The Story Continues...

This was but one of the many sights I was able to see today on my trip from Lakewood to Ouray. The first priority, however, was to leave that god forsaken place of Denver. My hotel (Days Inn) had cockroaches, an old man paying his rent at the front desk (apparently he lived there) was convinced that I was the Aurora murderer, and the traffic was so congested that it took me almost two hours to leave the city limits.

Fortunately, I found solace in Castle Rock at the B&B Cafe. They served up a mean omelet, some fresh baked rye bread, and the best blueberry pie I've ever had! I'd highly recommend that place to anyone. Later on the trip I made my way through Colorado Springs to head West on U.S. 24. After a minor setback at Buena Vista, I finally oriented myself. I made my way to Gunnison, the city where my father once lived as a young man. It was a typical little Colorado town with a main street, and it even has a college (officially changing its name to a university today).

However, before enjoying my evening meal at the Twisted Fork, I first had to tackle the steep mountain climb of U.S. 50 to the East of Gunnison. It pushed my car to the limits. It was almost a mirror race to the top, too, being there was a similar model year Cadillac right next to me all the way to the other side.

Even though that climb was a struggle, the sights that were before me were miraculous. I can only imagine what will happen tomorrow on the rest of U.S. 550. Unfortunately (and fortunately for the Earth itself), intermittent rain kept me from getting more footage of the drive as I wanted. Stopping for a quick photo opportunity like the one above was a quick jump out of the car and a quick jump right back in before rain struck again. It was beautiful though, the rain in the mountains.

Nebraska's parallel and perpendicular roads can't even begin to hold a candle on how fun the winding and twisting turns that are here in Colorado. As much as I mention about them, or show photographic/videographic evidence for them, you really need to experience the wind through your hair and centrifugal forces yourself. Then you'll know the meaning of excitement.

So, after several shorter blog posts, I do hope this one did not bore you to sleep. Speaking of sleep, I'm going to be getting some right about now. Catch you all down that dusty trail!