Let it snow…
I have been itching to get back out to Colorado and do some skiing. Like so many things I love to do… I am no expert in the Alpine/Nordic sports… but I sure have fun trying! And while I still enjoy these activities here in Michigan… things are on a whole different level in the Rockies. It did not take me long to get reminded of just how vastly different they are.
Of course, it took a little while just to get out there. I was surprised to find some pretty reasonable flights online… but I really wanted to take all my own gear for both downhill (alpine) and cross-country (Nordic) skiing. So, I made the decision to drive out. I think I actually spent more than the airfare on gas and accommodations to drive. I suspect that would have balanced out with bag check fees (taking my gear) or rental fees (without my gear)… but I would rather be rolling than sitting in the terminal… well sometimes.
Drive Out Day 1 (Saturday February 8, 2025):
The trip out was pretty uneventful. Roads were clear. A little snow as I headed across Michigan. I stopped to visit my daughter Amie and her husband James in Portage… then got down to business driving. Since I got a little bit of a later start… and took a dinner pitstop in Potage… I drove on through Michigan, the corner of Indiana, across Illinois, and into Iowa… till about 11PM and finally stopped near Des Moines, Iowa. I considered just hitting a rest area and sleeping in my truck… but it was only about 9 F the next morning… so a warm bed in a hotel was a wiser choice.
Drive Out Day 2 (Sunday February 9, 2025 - arrival):
The next morning I was refreshed and ready to go. Hot coffee… and a breakfast sandwich got me rolling. Then I found the Gospel Train program on the Sirus Bluegrass Junction station and that got me rocking. So I rocked and rolled my way over the Missouri River between Iowa and Nebraska… crossed into Colorado about mid-day… and decided I had enough energy and daylight left to head into the mountains… over the continental divide… and over to New Castle, Colorado.
Have you ever driven across the plains… watched the mountains grow on the horizon… then headed up, over, into them? I still find this to be a spiritually invigorating experience!
Since brother Howard “forgot” to give me a key to his place in Silt… since I got out early… I headed to my cousin Jackie and Alvie’s place. I was a little worried they would vacate once I texted to let them know I was coming… but they graciously put up with me for a couple of days. If you look close on that last picture… there is a bald eagle flying through… just over the house… just in line with the peak of the hill on the left.
It was so great to see them again. Their place, right on the Colorado River, is really nice. The next day I decided to take some time to enjoy coffee and to visit most of the morning before heading out. Jackie and Alvie are great hosts and made me feel right at home. Then I decided to try out the cross-country trails (Babbish Gulch) at the base of Sunlight Mountain in Glenwood Springs.
Ski Day 3 (Monday February 10, 2025):
It is hard to gauge the slope in pictures. But I stopped in a relatively flat spot to take pictures where I would not slide down the trail. The first one is looking down slope… the second looking up slope… there really were no flat spots. You are either working to climb… or working to control speed heading down. After about a mile of pretty steady up… I did find a nice place to rest and snack! I also took some time to consider options from here. I came up what was called Old 4 Mile Road. There were trails going on up the mountain. But I was rather tired from the climb up to this point. I could head back the way I came… but even though it was nice and wide… it was a very steady… sometimes fairly steep downhill run. That had me a little nervous. The other option was a “sister” trail that roughly paralleled Old 4 Mile Road… but it (Sunshine Trail) appeared to have a little more variety and wondered through the woods a bit more. So, I decided on that option. I had not contemplated what the trail name might imply.
I immediately started wondering about my choice… when I realized just how narrow this trail was in places. There was often not enough room to snowplow… so other ways were needed to keep downward momentum under control… or you just had to let it go and hope you could use step turns to stay on the trail… and out of the trees. I ended up on my rump a few times trying to make turns and avoid trees near the trail. Then I came to a bare spot (tall grass and weeds… no snow). That is when the significance of the trail name came to light. This patch was not too long… so I decided to leave my skis on and slowly traverse down to where there was snow again.
What I failed to recognize… was that in some places… the snow had not completely become liquid and soaked into the ground. What appeared to be dirt… was sometimes a rather transparent sheet of ice under the grass. As I neared the bottom of this patch… I stepped onto one of these sheets of ice… and before I knew it… I was flat on my back in a patch of mud.
I rolled over onto the snow… and tried to rub some of the mud off… but not very successfully. I think I left more of my pride on the trail… than the mud I could rub off. Shortly after getting back on my feet and a little ways further down the trail… I ran into a couple that had looked up the Old 4 Mile Road… and opted for Sunshine trail to avoid the long steep climb.
Like me… they did not seem real pleased with this alternative. We both warned each other about bare patches and narrow spots. I snapped some pictures for them… then we headed off in opposite directions. I got to one spot where the trail headed down a rather steep hill… then headed around a corner where I could not see what lay beyond. The trail was just wide enough at the curve I figured I could turn hard and stop. Just below were a couple of the extended bare patches the couple had warned me about.
I was so glad I stopped instead of rounding the corner at speed. That allowed me to pop the skis off this time and walk down carefully. Once back on the snow below… I started stepping back into the skis… and heard voices. The couple I met had given up and were right behind me… skis in hand. They knew we were just about to merge back onto the lower Old 4 Mile Road… and did not want to navigate the steeper trail with skis on.
I on the other hand… decided to give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised on the wider trail… at my ability to use the snowplow to keep my speed down… and to stop if I wanted to reassess the trail ahead. I was a little nervous at the steepest stretch near the bottom as it was packed pretty hard… but I managed to keep the skis under me… and get stopped before the road.
It would be fun to try this again sometime and give myself a little more time to explore the trails further up the gulch. I need to get in better shape to help with both types of skiing. I tend to get really winded easily… requiring a lot of stops to catch my breath. But I have already improved some… and it is good to have motivation to keep that trend going.
I threw the gear in the truck and headed back for Jackie and Alvie’s. Howard and Aaron were supposed to be flying into Aspen tomorrow. Since conditions were less than ideal in the gulch… I decided to check out the downhill runs the following day. I wanted to see if we even should come back to Sunlight… unless they got a lot more snow.
Ski Day 4 (Tuesday February 11, 2025):
Sunlight really is a nice place to ski. The lifts are getting old… but we saw evidence this trip the two oldest may get updated soon. There have been discussions about adding lifts… but the immediate focus seems to be on updating the old two-man center bar lifts… to newer three or four man lifts. This would be a significant improvement.
The variety of runs is nice. There is a large center area for beginners… with several green (easier) runs available to get down from the top. There are a nice selection of blue (medium/advanced) runs. Along with several black (difficult) and double black (expert) runs.
This particular day… conditions were poor because the temperatures had been rather warm… condensing the snow base into a slush… that as the temps dropped again… froze into solid block of ice. There was some new snow on top of the ice. So flatter runs were not as bad… but on steeper runs that snow was all shaved back down to the icy base.
I had forgotten how long it had been since I had skied in the mountains. Riding up the lift I looked around at the options. I watched some people carving down a nice wide blue run (Sun King) and thought it looked like a good one to see where my abilities lie. I was feeling pretty good as I headed down to the top of the run. Practicing my wide carving turns. Then I got to the top and looked down the run… having forgotten how much steeper runs seem when you look down them… compared to looking up at them from the lift! I think I muttered only one way down… forgetting that was not necessarily true. I think I made a couple of turns… but got myself rather nervous as it got steeper… and started rushing my turns.
Next thing I knew… I was sliding down on my back… rather than carving down on my skis. Now I just needed to remember how to get up. Eventually I did… and laughed that I had sure gotten myself off to a stelar start. I let my fear of heights tighten me up and I dragged my inside ski trying to rush/force a turn. I took a few deep breaths… tried to relax… and headed on down the slope. I did ok… but still found myself a little too tight/timid. It was a somewhat awkward run as I remembered how much different it is skiing on the more extended and steeper slopes. I focused on making my turns and cutting back across the run… trying to keep my speed down. I also had to stop frequently to catch my breath. I am not sure how much the altitude… versus my anxiety contributed to this. But I found I did better if I would stop… catch my breath… and let the blood and oxygen get back in my legs. I eventually made it down… deciding a green run might have been a better warm up… and opted for one of those next.
I skied a number of the greens and blues. But as I said… on the steeper slopes you really could not ski so much as slide… until you got over to the sides of runs where not all of the snow had been scrapped off. But I had to convince myself I could navigate the steeper blues. I just did not venture on to any of the blacks… as I wanted to boost confidence.
These conditions were disappointing… but I had anticipated this might be the case. So, I was not too surprised… and made the best of what was there. I really had set out to assess the conditions to provide some insight for decisions in coming days on where to go.
Even though I typically really like Sunlight… I had to tell others we should probably avoid it until it got at least a foot of snow. There were signs of hope as snow seemed to be falling on surrounding peaks… but the surrounding hills catching much sun were bare.
An advanced skier going hard could probably cover all the runs at Sunlight in a day. But I do not think that is the primary audience for this smaller… family friendly (affordable) place. I think their intent is to provide a less crowded and more affordable option… with enough variety to keep both locals and travelers coming back year after year.
Some of the beginner runs coming off the top appear to be old access roads that cut across the hill face… sometimes even using switchbacks to keep the descent rate low enough for the less experienced skier. As a result you do have to pay attention as it is possible to veer off onto an intermediate… or even advanced run. But in many cases there are opportunities to bail out of these steeper runs back onto a beginner trail. So if you venture onto a steeper section by accident… you can escape before too long typically. Making this a nice place for those gaining in confidence to give some steeper sections a go. It is nice to be able to give it a try with the assurance/confidence they can opt out if it is a bit much. Beginners can also stay on the easier trail while some in the party can test their improving skills on short steeper sections… and still meet up at the bottom. I took advantage of this later in the week.
Instead of getting in Tuesday night as expected… Howard and Aaron got delayed in Dallas… as conditions in Aspen were not allowing planes to land. So many flights had already been re-routed to neighboring airports in Rifle and Grand Junction… that they quit sending any more toward the area. So, I begged cousin Jackie to put up with me another night.
Miscellaneous Day 5 (Wednesday February 12, 2025):
Not being sure what might happen or when it might happen today… I did not plan to try skiing. I hung out with Jackie, Alvie, and their grandkids all morning. It is funny how quickly kids go from looking at you like “who is he? And what is he doing here?” To “hey… check this out buddy”. I wish the world’s harder lessons did not have to be learned… and we could all continue to have the innocent trust of a young child.
Howard got into Aspen that morning… but Aaron was not due in until that afternoon. Howard had a rental reserved… so he decided to run errands… and picked me up at Jackie’s. We grabbed some lunch and headed back toward Aspen to pick up Aaron.
We started to worry as the afternoon drug on as the clouds seemed to continue to gather… got heavier, thicker, lower. Flights were still coming in and leaving… but they would emerge from the clouds just above the rim of the mountains… then quickly descend into the Aspen valley. Then on the way out disappear into the clouds just as they were getting to the mountain tops. His flight was delayed almost an hour… but still due around three… so we hoped it would arrive before things got too socked in. Just about three we saw another plane drop out of the clouds… quickly descend… and we were pretty sure it was his flight. Pretty soon we got a text… on the ground in Aspen… waiting for a gate. It started snowing about then.
Before long we picked him up… and decided to get dinner on the way back to Howard’s. I still remember when Aspen was primarily ranch country… that happened to have some nice ski hills. I doubt a rancher can afford taxes anywhere near Aspen anymore. Even our cousins down in New Castle complain the ultra-rich in Aspen… drove the mega rich to Glenwood… driving the really rich from there to New Castle. Luckily they got themselves established decades ago… but the cost of living just keeps climbing. Wish I had been able to invest in real estate in that area over the years.
We talked about where to go the following day. I explained how sparse things were at the local hills. The forecasts looked promising… but we opted to take advantage of a pre-weekend special at Copper Mountain where we knew they had more snow at that higher elevation. Then we would see how accurate the weather forecasts were for coming days.
Ski Day 6 (Thursday February 13, 2025):
The snow we had seen up on the peaks around our base in Silt… made the roads a little slick as we headed up through Vail pass on I70 toward Wheeler Junction (Frisco) where we got off near the entrance to the Copper Mountain complex. We found a spot in a lot not too far from the Central Village. We donned our gear and walked over to get lift tickets.
Over the years I have really not been able to ski out west very many times. Probably half a dozen times in all. And I had only been to the smaller hills… I had never been to any of the larger places out there. While Copper Mountain may not be one of the largest… it was certainly larger than anywhere I have been before.
We hopped on the lift nearest the ticket windows (American Eagle) which took us up and dropped us off just about at the tree line. Howard mentioned hitting one of the lifts to head up onto the peak… but Aaron and I both said we preferred to take a nice relaxing warm up run to get things started. I can’t begin to recall all the runs and lifts we took throughout the day. But I know we only covered maybe a third of this place. Howard probably would have gone higher/farther… but I tended to serve as the governor on our engine. I could not ski too far… or too fast. I had to stop and catch my breath rather frequently. Aaron probably could have kept up with Howard early on… but by afternoon he did not mind taking breaks with me more often.
We stuck pretty close to the center/western area where there were plenty of blue and green runs. Aaron and I both avoided the mogul runs. Those were some very long runs covered with big bumps… requiring a level of skill/discipline we were not prepared to master. I really enjoyed the long and wide runs we stuck to where I could carve/cruise with plenty of room to maneuver. We cut through one terrain park so Howard could play. I carved my way around all the features opting to maintain my low/slow… skis on the snow approach.
One thing I have learned over the years… is that I have little to no coordination in the air. The people that know how to retain their form… even performing tricks while in the air amaze me. But I am not one of them. Seems that as soon as my skis leave the snow… I get wonky. I might handle a very short time in the air… and land back on the skis. But if I get too high… or am airborne too long… it is never a pretty landing. So I take care to avoid those situations. I let Howard seek them out. Aaron may have played some too… but I played it safe.
Given a choice… I am not sure Howard would stop all day. Aaron and I were ready to hit the little grill (T-Rex) they had near the Timberline Express lift by early afternoon. The hot cider and a brat tasted good… but to me… the opportunity to sit/rest and enjoy the scenery was heaven. The sky, the mountains, the trees… even the people were nice to take in from a comfy perch.
Conditions were great here. Nothing sticking up out of the snow…. and it was all snow… no ice. I think I was the three legged dog in our pack… not quite able to keep up… but very happy to be there to run the best I could. But by mid-afternoon… my best was not enough. I realized my breaks to breath… and get blood back to my legs… just were not allowing my legs to recover. I was getting jelly legged… and was worried if I tried to push it today… I would struggle even worse tomorrow. So, I told the big dogs to go make their last few runs… while I found a bar stool to hold down. I even had a friend join me!
I am not sure how many more runs they got in. They texted at one point to see if I wanted to try one more… but I was done. Aaron admitted later he too was getting worn out… but just did not want to quit. They probably could have caught one more… Howard pointed toward the lift still running… but Aaron pointed at me in my chair. I think we all felt it had been a great first day together. I was just happy to realize after my break… I could muster the energy to walk back to the truck!
The ride home had some slick spots… but it was not too bad. I think we all got warm and comfy in the cab of the truck. But you should have heard the groans as we all tried to jump out of the truck after the long ride back… then get our legs moving to walk into the Miner’s Claim to eat. I was stiff, sore, dragging… but happy I could still move.
I had to laugh when we discussed an after dinner cocktail… and a drink was not what popped into my mind.
Ski Day 7 (Friday February 14, 2025):
I think we were all a little surprised when we opened the blinds the next morning.
We were even more surprised when we went out to shovel thinking maybe 3 inches had fallen… and realized we already had at least 6-7 inches. We decided God was showing us HIS love for Valentine’s Day. We had to do a little work before we could get going. Then Howard had to really work driving in all that. But I think we were all pretty excited the area was getting the snow it needed so badly.
Looking at the snow reports… we decided to head for Powderhorn Resort up on the Grand Mesa. We were hoping conditions there would be good… while we hoped Sunlight would continue to get more before tomorrow. We were not disappointed!
The drive was pretty sloppy. As we headed down river the elevation steadily decreased. Soon it was alternating between snow and rain. But as we headed up out of the river valley and onto the higher elevation of the mesa… it switched back to a steady snow.
The parking lots were already full… so we had to park on the road… but the hike to the lodge was not really any further than yesterday. Getting geared up to ski is always a guessing game. How warm/cold? How windy? How wet? And you have to consider the order in which you layer up. Then comes the walk in all that gear carrying skis and poles. But before long...
Lift tickets are purchased… last minute gear checks done… click into the skis… and push off with the poles to glide into the lift line… and wheeeeeeee!
We had quite a variety of weather this day. It snowed off and on all day… sometimes light… sometimes quite heavy. Sometimes the wind was blowing… sometimes it was pretty still. But everywhere we went… we had great snow. We focused mainly on the blue runs on the east side in the morning. I opted to head in a run early to see if I could find us a table for lunch. Then in the afternoon we cut across to the west… but still focused on the blue runs. None of us were really paying attention to time… until we got on the lift and realized they were just about to shut the west side down. You have to be careful here… because if you ski down to the west side lift after they shut it down… you have to hike over to the lodge. We were one of the last on. So we had no choice at this point to head back to the east side. By the time we got over there… that lift was shut down too. So it was time to go home. I don’t think any of us realized the afternoon was wrapping up as quick as it did. I took that as a sign it had been another great day!
The weather continued to shift and change as we popped skis off and headed for the truck. We had seen strange cloud formations all day. At times the clouds seemed to be below us hugging the valley floor. Then we seemed to be skiing in the clouds. And at other times the clouds were overhead often dumping snow. As we left the clouds seemed to be hugging the mesa rim. We headed back taking the De Beque Cutoff. A rather curvy, winding road... through some interesting spires and rock formations. We saw quite a few mule deer… and the strange colors of some of the sediment layers in the bluffs along this road really made a cool contrast with all the bright white snow.
Once again I was beat… but feeling pretty good. I had even stayed on the skis all day (well most of the day). This kind of tired is always a really good kind of tired. We stopped in Rifle for dinner to see if we could get into Rib City on Valentines. We all got something different… and all seemed to enjoy what we got. The food is always good here… but as hungry as we were… it tasted extra special!
We all checked ski reports to see how much snow Sunlight got. It sounded like they got nearly 15 inches… and expected more overnight. That seemed to make the decision easy for the next day. Sunlight got what I figured they needed and then some. We were all excited about even more fresh snow to ski in tomorrow!
Ski Day 8 (Saturday February 15, 2025):
In the morning… we only shoveled a couple inches off the drive in Silt. But it sounded like Sunlight got quite a bit overnight… with more coming today. We were all anxious to get there… so we decided to grab some breakfast sandwiches on the way. If in Glenwood Springs… Sweet Coloradough makes some great stuff.
Sunlight Mountain was hoping on a weekend with fresh snow. We ended up parking way down in a lower lot that I had never parked in before. But they had an old Toyota Jeep with wheel chains… pulling a flat bed trailer with old lift chairs mounted on it… to serve as a shuttle. We opted to take advantage of this over walking up too many flights of stairs.
We rode up to the lodge… got our lift tickets… hopped on the lift… and headed up the hill. It kept snowing most of the day. Things kind of started to run together by the weekend. But I think this was the day I seemed to struggle a fair bit. I tend to do that when the snow gets really deep. I still had a good time… but I kept finding myself on my back… instead of on my skis.
I don’t think I can blame it on the runs. They were really not any steeper. I just think I let myself get freaked out by the deep snow and the big piles of it. Confident/disciplined skiers pick a path through the piles… using the piles to make good turns to manage their speed… and they don’t let themselves get freaked out by a little speed. I on the other hand would try to pick a path… but often would not make the turns I intended. As soon as I started picking up much speed I got nervous… and would end up cutting across the run… and over/through those big piles. Then I would either try to force/rush a turn and drag an inside ski tip (spinning then tumbling)… or get my weight too far back as I bounced over one of the big bumps (ending up with my butt in the snow and skis in the air). I did get some good practice getting up!
Some runs I stayed cool and did OK. Other runs I got uptight… then found myself having to get back up. I think it was a run called Dawson where I fell at least 5-6 times. By noon I had nearly worn myself out. My last run of the morning we headed out to Beaujolais. The top is steep and narrow and I got nervous… tied myself up… and fell before I even got a good start. So I got up… sucked it up… and took my time making my turns… one turn at a time. The run got wider the further down we went… which helped me not rush the turns. But there were a lot of spots the snow was at or over my knees… and I could not see my skis. But I kept going… stopping to catch my breath as needed. As we neared the bottom of the upper half of this run… Howard reminded me Grizzly Road (green run) cut across just below where we were… and I could take it if I did not want to do the lower half… then meet them at the Primo lift. I took the chance to tell him and Aaron to hit the lift… and I would hit the lodge and find us a table for lunch by the time they made another run or two.
As I got down and headed toward the lift… I saw Howard’s sweater getting on the chair… so I stopped to snap a couple pics as they soared over. Then I headed into the lodge to see if I could grab a table as another group got up. On this particular day I found a spot at a table with a young couple. Once I caught my breath and relaxed a bit… of course I started talking. They mentioned they lived in New Castle… so I asked if they knew any Mc Neels. She said “You mean like Bud?”. I said yes… Bud is my cousin. I asked if she knew Annie (Bud and Carrol’s daughter). She said yes… they were good friends… and mentioned how nice Annie and Grant’s wedding was. I agreed and mentioned I was there too. About that time Howard and Aaron walked in. Howard recognized her maiden name (Talbott) as a family that had owned the hardware store in town for decades. She mentioned they sold it and her folks had retired on a ranch up one of the creeks above New Castle. She ended up texting Annie to tell her who she was having lunch with. Small World!
After lunch I seemed to do better… not great… but a little better at least. One thing I can say I struggled with on this day… was my glasses fogging up. I think the deeper snow made me work a little harder… and breath a little harder… so if I did not keep moving to have air flow… my glasses would fog inside my googles. Once I realized it was just my glasses… and not my googles… I decided I had to try my contacts instead of glasses for my last day.
We met my cousin Bud and his wife Carroll for dinner in New Castle that night. We’d hopped Jackie and Alvie would join us too. But they said they were celebrating a late Valentines day… since none of the grandkids were there. We joked about stopping by their place to honk horns… and flash lights. But then we recalled Alvie is pretty well armed. Bud said he would worry more about the fact he is a really good shot. We opted not to bother them. Then we learned later Bud had called Alvie to warn him we might come by. So Alvie apparently had a welcome surprise waiting for us… and we failed to show. After learning that I think we all kind of regretted not stopping by to see the show.
When we got back to Howard’s… I noticed the moon coming up.
Ski Day 9 (Sunday February 16, 2025):
The next morning the sun came up almost the same place.
I cannot imagine a better chapel/sanctuary in which to worship and glorify God!
His amazing creation simply cannot be illustrated any better than by the snow covered mountains and valleys of Colorado. That is Mount Sopris in the background. It is not one of the taller mountains… but it is one of the more majestic.
We got more snow… and had more fun on this… my last day. I couldn’t help but be thankful and appreciative for the blessing of family and friends… the most incredible setting… and some of the best conditions I have ever experienced. Maybe that helped me settle down as I seemed to do better than the day before.
As I recall I did take one pretty good tumble. I dragged a tip coming over the lip of a fairly steep drop. So I fell forward and found myself sliding head first… trying to figure out how to get stopped. I nearly stopped once… but was still head first… and when I tried to wriggle around to get my skis under me… I started sliding again. Eventually I did get spun around… and was able to dig my skis in to stop the slide… and position myself to get up. Howard and Aaron were kind enough to point out the idea is to stay on the skis… and to keep the skis on the snow. And that it was rarely a good idea to end up using your helmet as a snow plow. What would we do without the loving advice of friends?
We talked somebody into snaping this picture at the top of the mountain… one of my last runs on my last day. What a great time!
I think Howard and Aaron caught the lift on more time after this… but if they had waited for me the lift would have been closed. So, I snapped a pic sitting at the bottom of the hill… trying to recover enough energy to get back to the truck to head for dinner.
Aaron had ridden the chair up with a guy that is a manger at a restaurant in Glenwood Springs called the Pullman. He talked it up enough we decided we had to try it. We called to see if reservations were needed… and they said not if we were OK sitting at the bar if seats were available… otherwise we could get reservations for 8:30. We did not want to wait that long… so Howard dropped Aaron and I at the door to see if there were any spots open at the bar… and wouldn’t you know it… there were three. We sat down and there was a nice young couple next to us… but they had reservations and were soon seated at a table. Another young couple came and sat down… and Aaron apologized ahead of time and said we had run the previous couple off… and he was sorry if we ran them off two. The guy looked back at Aaron and said… I accept the challenge. Then his girl friend leaned over and said yeah… let’s just see who runs who off! We had a lot of fun with them! The food really was great. The staff took great care of us. And since we had our food and were already eating when they sat down… we finished and said goodbye. She leaned over again and said see… we win… we ran you off! And so they did.
I hated to leave in the morning… but I eventually had to get back to earning a living. So I tried to get cleaned up and packed up after dinner. Howard was a little nervous about the forecast for the next day. He and Aaron were planning to run to Breckenridge to meet one of Howard’s old co-workers. And I had to drive right by there headed up to the tunnel under the continental divide. And they were forecasting a lot of snow for the area.
Drive Back Day 10 (Monday February 17, 2025):
In the morning I pulled out just ahead of them. Except I headed to Jackie’s to have coffee and to say bye and thanks… while giving the road crews a little time to get the roads plowed. Howard sent some rather ominous observations about the conditions they were experiencing in route east to Breckenridge. It sounded like his friend Don was having a similar sloppy experience heading west from Denver toward Breckenridge to meet them. As I was figuring they should be getting a handle on the roads… and getting ready to head east… Howard texted to say if they had not arranged to meet Don… he probably would turn around. But I figured they were on roads ahead of the plows… and surely by the time I got there the plows would have things improved.
Then as I was heading up Vail pass… I get a text I-70 is closed at Silverthorn (just below the climb up to the tunnel). Now I begin to wonder. But surely I-70 can’t remain closed for too long? I knew in reality… rock slides or avalanches can keep it closed for days. But surely this was just a temporary closer due to an accident in the snowy conditions? So I continued on… watching the traffic reports. I saw reports the Loveland pass was closed so no one could go up over the top… but nothing said the tunnel under it was closed. So I opted to keep rolling. The roads were not great… but they were better than Howard had described. So road crews were making progress.
But the closer I got to Silverthorne… the more nervous I got. Both the conditions and the traffic seemed to be getting worse. I went past Copper Mountain… Frisco (the turn off for Breckenridge)… and things slowed steadily… I could see congestion ahead as I hit Silverthorne. There was an accident in the west bound lanes that had that side blocked. They were routing traffic off and around that section of road. East bound still seemed open… but I soon found myself stopped as the road started to climb to the tunnel. Luckily the halt was not long… but this was now bumper to bumper… stop and go traffic. And looking up the valley… it was clear this was going to take a while. At least it appeared I would get through eventually.
I got more worried about half way up to the tunnel… as our east bound lanes slowed to a stop. Pretty soon I noticed there was no traffic west bound. Had they closed the road? Then I saw a whole bunch of fuel/tanker trucks headed west bound. It finally dawned on me the pass was closed so hazardous material trucks could not go up and over as usual. They were having to share the tunnel. So they appeared to be holding them in a parking lot… then periodically stopping the regular traffic and letting them clear the tunnel. Then the allowed the trucks with hazardous materials to pass through the tunnel… while the rest of us waited. Once all the hazardous material trucks had made it through… and the tunnel was opened back up to normal traffic. As our lanes started moving… I saw a lot of jostling… and realized one of the cars in our lane was not able to get going again. But people were good about letting us get over and around.
Eventually… I saw the tunnel. Traffic seemed to pick up after merging and entering the tunnel. The steep downhill on the other side got us rolling along pretty good… but conditions were still messy… causing some vehicles to slow way down with flashers on. Some of them nearly got run over… especially if they did that in the left lane. Luckily there was no vehicle pinball and we all managed to move along pretty good most of the way to Denver.
As excited as I get when I see the mountains heading into them… all the opposite emotions well up as I top that last ridge and look out over Denver and the plains beyond. I respect the plains and all they offer. They are our nations bread basket… and I have lived a good life on them. But I have always felt a draw toward the majesty and mystique of the rockies. Unfortunately, they disappear from the rearview mirror as I headed out… just as fast as they appeared on the horizon when headed in.
Maybe this transition into and out of the mountains is one of the reasons I would almost rather drive than fly. If it just weren’t for the long hours through eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and finally Michigan… it wouldn’t be so bad! Honestly, every corner of God’s creation has it own charms. Unfortunately, I delt with a lot more slick, snowy conditions headed home… than I did on the way out. Plus the temperature just kept dropping the further I went into the plains. Eventually it dipped below 0 (Fahrenheit, -18 C)… and just kept dropping.
I decided to stop for the night after getting through Omaha, Nebraska and on to Avoca, Iowa. As I climbed out of the truck it was -4F.
Drive Back Day 11 (Tuesday February 18, 2025):
The next morning as I climber in the truck it was -12F (that’s -24C). I was sure glad my heater worked! As I drove, Howard and Aaron were sending me pictures of their last day skiing… just to rub it in. Karma got them back though as more flight delays Wednesday had them spend another night in Dallas.
I still had to be careful as there was still snow blowing across the road. At least it was not blowing as hard as the night before. I found a good station on the radio… and sang and played my harmonica to help the hours pass (I stink on both accounts… but who cares when nobody else can hear you? Loud and Proud!!).
I stopped to visit my sister Melody and brother in-law Dewey in Joliet, Illinois. Then stopped to have dinner with Amie and James again in Portage, Michigan. There was a little lake effect snow on the east side of Lake Michigan… but it was not bad. Jesse called me to get an ETA… and asked me to hit Taco Bell for him as I came through Holly. Man did it feel good to pull in the drive… and know a friendly face… and warm familiar bed waited inside.
I sent a text to let everybody know I was tucked in safe. Told everyone thanks for putting up with me. And said a little prayer of thanks for such a blessed adventure!