Boulder to Fruita

After carefully considering our options, and focusing on the weather forecast, we decided to go to the warmest reasonable choice, the Grand Junction area. We had some concerns about driving over the mountains, which were reinforced by I-70 being closed due to an accident, and we were considering other options. However, we called again right before we left, and the road report was more favorable, so we stuck to plan A.

We left Boulder Monday around 10 AM, and headed into the mountains. As we got closer to the continental divide, the rain turned to snow, but the roads remained wet. We pressed on through the Eisenhauer tunnel, down the other side, and then over Vail pass. Once we got to Vail, the weather improved, and we settled into the rest of the drive. Glenwood Canyon was beautiful, as usual. We stopped at the New Castle diner for a decent lunch, nice folks.

We drove through Grand Junction, headed for the state park in Fruita Colorado. However, we were surprised to find the campground full, on a Monday night in October! We decided to head up into Colorado National Monument. Richard had looked at the map, and concluded that we would not need to go through the low tunnels to get to the campground. Unfortunately, Richard was mistaken, so we drove slowly and nervously down the middle of the road through two low tunnels. The tunnels were marked as 10.5 feet high, and our rig is 12 feet, but with the arched roof, the center of the tunnel is higher than the edges, so we got away with it.

Saddlehorn campground overlooks the grand valley. The campground was not full, and we found a pretty good site, only required more leveling than usual. The weather here is nicer than it was in Boulder, temperature around 50F at sunset.

Tomorrow we will look at our camper battery voltage, and decide if we will spend another night here, or retreat to an electric outlet.