Today started bright and early at 5 am as we had a long day ahead of us. 

We had been doing several days of "warm up" camping at a state park near home just to make sure things were working okay in the trailer. Since we were closer to our place, we also made several runs home to pick up a few things we thought of at the last minute. 

As soon as we had finished breakfast, we began to prepare for departure. I worked inside the trailer to secure everything for travel while Don did the outside chores, unhooking all of our power and water lines etc. 

Once we had hitched up the trailer, we made a a stop at home to pick up more things and load the bikes. We had decided to bring both the tandem and my single recumbent, although I was willing to leave my bike home. Don said it would be good to have it as give me a chance to ride when he wasn't up for tandem riding. We'll be camped at several locations that have good riding opportunities right out of the campground.

One of the options we ordered on this trailer was a rear hatch that opens up in the dining area. When the table is removed, we can easily load the bikes plus long things like our dance floor, antenna pole and kayak. 

This was the first time we had carried 2 bikes, so it took a bit to figure out how to pad and secure both bikes, but it worked just fine. By 10:30 we were finally packed and heading west into the mountains on I-70.

While we were driving, just for fun, I checked to see if Glenwood Canyon was open today. Because of mudslides the past few weeks, the entire highway had been closed off and on so we had originally decided to take a long detour to the north through Steamboat Springs. That would have added one more day to our trip.

Hmmm - well it looked like the road was clear and open! Don said "let's go for it"! While we had a reservation at a state park near Craig, CO, he said we could cancel that one. Even though we would lose the camping fee, we would save money on gas by going straight through the canyon in one day. 

We found a spot to pull over and he got on his phone. He was able to get a reservation at J. Robb State Park in Fruita for tonight where we already had planned to stay on Monday night. So, crossing our fingers, we continued straight west.

Entering the canyon, there were a few sections of highway that had were closed to one lane only. We could also see several drainages and evidence of the mudslides that had poured across the road. But it was smooth sailing. Yeah!

It was kind of sad though, as the beautiful bike path that travels parallel to the interstate and Colorado River had been obliterated by the mud and rocks. I imagine that the trail won't be cleaned up until next year at the earliest as officials have been more focused on opening the interstate. 

By 5 pm we finally made it to Fruita and found our campsite. We were both pooped as it had been a long travel day with several really bumpy road surfaces which shook a lot of things inside the trailer, including the bikes. We even had to stop after one particularly bad section to reset the bikes more upright and better pad the bench seats around them. 

Don quickly set up the grill and got dinner going. It felt good to relax with a glass of wine. 

Tomorrow morning we have to move to the another campsite where we already had reservations (it wasn't open today), then we'll be free to do whatever we want. We'll be here for several days and hope to enjoy some biking and even kayaking. 

Heart

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