Monday, June 3, 2019, Move to Loveland, CO

Today's drive from Fruita, CO, to Loveland, CO, was a long one at 309.6 miles (93,486.3 total) but the mountain driving made that a little over 6 hours. The only stop we made was just above the 11,000-foot level (more about that later). Otherwise, we pushed straight through.

Colorado certainly does have its share of beautiful scenery and tunnels and traffic that sometimes stopped for no reason we could discover.

By the time we were among the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies, we were near Vail, CO. Ski chalets and condos were everywhere. I can only imagine what traffic must be like at the peak of the ski season.

I don't like to complain but I cannot say I am a fan of the crumbling pavement, referred to as I-70, that we traveled as we crossed the Rocky Mountains - that was some rough road. I guess it was a good thing we were only averaging 30 miles an hour due to the climb.

I was down to second gear, running 2,000 rpm and 25 mph, but still, the engine temperature was rising. We were within sight of the top (11,047 feet elevation) when the high-temperature warning started blaring. There was a nice wide shoulder where we stopped to let the engine cool down a bit. Clearly, I still do not understand how to drive uphill grades or something is wrong with our cooling system - more research will be required.

We were not alone on the shoulder of the road. Several others pulled over, presumably for the same reason, before continuing. After about 20 minutes I started the engine and climbed the last hundred feet with no more temperature issues.

Yes, this is the exact spot where our very loud buzzer went off, telling us to pull over. We were within sight of the tunnel (the tippy-tippy-top).

Finally, the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel, at just over 11,000 feet above sea level. It was all downhill from here! We were surprised that the tunnel was over a mile and a half long but thankful we didn't have to climb over that last thousand feet of the mountaintop.

Due to message boards hanging from the ceiling, the vertical clearance is only 13 feet, 11 inches.

Of course, downhill was no picnic either. This time the challenge was to keep from overheating the brakes. That meant fourth gear, exhaust brake and a slow 30-40 mph pace into the Denver area.

I was so very happy to back into our site at Riverview RV Park and set up for the week. This nice park had a collection of folks living in unique and interesting "Tiny Homes".

The house on the left just arrived and was setting up. The peak of the roof has an ingenious design that allows it to lay flat during travel, then pops up when parked so you can stand up in the loft (yes, built by a retired engineer).

This tiny house with a sunroom is owned and rented out by the park ($110 per night).

The Big Thompson river ran along the back of our site providing a much needed relaxing sound for unwinding after a long day of driving. Unfortunately, there was no hot tub so I settled for a tall margarita on the rocks instead.

Yes, he is my hero. Driving for over 6 hours so this could be my backyard for a week!