Beautiful Roads & Perfect Weather

Thursday the 23rd we got a reasonably early start out of Ely, driving East on Highway 50. We had hoped to visit the Great Basin National Park Visitors' Center, but at the turn-off realized it would take too much time to make it worthwhile. So, we continued on into Utah. Once we crossed the state line, the road became rougher, although still lonely, and scenic. We picked up I-70 at Salina, UT and appreciated the higher speed limits...plus, it's a "green dot" (scenic) road on the map. Our destination was Green River, UT where we chose the Shady Acres RV park primarily because their ad in Woodall's featured a "New Dog Park" (that's important when traveling with two big dogs...).

The next morning we crossed into Colorado, my old "stompin' grounds..." It felt good to be back, the first time in many, many years. Glenwood Canyon is still one of the most beautiful drives, and I-70 is a delightful highway. [From what I hear, we were fortunate in that there wasn't an extreme amount of traffic...apparently there can be grid-lock in the tunnels on weekends.]

We stopped for the night at the River Dance Resort near Gypsum. The park is clean and pretty. The 71-acre parcel that the park sits on has been in the owner's family since 1882 (the site map includes a fascinating history of the family). The only downside is that it's a bit noisy because of the proximity of I-70 (of course, part of the noise was celebration, as the RV Park's owners had just gotten married...!)

The next morning we continued East on I-70. At Georgetown we turned North on US 40 to Granby, and then picked up US 34 into Rocky Mountain National Park, towards Estes Park. Called the Trail Ridge Road, it's the highest continuous motorway in the United States, with more than eight miles lying above 11,000'. It crosses the Continental Divide at Milner Pass (elev. 10,758 ft) and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft. [The name "Trail Ridge Road" derives from its proximity to historic pathways used by Colorado Indians to cross the Rocky Mountains.]

Even though it was a Saturday, there wasn't a lot of traffic heading East, so we made good time. Our 3/4-ton truck had no problem hauling our rig over the passes. As we neared to top there were some dramatic drop-offs on either side of the "ridge road" and NO railings. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular! We didn't see any other RVs...

Once past Estes Park, US 34 was easy driving all the way in to Greeley, CO. We stayed at the Greeley RV Park, which, while old, had full facilities, was clean, and had a GREAT dog area. Sunday morning the 26th we checked in to the dog show at the Island Grove Regional Park. Yes, we were in a parking lot, but they had 30 & 50 amp service and good water. By afternoon, most of our "Sunshine Retrievers" friends had arrived, and "party time" began...