Wednesday, June 8 in Westminster, CO

We left Durango on Monday a.m. (June 6) and headed towards Pueblo, CO which was to of been our destination for the night. That route took us over Wolf Creek Pass which is totally remodeled now and an easy drive compared to several years ago when parts of it were under construction and it was raining and a miserable drive. However, we had no problems on Monday and once in Pueblo, we realized the truck stop Dick had planned to stay at was now closed so we kept going. We next stopped at a Love's but it was for cars only & no truck parking allowed so we kept going. Finally Dick needed diesel so we stopped at a truck stop in Monument, CO and we could have stayed there, however, it wasn't that large and we hate to take up a space when we know the truckers need a place to stay. The inside attendant told me there was a WalMart within a mile so that's where we parked for the night. We've only done WalMart once before (in MS) but it was a very nice big parking lot and the customer service mgr. said 'no problem' parking there as long as we were out of the way. As it turns out, there were probably 3-4 other rigs there that night. WalMarts are usually an expensive campsite because you shop while there & spend more than planned. There is a method to their madness!! We ate a quick dinner at Chili's in the neighborhood and enjoyed a quiet evening.

Tuesday a.m. we didn't leave until 9 a.m. because we only had about 75 miles to go to the Westminster Elks Club near Denver. It was an easy drive having waited out the rush hour traffic and we were settled in before noon. This Elks Club has about 30 RV sites, both 30 & 50 amp, some with water & dump stations & some without. We have a 30 amp electric site only and are perfectly happy here for only $12 a night. There were only a couple of full hookup sites available and they would have been a tight squeeze so we opted for this one & it's just fine. I think we'll put this Elks Club membership to good use!!

Dick took the Honda for an oil change on Wednesday morning and then we took a drive up to Vail. Drove around Central City, CO on our way as we both remember loving Central City, an old mining town, from our trip in 1971. It is still a quaint old town but now full of casinos and we didn't even park & walk around. Kept on going towards Vail and it was a beautiful drive. Passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel, the highest vehicular tunnel in the world and about 1.6 miles long. We had a nice lunch at the Westside Cafe in Vail and a nice conversation with a gentleman next to us who owns a design firm for high end residential lighting for many of the multi-million dollar homes with clients in Vail & around the world. Nice guy, originally from a small town in IA so we enjoyed conversation about growing up in small midwest towns.

Tonight we went to Jim's Burger Haven here in Westminster with Debbie & Smokey Mortus, daughter of Edie Resler who we used to have Sunday breakfast with in Phoenix at the Good Egg until she moved to CO to be near her children. A good 50's burger joint with awesome milkshakes and 6" around burgers. It was great to catch up with Debbie and family. Cody, their son, graduated from high school this year & will attend college in Tulsa this fall. We remember him as a 10 year old boy who once went to a Nascar race with us in Phoenix when he was visiting his grandma.......wow, he's now 18.