{"id":603,"date":"2012-04-30T07:00:04","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morningnewsinverse.com\/?p=603"},"modified":"2012-04-30T07:00:04","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T14:00:04","slug":"road-trip-through-the-continental-divide-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/?p=603","title":{"rendered":"ROAD TRIP THROUGH THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE – Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>by Bob Sparrow<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When my daughter, Dana moved to Chicago she needed someone to drive her Toyota Corolla there from southern California.\u00a0 That road trip had my name all over it, so I happily volunteered.\u00a0 I kept a journal of my thoughts and observations along the way \u2013 here it is.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s early, it\u2019s dark, I\u2019m invigorated by my planned road trip across two-thirds of America as I shower and get dressed.\u00a0 Did I leave the shower on?\u00a0 No, I look outside, it\u2019s raining.\u00a0 It will not dampen my enthusiasm.\u00a0 I set out.\u00a0 Where\u2019s the windshield wiper lever?\u00a0 More importantly where\u2019s some coffee?\u00a0 Gosh, these Corollas are small.\u00a0 I fumble to find the cruise control in the dark, unsuccessfully.\u00a0 OK, I\u2019m serious now, what happened to the Starbucks on every corner?\u00a0 Discover that Corollas don\u2019t have cruise control!\u00a0 Limited music on the radio\u00a0at this time of the morning.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t realize we had so many Spanish-speaking stations \u2013 Mariachis at 5:00 a.m.?\u00a0 My gosh what are they so happy about at this time of day?\u00a0 Got coffee and finally out on the open road, sun starting to peek over the mountains.\u00a0 I\u2019m hungry.\u00a0 Find an \u2018Open 24 Hours\u2019 truck stop.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wishing I still had that \u2018TruckMasters Graduate\u2019 ball cap as I feel like I\u2019m not really fitting in here with my Bermuda shorts and Tommy Bahama shirt.\u00a0 I sit at the counter and order my coffee black, like the rest of the truckers \u2013 I\u2019ll put some cream and sugar in it when I\u2019m back in the car.\u00a0 I listen to the truckers\u2019 stories and am reminded that I\u2019m happy I have all my teeth.\u00a0 Back on the road.\u00a0 Soon the smell of rural American comes wafting through the car.\u00a0 I see horses and cows and acres of farmland.\u00a0 I see a little town ahead and slow down to read the sign . . . \u2018Norco\u2019. \u00a0I\u2019ve traveled nine miles.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking this\u00a0could be a very long trip.<\/p>\n

It requires significant will power to drive past Vegas; I didn\u2019t even know there was a \u2018past Vegas\u2019 until now.\u00a0 But on through to St. George, and after 700 miles, pull into Grand Junction, CO, for the night.\u00a0 While it is a junction of sorts, I didn\u2019t really find it all that grand.<\/p>\n

The next morning\u2019s drive was a \u2018religious experience\u2019 for me.\u00a0 There are few, if any, more scenic stretches of road in America than the one from Grand Junction, through the Rockies to Denver.\u00a0 The Colorado River has carved the most beautiful path through the mountains, and man has tunneled, cantilevered and laid his road next to the river.\u00a0 It makes one of the most beautiful blends\u00a0of nature and man\u2019s work that I\u2019ve seen.\u00a0 I drove this road in the early morning hours, just as the sun reached the rim of the Rockies, providing a soft light to the freshly fallen snow.\u00a0 It was a quiet, cold (7 degrees at its coldest), breath-taking experience. \u00a0I put in a John Denver CD, but decided that no sound was the best sound.\u00a0 The winter panoramas were purely magnificent.\u00a0 I pass the town of Rifle, the turn off for Aspen, Vail. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I stopped to take \u2018communion\u2019 (a cup of coffee and a doughnut) in the village of Eagle.\u00a0 I parked the car, got out and just looked at the beautiful winter scape around me and listened to the quiet.\u00a0 The cold air fills my lungs and while it was unbelievably invigorating it was also damn cold.\u00a0 Back in the car and back on the road.\u00a0 I remind myself to tell anyone that has the opportunity to make this drive, particularly on a clear winter\u2019s day, to do it.<\/p>\n

As I emerge from the Rockies the city of Denver unfolds below me.<\/p>\n

(Next post: Part II – Denver to Chicago)<\/em><\/p>\n

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by Bob Sparrow \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When my daughter, Dana moved to Chicago she needed someone to drive her Toyota Corolla there from southern California.\u00a0 That road trip had my name all over it, so I happily volunteered.\u00a0 I kept a journal … read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,130,151,181,213,295,373,605,760],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-info-up-dates","tag-aspen","tag-chicago","tag-colorado-river","tag-denver","tag-eagle","tag-grand-junction","tag-john-denver","tag-rifle","tag-vail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p31aN0-9J","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}