We experienced several changes today. We left the mountains and entered the flat, great plains. The temperatures went from the 40’s to the low 100s. We’ve completed our visiting stops and are headed home.

We got up rather late (for us) and fixed breakfast. We got Ross out of bed to say goodbye.

Colorado 82 heads east of Aspen and goes over Independence Pass. Ross warned us that there is a narrow section just east of town. He was right. The road is very twisty and in some places it’s 1-1/4 lanes wide. There were guide rails in a few places. It was imperative to look ahead and not down. The curves and switch backs can be taken comfortably in first gear. As I rounded the narrowest corners I tried to plan what I would do if I met an on-coming car. The best I could come up with was lett out all my breath and get as skinny as possible. I wonder what Eric Trow would recommend.

The actual ascent to the pass was tame compared to the narrow section.

AS the sign indicates, the pass is pretty high.

Three is a rest area and some paths to a couple of overlooks.

Three were a lot of alpine flowers

And views of the descending switch backs.

Once we go down off the mountain we headed for Pueblo on US 50. Traffic was heavy. I likened it to “changing day” at the Jersey shore.

Along the way we saw a sign for Royal Gorge. We followed a very bad, narrow, twisting road for 7 miles. At the entrance we learned that the admission is $25 per person. We turned around and went back to the highway.

The temperature rose the lower we went and by the time we got to eastern Co, the temp had to be over 100. A couple of hours later in the afternoon we saw a bank thermometer that read 98 degrees.

We made it as far as Garden City KS. Our travel time was 11/1/2 hours. We covered 434 miles.