August 2021

Another day . . . another road trip. With a holiday day to take advantage of, Linda and I decided to explore more of Colorado. We decided to drive the highest paved road in North America. Off to Mt. Evans we went.

Mt Evans is a ’14er’ – one of Colorado’s 58 mountains over fourteen thousand feet high. At 14,262 feet above sea level, it is the 18th highest peak in the state. It’s also the closest to our home in Westminster. The road up to the peak starts near Echo Lake Park, on Colorado Highway 103. We found out after leaving Interstate 70 at Idaho Springs that we needed a reservation to drive to the top. We didn’t have one but inquired at the ranger shack if we could just drive up. We could – if we didn’t stop the car. No getting out to make photographs or even to use the bathrooms. We thanked the nice young ranger and drove to the top – without stopping – no photographs and no pit stops.

The first half of the drive is beautiful. We drove through conifer stands with views of mountains and valleys in all directions. Once we hit treeline – somewhere around 11,500 feet, the surrounding beauty diminished. We were now surrounded by rocks and more rocks, and no trees. The road was narrow and at times Linda had to ask me to put my coffee cup in its holder and place both hands on the wheel.

On the way down, we picked up three hitchhikers. A girl from Arvada was with her brother and his friend (both from Texas). They had parked at Summit Lake and hiked to the peak and then realized they were too tired to hike back. Since they did have a reservation, we stopped a few times to make photographs and use the facilities.

We made it to the bottom of Highway 5 and back onto Highway 103, driving toward Evergreen. We stopped for a picnic near Beaverdam Creek before driving north and east into Evergreen.

Not ready to go home, we hiked for a few hours in Elk Meadow Park, grabbed a beer at the Lariat Lodge Brewing Company, and then made our way home, passing through Golden. We arrived home by 6:00, tired and hungry, with another Colorado destination under our belts.

August 2021

I am writing my second book of tall tales and adventure. The book will be similar to The Rats of Plainville: Tales from the Heartland, only the new stories will take place in the Rocky Mountains. The first story is in editing and takes place in the small town of McCoy, Colorado. This past Sunday, I decided to visit McCoy.

As the story explains, McCoy is a small town. Very small. Wikipedia says there were 43 people living there in 2019. When I drove through, I saw exactly zero people. Maybe they were all worshiping in the McCoy Community Church. Or perhaps they were engaged in the making of antler art. Whatever the reason, as I drove through town and into the surrounding hills, I met not a soul.

The drive out was nice, once I jumped off of Interstate 70 near Wolcott. I-70 can be tiresome and way too busy for my liking. I didn’t experience too much traffic heading west though. Once on Colorado State Highway 131, the number of passing cars thinned. Between McCoy and Toponas, I saw maybe five cars total. And once I turned east on Highway 134, I encountered more cattle than people.

Rural roads in Colorado are wonderful. Highway 134 travels through the Routt National Forest. I passed through thickets of pine trees and by small streams and rivers. They eventually flow into the Colorado River; the waters making the long journey from Grand County, Colorado to the Gulf of California.

Highway 134 eventually dead-ends at US Highway 40, near Wolford Mountain Reservoir. I drove south and east on Highway 40 past Kremmling and Granby into Fraser. To my delight, there were two good breweries in Fraser; the Fraser River Beer Company and Camber Brewing Company. I didn’t have my best brewery adventure buddy with me (Linda was visiting her daughter in Michigan), however, I decided to give them a try. I was not disappointed.

I eventually finished the day, driving south on Highway 40 through Winter Park. I merged back onto I-70, and hit terrible traffic back into Denver. Not liking the flow, I exited onto US Highway 6 into Golden, up Coloroda Highway 93, and made it home in the afternoon.