Day 3
Day 3 took the Cruise from Steamboat Springs to Grand Junction. The long way.
The first leg took us from Steamboat to I70 for a short burst to Glenwood Springs and the second leg on a southerly loop back up to Grand Junction.
Steamboat to I70 brought us down through hills and valleys to the I70 corridor. Again a mix of hills, valleys, lakes and streams were presented for our viewing enjoyment.
Here’s a shot approaching the I70 connection and where I ran into another miscue.
I normally consider Interstates and freeways to be pretty much a snooze. Four lanes divided with pretty boring stuff on either side. Simply the easiest way to get from point A to point B. Then again I’m not from around here.
That being said I turned off the cameras in preparation for a quick boring dash on the freeway until we got to some more interesting stuff.
No one told me that I70 follows Glenwood Canyon into Glenwood Springs. What a spectacular piece of road. You wind down through the canyon following the river course through towering canyon walls and through tunnels all at 70+ mph with a string of snakes in front of and behind you.
I managed to get the video camera turned back on but no luck reaching over my shoulder and connecting with three small buttons on the still camera. Again, my bad but here’s the video I managed to catch of the drop down to I70 and then the start of the climb over to Grand Junction.
CC 2012 Day 3a - YouTube
Once we were off the freeway it was more climbing up over the local passes and then down into Grand Junction. One of the great things about the cruise is variation of the countryside you travel through. Up, down, flat, down, up, sort of flat, repeat with variations.
And almost always with the mountains in view to provide vertical relief.
Down into valleys
And then back up into the twisties through the cuts before arriving in Grand Junction.
Here’s a video clip of the second half of the run from Glenwood Springs into Grand Juction through the flats, up and then down along a river into the valley.
CC 2012 Day 3b - YouTube
I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up one of the more spectacular aspects of the Grand Junction stay.
Earlier I mentioned that one of the folks hatched a throwout bearing on Day 2. With the able assistance of Chris, Mike got the bearing replaced by a local shop and then, early in the evening of Day 3 they made a dash from Steamboat to Grand Junction. As they were buzzing along I70 it seems a group of bugs got together and decided to cross the road just about the time they were passing through.
My thanks to Boyd and Emily Maddox, from whom I shamelessly stole these photos, for their great CD of photos of the trip. I wish there were a practical way to get them into a shared space to everyone could view them. They grabbed some really great shots of the cruise.
Mike’s car
Mike’s bugs
