Finally! Fruita! Looking like mostly good weather except for the weekend. We were looking forward to the campground we could finally get to, biking, and using the water in the camper.
Wrinkle number one: our chosen campground was full. Dang it. Seems like they reduced the number of sites out there since we visited in October. All dispersed sites were full too. Luckily the main campground still had spots. Not our first choice but better than trying to find somewhere else to camp.
Thursday morning was lovely. Got a nice ride in.
Lula and Fred at Jabba the Hut rock after taking a quick break to let Lula cool down a bit.
We really picked a good spot, it turns out. Wrinkle number two: The winds started whipping up Thursday afternoon bringing in the weekend’s snow storm. We were at least a little protected here. Our usual “favorite” spot would have been a lot more exposed to the wind. Inside the camper was nice and cozy (as we learned from Curt Gowdy) but outside was unpleasant.
We added Brophy scissor steps which has made getting in and out of the camper easier (and safer) for everybody. Lula’s a pro at it now! Having running (and hot) water in the camper is simply luxurious. Some day it will be warm enough for us to use the external shower…
Lula was being a most uncooperative subject during our afternoon walk in the wind… so here are other vistas around our campground.
Finally a good shot of pupster!
We knew a storm was heading into the mountains and was expected to sit and dump snow for 3 days. Wrinkle number three: Since the weather in Fruita was overcast, rainy and cool with more chances for wind, we opted to “beat the storm” and get outta dodge and over the passes before it got ugly.
Near Glenwood Canyon. At this point the snow is still lovely. Wrinkle number four: Then we hit Vail… and our plan to beat the storm was… futile.
The snow, while still lovely to watch fall, was no longer lovely to be driving in. It was falling about 2″ / hour and near white out conditions. Vail Pass was closed for about 3 hours. We had to move around Vail a bit while we waited and hoped it would re-open. Seems like Vail PD doesn’t like people parking anywhere but in their parking garages (which you have to pay for and we probably wouldn’t fit in). The picture above was from Vail Pass to Copper… we had plows ahead of us until the Vail Pass summit and then… this. Yuuuuuck. Luckily this was the worst of it and we were able to get home. We probably would have been better off staying in Fruita until Saturday but alls well that ends well.