Left Moab for Denver on Hwy 128 but after a mile encountered a “bridge out” warning “open to local traffic only”. Big disappointment as this is reputed to be a very beautiful canyon drive along the route of the Colorado River. So we backtracked out of Moab on Hwy 191 for 30 miles, and we hate backtracking.
On I-70 we pulled off for a lunch break at the Rifle Colorado rest stop, discovering it was the same stop we used going west in 2005. Rifle is noted for a massive ‘70s Exxon (?) oil shale project that shut down without warning in 1982 totally busting the town. More pleasantly, Christo for some reason had an urge to drape a canyon, and Rifle Canyon was the winner.
We continued climbing the Rockies, passing Vail observing it looked even more overdeveloped than on our last trip. We crossed the 11,000’ Continental Divide through the Edwin Johnson Tunnel (driving west you pass through the Eisenhower Tunnel). On the downward slope toward Denver we passed several historic mining towns.
Given a choice of an RV park near our waypoint of Lewisville or a state park not too much further, we chose the latter – Golden Gate State Park. What we didn’t realize until we were committed is that it is at 9200’. Due at Ericka and Dan’s at 3 PM, we didn’t reach Reverend’s Ridge Campground until 5:30 PM, with no cellphone reception to update our friends. All went well, however, and we joined them at their Lewisville home about 7 PM for a wonderful dinner, and the completion of our commitment to deliver a truck-load of presents from their San Diego wedding a few weeks previous.
On I-70 we pulled off for a lunch break at the Rifle Colorado rest stop, discovering it was the same stop we used going west in 2005. Rifle is noted for a massive ‘70s Exxon (?) oil shale project that shut down without warning in 1982 totally busting the town. More pleasantly, Christo for some reason had an urge to drape a canyon, and Rifle Canyon was the winner.We continued climbing the Rockies, passing Vail observing it looked even more overdeveloped than on our last trip. We crossed the 11,000’ Continental Divide through the Edwin Johnson Tunnel (driving west you pass through the Eisenhower Tunnel). On the downward slope toward Denver we passed several historic mining towns.
Given a choice of an RV park near our waypoint of Lewisville or a state park not too much further, we chose the latter – Golden Gate State Park. What we didn’t realize until we were committed is that it is at 9200’. Due at Ericka and Dan’s at 3 PM, we didn’t reach Reverend’s Ridge Campground until 5:30 PM, with no cellphone reception to update our friends. All went well, however, and we joined them at their Lewisville home about 7 PM for a wonderful dinner, and the completion of our commitment to deliver a truck-load of presents from their San Diego wedding a few weeks previous.
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