This morning we were up early. We wanted to leave around 6am for our sunrise drive up and over the Rockies along Trail Ridge Road. We’d be going up above 12,000 feet and were looking forward to it. We packed up the RV and put the slides in, pulled out of the campground and headed up Trail Ridge Rd. Not too far up, we saw some elk near the road, so we pulled off to take some photos. Then we made our way up to the mountain peaking at 12,183 ft. then went to Alpine Visitor Center at 11,796 ft. where we ate breakfast and took photos. One of the things we’ve realized is that high altitude causes some pretty weird things to happen. We have to be careful opening anything. On our first night in the campground a container of bbq sauce exploded on me. Every sealed, unopened bag of anything – like chips – looks like it’s ready to explode, so you have to open it very carefully, or boom! My contact lens solution squirted all over the bathroom when I popped the cap off! Our son said, “Oh yeah, we learned that in science class – when you go up in altitude the air expands and gets thinner. Everything that was sealed up tight at lower elevations needs to let the air out as we go up higher, or it will explode.” That, my friends, is learning reinforcement, or roadschooling, as I like to call it.
Then, as we made our way up the mountain, we reached about 10,000 ft and our RV carbon monoxide alarm started going off. I’m assuming it’s because the air was so much thinner and had so much less oxygen. No one had a headache, and no one felt sleepy, so we unplugged it and kept going without incident. That’s something for me to research in the future!
At the visitor center at the top of the mountain, we looked for longhorn sheep, but didn’t see any. Instead we saw a huge herd of elk laying along a mountain slope. One lone elk stood at the top of the ridge, looking majestic.
It was about 40-degrees at the top and the air was quite thin. I bent down to clean up a spill on the floor of the RV and was very light-headed when I stood up. We came back down the western side of the mountains and saw a moose grazing in a creek. I kept looking for longhorn sheep or bears, but didn’t see any. We started down the other side of the mountain range, and made it to the base of the mountains without incident continuing west a few more hours into Utah. US Route 40 West made for some interesting moments. It’s a two lane (one each direction) highway with some stretches that are very bumpy. The bumpy parts were annoying, but the parts that had humps were almost terrifying. I swear we were airborne at one point.
We’re now in Utah about 20 miles from Dinosaur’s Utah Quarry entrance. More updates later!
We arrived at the Dinosaur Quarry entrance, parked and went into the Visitor Center. We took a 2-minute shuttle ride to the quarry exhibition hall and saw where they have excavated dinosaur fossils and bones from the rock hillside. As we entered the exhibition hall, there was a sign that read “Touch a Real Dinosaur Bone Here!” Our daughter said, “They’re playing us – I don’t believe that those are real dinosaur bones – they’d never let us touch them.” So we made her go and discuss it with one of the Rangers (hee, hee). It turns out the bones are real and people are allowed to touch them, simply because there are so many similar bones available. It was really cool how they built the exhibition hall right around the rock hillside. After we explored the exhibits, we left to make our way south to Fruita, Colorado for the night. We thought it would be an uneventful 2-hour drive, but apparently when Rand McNally maps lists a road as a “scenic route,” they mean it's a “kiss-your-ass-goodbye route.” We finally arrived in Fruita where we stopped for fuel and noticed a farmer’s fruit stand where we purchased some fresh local peaches. We bought peaches and a cucumber, then pulled in to Monument RV.
Once our campsite was setup, we hit the pool and did a load of laundry. We met two couples at the pool and chatted with them for quite a while. Then we took showers, folded laundry, and cleaned the inside of the RV, while we watched a movie. Tomorrow, we’re going to Moab, Utah to pick up a rental car and head to Canyonlands National Park. We have a campsite reserved at Dead Horse State Park for the next few nights – keep checking in!
