Made it

I made it to my first destination today, John’s Earthship near Pueblo, Colorado. The last leg of the trip was not without some excitement. Right after I made my last post from Gunnison, I spoke with John on the phone and it was decided that I should go ahead and make for Rancho Calypso rather than for me to boondock a few days and show up at the end of the week. It was still raining when I left and then it turned to snow in Monarch Park. It was sticking on the road at the summit and the snow plows were out. I’m glad I got there when I did because later in the day there would have been more snow and the road would have been even more dangerous.

A few miles beyond the snow, the GPS software informed me I should turn left off of Highway 50. I had chosen the shortest route rather than the quickest route for MS Streets and Trips to calculate the route. This turned out to be a big mistake because the shortest route quickly became a dirt road that followed the Arkansas River on the North side while Highway 50 followed the River on the South side. The road gradually became worse and suitable for 4x4 trucks, it narrowed so there was no turning around and bushes grew into the road and scrapped the side of the rig. At one point the mirrors were knocked in so I couldn’t use them. There were large rocks in the road, washed out areas and at one point I had to ford a stream by entering the stream, driving in the stream for about 50 feet and then found the road again at a sharp angle that required backing up in the stream to be able to negotiate the sharp corner. This road was almost as tough as some of the roads I had been on in Baja. This went on for about eight miles. I did see some nice scenery, some deer, possible boondocking sites and at places the traffic on Highway 50 across the river zooming by at 55 MPH.

Finally, I saw a bridge across the river which I took and merged back on to Highway 50. The GPS software still had me continuing for another few miles on the North side of the river.

The excitement was not over. MS Streets and Trips took me through the back streets of Canon City and tried to get me to drive through a cemetery where there was a brick wall. I finally got into Florence where I gassed up and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (Lunch special, sweet and sour soup, egg roll, fried rice and sweet and sour pork). Since this town is the closest town to John’s ranch, I bought a 12 pack of Coronas and took off on down the road. Again the GPS mapping failed. The turn off to John’s house wrongly turned out to be a fenced gate into a cattle pasture. A little further down the road with the software admonishing me “Off Route” I found a promising road to turn on. A quick call to John confirmed that this indeed was the correct turnoff to take. The road was dirt and soon the software started saying “Off Route” again and there was no road on the map where the GPS track was showing my location. I turned around and went back away to try and find a road that matched what was on the map. During the turn around I backed into an embankment which on subsequent inspection dented the rear bumper a bit. I finally decided to just go on the best condition road which eventually merged with the road that the GPS software thought I should take. A little later John appeared in one of his trucks to lead me to his ranch. This was our first meeting in person. We have been communicating for months via emails. We decided that I should leave my rig away from the house because the final part of the road was steep and muddy and with snow possible tonight, the rig could have trouble getting back up the hill.

I met John’s beautiful wife, Anita. We talked and had a few beers and some good homemade chili. It was good to relax from a pretty exciting day with some new good friends.