What a drive from Grand Junction, CO to Cheyenne, WY!

We got up early on Wednesday to make a long drive up to Cheyenne, WY.  It is a good halfway point to Hermosa, SD where we will base camp for a while to revisit a lot of our favorites.

I must say that the drive across Colorado on I-70 at least to Denver is spectacular.  You start at the Utah border which looks like a lifeless planet except for a few bushes growing on the lower levels with spectacular walls of red rock 100s of feet high.  By the time we got to Grand Junction you could see how the Colorado River nourished the valley so fruit trees and wine grapes could grow, but you still had the bare rock mountains on each side of the valley.   You basically follow the Colorado river for most of the trip.  Sometimes the valley is wide and you can speed along at 70-75 MPH.  Then the valley narrows to just enough room for the railroad tracks, 4 lanes of traffic and the river.  As we got to the skiing region like Vail, Breckenridge, etc. you proceeded up and down from the valley at 8000' to the peaks of 10,000'.  I wish I could have watched more but the drive was intense.  The interstate made it much easier than your basic 2 lane mountain road, but the curves were tight for the highway speed and you had to deal with the slower 18 wheelers and the scared flatlanders.

I was never more glad to have my Ram 3500 Diesel DRW.  I had no issues with pulling the hills or driving down the steep grades with full automatic speed and engine brake control.   I hardly had to use my disc brakes.  Since I'm at GVW or 24,000lb, I'm under the limit that has to drive at 45 MPH. We passed with ease a number of Motorhomes and trailers being pulled with less truck than I have and too many of them were broken down on the side of the road.  Hopefully they were only overheated and would be able to continue after they cooled down.

If you fly into Vail to golf or ski you really miss the experience.  The amount of terrain changes we saw in 6 hours of driving was incredible. If you don't want to camp out here, I'd suggest flying into Denver and renting a 4x4 and just drive all over Colorado.

BTW, the slopes at Vail were still covered with snow, but I didn't see anyone skiing.

We picked a campground just into Wyoming call Terry Bison Ranch.  They have a thousand head of buffalo, plus cattle, camels and other game.  Great place for kids, a lot of activities.  But for us it's a one night parking place that takes Passport America Discount.