Durango to Montrose

Boy oh Boy, we had an adventure today !
Well, it all started at 2:30AM, when I woke up and realized, "it's colder in here than it should be!! And it seems awfully quiet ... the MaxFan isn't running.... and I don't hear the furnace! (think, think) Oh no, no gas!!!!!!" Yep, turning up the thermostat didn't help at all!
I looked outside, and not only was it cold, it was snowing to beat the band!! At least 1-2" on the ground then! Oh well, somebody will be open (gas, grocery, etc) who has a Rhino Gas display. Out I go, and YES, there's one. "What am I doing up at this hour? Well sir, I uh, I uh..... Well, you see it's like this...." So, off I go with some bottled heat. Get to HokieEscape, pull up the hatch, reach in and.......the second tank was OFF!!! Oh man! Turn the screw and Hisssssssssss.... Reset the furnace, and off it fires!!! (Oh well, now I have an extra tank for the grill at home). My sweetheart was up by this time, 3AM, checking email with her coats piled on top, laughing at the adventure!!!! So, all Escaper's out there, always check after someone fills your tanks, they may not turn it back on (the guy at Camping World graciously reinstalled my newly filled tank so I could go in and pay). Oh well, another lesson learned, check the tanks before heading into town : - ) What a dope!
Well, we were up now, wide awake! So we had some great worship time, scripture time, prayer time, then decided, let's go check out that place, that hole in the wall (downtown) called Durango Diner. About 6:15, we were out and about in snowy Durango ... and we were the only ones!
Well, we decided, it's gonna clear, let's head North to Montose. Got 3 passes of 11,000 feet to go over, but surely, CO DOT will be on it! First electronic sign we passed said "Chains required on all Commercial Vehicles". Ok, that's not us!!! Now I've got to say, I was all about spending another day in Durango til the weather passed, but my sweet sidekick said, "it won't be bad". When we got to the first mountain, it looked OK to start, then as we climbed, my normally perky copilot starts getting a little antsy! "Maybe we should go back?" "Uh, sweet pea, there's no where to turn around!!!!" So, from about 1/2 way up, to 2/3 of the way down to Silverton, I learned how to drive our new Frontier with 2 people sitting in the drivers seat. I have to admit, there were very few guard rails and the shoulder was VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY low on her side of the truck!!!
We made it over the first 2 mountains into Silverton, and went into town. 98% of all the stores were CLOSED! We did find a coffee shop, and trying to straighten our wobbly knees, we wandered in and sat down. After a strawberry/raspberry smoothie, my smoothie agreed to get into the truck again.
The next mountain had the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen. Try the following: http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/million.htm
Now the reason we don't have any pictures of our own is, that it was snowing the whole way, and any pictures we took would have looked like a smeared black and white photo. Plus, I couldn't get my arms up high enough to take any because Jan was hanging on so tight : -)
Well, we made it to Montose, got settled in a nice site, and I gave Jan a little while to unwind, as I went out to fill up the gas tank, and buy her some flowers! She still loves me!
Tomorrow, to Pike's Peak, Lord willing! It's supposed to be sunny the next few days...Yeah


"The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, and ONLY God's Spirit and God's Word can change and control the heart" Wiersbe