DAY 1, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Off we go at 9:20a.m., ready or not!  We planned just a five hour trip to Craig, Colorado, over the mountain from our hometown of Loveland.  The week was exhausting and filled with unexpected complications, and so a shorter drive is great.  Cloudless blue skies with occasional views of forest fire smoke were with us all day.We crossed two mountain passes: Cameron Pass over 10,000 feet and Rabbit Ears Pass at 9,426 feet. The autumn colors changed dramatically as we reached higher elevations.  Aspen trees came in such beautiful shades of golden yellow, orange, and red and are framed by tall evergreens on every side. At mile marker 51 my first crippling charlie horse hit my right leg; it was so painful JL had to pullover so I could walk it off on the side of the mountain road.  Sometimes the human body has no mercy on its aging occupant. Twenty miles up the road and the left leg was not to be outdone.  Fortunately, we were stopping the Moose Center anyway so that worked out.  We never see moose there but they usually have bird feeders out, and we see Steller jays, pine siskins, pine grosbeaks, and hummingbirds. Today we were later in the day and really saw very little.

Colorado mountain passes have dramatic climbs up and down and sometimes take out-of-staters by surprise.  Imagine one is trying to descend without burning up the brakes and this large sign appears on the right and then again and again with decreasing  distance.  

The yellow lights flash ominously, and driver and passengers wonder if the term “truck” includes pickup trucks with heavy campers. Finally the dreaded(or lifesaving) ramp appears. 

                                 

The truck occupants exhale a great sigh of relief at having avoided such a calamity, and just as the driver tries to pry his locked fingers from the steering wheel, the entire  sign process starts again!

     At the top of one of the passes a Chinook helicopter flies over carrying a huge bucket of water headed for a fire nearby.  So many fires this year and so little rain in some the places.

At the bottom of Rabbit Ears pass we are met with beautiful ranch country as we head into Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Steamboat is a resort town with great outdoor activities in every season from skiing to river rafting, hiking, and biking as well as a hot springs.  It used to be quaint and nestled in the foothills in the valley.  Now it is sprawling everywhere like so much of Colorado.  Skiing and the hot springs brought this little town from a hidden treasure to a commercial hotspot. We arrive in Craig for an overnight at the KOA Journey campground which had full hookups, meaning electric, water and sewer.  Just a bit of comfort before continuing.