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Wednesday-Thursday, August 31-September 1, 2011

We had two ways to go home, split it into three days of 500+ miles or do a banzai run of two long days. We did not decide which way to go until we had got close to our destination on Wednesday, and we always left ourselves the option to slow down and stay anywhere we wanted. So we were up and out of the hotel in time to catch the sunrise part way along the good old 70 West. We would take the same road through Kansas, Colorado and most of the way across Utah, until we reached the 15 South which headed right home. The stretch across Kansas is kind of bland, just a flat long road with rare towns or roadside events. When you get far enough into Colorado to be close to Denver, there is more interesting scenery. But the clouds we were seeing turned into rain across the higher elevations, which was not as easy for Rob as driver, although it probably kept him awake. We motored on and ended up 875 miles or so from our start, in Grand Junction. Because the Comfort Inn we had stayed at on our motorcycle trip with our Austrian friends had turned out well, we checked in and went straight across to Enzo's, where we had also eaten on the motorcycle trip. It is an almost perfect place to stop, with the motel, decent Italian restaurant, and gas station, all together and just off the freeway. Thursday morning, after a good night's sleep, we headed back onto the 70 W, aiming for the 15 S and home. We have done this trip a number of times, most recently with the Corvette just after we got it, in the Caravan back to Bowling Green, KY and the plant and Museum.

Driving across Utah, there are some interesting rock formations, and then you come into cattle and farming country. After Utah, you hit Nevada and then Las Vegas. Amazingly the traffic was reasonable going through Vegas. It was a real surprise, considering it was the day before a holiday weekend. We stopped in Vegas to put air in the right rear tire which had been showing slightly low during the trip but was now showing even lower. We did the same later in the trip, when we were in California. Since then, Rob has had it at the mechanic's and there were two nails in the tire. Since the tires and the windshield are hard to get, the tire was patched and the new windshield is on order. We arrived home about 5:30 pm on Thursday, too late to pick up Tiger from the kennel, but with enough time to unpack, do one load of laundry, order a pizza and head for bed.

All in all, it was a great trip and there some parts we will want to do again. Hope Doug and Marilyn are up for it.

Total Mileage = 6619
Total Trip Time – 22 days

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