To: OnTheRoad
Fr: Richard Dean <richdean@clark.net>
Subject: La Junta, Colorado
Hi all....
greetings from Lan Junta, Colorado just a few short miles from the Kansas line. I'm at a lovely Super 8 motel because my first choice, the spacious Holiday Inn Express was booked for what smells like a manure convention. Either that, or La Junta has a major rendering plant.
Lesse, where were we? Ah, driving across Utah, which is a spectacular state with lots of red canyons, odd balancing rocks in the distance and sand sand sand. Met a guy from Chicago at one of these scenic vista picture-taking opps and all we could say to each other was "wow." I know I have said this before, but every time you turn the corner, nature has creaed something more beautiful.
50 and I-70 meet up about half way across the state and while the views are nice, the more intersting part is the road kill. I am sure that the prarie dog and the lemming are somehow related because these stupid (but cute) little guys basically sit on the highway on the white lines -- seemingly alert since they are sitting on their hind legs -- waiting for some car to squash them. Perhaps this is what Darwin had in mind, after all, we're all evolving together -- still I have never seen so many smushed animals in my life. (perhaps this is the reason why I missed The Big Rock Candy Mountain in the Fishlake Natl Forest).
I was in Moab last night, but alas my plans for camping were thwarted my Mama Nature. I took the scenic backroad into Moab hoping to camp along the Colorado River which is surrounded by cliffs rising hundreds of feet above the river. By the time I stocked up on stuff intown, the lightening was too much for this city boy. So I spent the night drinkin' poorly-made microbrews at the local brewpub (biz opportunity for someone...)... its still the offseason here so most of the crowd was meathead off-road mountain bikers... outside, the bored teenagers of Moab cranked bad punk along the strip. It was interesting.
More tunderstorms today, so I passed on going up to Arches [a Hamilton College validictorian was killed a few years ago in a similar storm up there around this time, so I had no intention of tempting fate]. So I drove into Colorado, ditching 70 for 50's 2-lanes at Grand Junction. Went up and down some pretty big mountains, but the continental divide at Monarch Pass was most interesting as a snow storm hit just as I arrived. There was snow on the slopes, but no skiing unfortunately. On the way down, stopped in Canon City (pronounced Canyon, as it has that spanish tilde thingy) where the world's highest suspension bridge was built in 1929. Getting on this thing is slightly unnerving as thebridge surface is wood planks. Despite the tourist nature of the canyon, it was really spectacular (Royal Gorge is the name of the bridge)....
So here I am in La Junta, where the cable TV tells me that the local Middle school is having cinnamon toast for breakfast and corn dogs for lunch. yack!
New CDs for the ride:Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Merle Haggard:the vitage recordings, and Turn The Beat Around:The Best of Disco 1974-1977 (turn down at all interesctions and work zones)
Well, its on to Kansas along the Santa Fe Trail. Dodge City (bound to be a disappointment) and Kanasas City....
Hope you all are well....
rich