Storms & Swarms

Tuesday 26^th July

A lazy morning as our flight from Riverton to Denver was at 135pm, and the airport was just an hour away.

We arrived at the familiar small airport building and checked in.  Security here was unusually strict.  Two stern officials seemed to be checking everyone’s luggage in deep and intimate detail.  We were both asked to put our cases in the interrogation table where they were opened and the contents initially swabbed.  I suddenly remembered my Hot Tamales and wondered whether the mass spectrometer would detect them, and more worryingly brand me as some kind of Cinnamon Terrorist.

In Denver we picked up our Jeep, which we would keep until the end of our trip in LA.  We were slightly panicked when we couldn’t find the outside temperature gauge, a prerequisite for any holiday driving trip, but it appeared suddenly after a few random button presses.

Our Iphone sat nav got us around Denver from the airport and onto the 285 to Poncha Springs.  The bus driver at the airport has asked us where we were heading and when we said Poncha Springs, he told us it was over 400 miles away and we wouldn’t get there for at least 5-6 hours.  We politely disagreed and said perhaps it was a different Poncha Springs. He was adamant, and more than a little annoying, and 250 miles out.   

As it turned out we didn’t arrive until 9pm, but that’s because we got caught in the most intense thunderstorm we had ever encountered and certainly ever driven through.  Jo was at the wheel and all I could do was try and see through the rain hammered windscreen as the lightning hit the ground around us.

We climbed up through the mountains, near Breckenridge and Aspen ski resorts.  The storm was soon behind and we stopped for supplies and food.  On the final leg we had a 360 degree view of mountains and the sun setting below them in the west.

Wednesday 27^th July

This was our big drive day. 

We planned nearly 400 miles with a lunch stop at the Colorado National Monument just west of Grand Junction, Colorado.  Our journey took us along a rim drive of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  

We explored Colorado National Monument for a couple of hours.  It is a red rock canyon with towering spires formed from the eroding rock.  The first of many we would see on this trip.

From here, we drove along Highway 141 as we’d heard it was a really picturesque route.  It was, and it twisted through the canyons.  Halfway, we came across a strange resort seemingly in the middle of nowhere in a town called Gateway.  We stopped for coffee and spoke to a guy called John who was a big fan of early Genesis.  He told us that the ‘Gateway Canyons Resort’ was built by John Hendricks, the CEO of the Discovery Channel.  

From here to Moab, our home for the next two days.  Outside of town, we noticed what looked like mini tornados on either side of the road up ahead. It was an extraordinary sight, and one which filled us with dread when we realised they were in fact swarms of mosquitoes.  As we drove through them they hit the car like the sound of rain.

It was late when we arrived at the hotel and we had not eaten.  We were also so tired that we used our binoculars to see what food was available inside a shop opposite, before making any kind of commitment to walk over there.