amazing, Wow. We’ve already decided to come back and spend far more time exploring this amazing state.
We climbed upwards for the first part of the morning until we reached the Eisenhower tunnel (above). It took under the continental divide, meaning that after we exit all rivers will lead to the Pacific Ocean.
Exiting the tunnel we descended down a 7% grade for 13km (8miles). A good test of nerves and equipment and then onto Vail, CO and the driving was easier (not so quick Tony).
Another long uphill and then a tunnel led to another (albeit shorter) 8km (5miles) 6% downhill section. This would be the last of the big downhills, but there was still many more smaller sections to negotiate.
Eventually the scenery changed and the mountains became shorter and more grass and scrub covered instead of tree covered as they were earlier in the day. We approached Grand Junction and yet again the scenery had changed to be much more desert-like. All around us now we’re flat topped Mesa’s.
Soon we had crossed into Utah and the temperature was 32 degrees C. Not much grows here. Turning down Hwy 191 into Moab, the rocks turned red and the number of campers increased significantly. Moab as a town was not really to our liking, overly commercial and too busy. We passed through on our way to the KOA that would once again be our home for the night. A nice site in a well kept campground. We’d recommend both this and the previous nights stay.