Friday, July 22, 2016

UCAAN Change a Life Road Trip - Day #33 - July 18th, 2016

Day #33 Monday July 18th, 2016  Arvada, CO to Farmington, UT  (a 12 hr drive with bad traffic)
 
We were set to leave early because we knew that the drive today was long, about 7.5 hours not including stops. We had survived long drives like these before but today was a 545 mile trip with some unexpected traffic delays. We figured that even if we left early enough that traffic wouldn’t affect us, the good thing was that there was so much beauty on this drive and we wouldn’t have a lack of scenery throughout the drive – through the Rockies, the forests, the mountains, the exceptional beauty. I remembered the extreme beauty of this route from 5 years ago with Sarah, except we drove through when there was fresh snow surrounding us. This time, Doryn and I were surrounded by green, mountains and huge rock mountains. 

We headed on the freeway towards Idaho Springs, Colorado, a road we had traveled on with my family the day prior when we went to visit Indian Hot Springs. We continued on the freeway, after making a stop for gas and continued on the mountainous roads. I cannot even begin to explain the vast beauty that surrounded us, which is why I have included photos. We decided to stop at a viewing area for Bighorn Sheep in Georgetown, Co. This was such a cute town surrounded by mountains. But due to the lack of signage we were unable to find the big horn sheep viewing area so as we headed back to the freeway, we looked to our right as we entered the onramp to see a group of what looked like baby Big Horn sheep. We pulled over quickly and put on our hazards. Doryn and I stepped out of the car and walked to where they were and they ran up the side of the hill. We actually got some remarkable videos of them and some photos as well. Had we not taken this detour, we wouldn’t have spotted them – talk about a sight!
So we headed back on our route, I believe it was the I-70 and we approached some traffic, ahead of us we could see the miles of traffic. We were locked in with no other road to take, until we saw a possibility. We knew that we would be driving on the 6 freeway in about 200 miles and saw an exit for the 6 west and another road, we exited to check it out and found ourselves at LoveLand’s ski area. I pulled my large atlas map from my backseat and searched for where we were to see if this alternate route would work. I looked for our location and searched for the alternate route we had found. Unfortunately it didn’t look like it would have worked, so we headed back on the freeway in the traffic that was stopped. I searched on my phone and found out that there was an accident in the tunnel ahead of us, the Eisenhower Tunnel and we’d have quite a wait. I’m not sure how long we waited for the traffic to clear, but it was quite a delay. Eventually we were on the move through even more beauty than what we had seen before. Curvy winding roads through vast amounts of mountains filled with trees, we could see a river running through the beauty that surrounded us. 

We continued on the road for a little over an hour and then made another rest stop in the town of Eagle. They had a cute tourist welcome center that was close to the river we had passed throughout the ride. We stopped and walked down to the water, throwing rocks and just enjoying the simple things in life. Doryn got his free coffee and I picked up a gift for some of our clients for our return. We stayed for a few minutes and then got back on the road.

I was so thrilled to have found a way to take videos and photos on the trip with my camcorder without me touching it while I drove. Doryn had fallen asleep and I started the camcorder up to catch the beauty around me as I continued on the drive. I drove for hours before I stopped to switch drivers and have my fella drive. Doryn drove the rest of the way through hills of green and flatlands till we arrived in Utah. We didn’t get to Farmington till late, but were so glad that we did. We pulled up in front of Nikki’s home and walked to the door. It was beyond wonderful seeing her, after so many years had passed and her kids had grown. Her only daughter was getting married at the end of the month. The kids helped us with our bags, Doryn and I took a bath and then he went to bed as I spent some time with Nikki. Luckily we don’t have an early morning tomorrow and we get to sleep in and spend some time with the family before we go head out to Salt Lake and Vegas tomorrow!


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