The Trials and Tribulations of Driving on I-70!!

We left Estes Park Sunday morning with our friends Rick and Ann to head west to Moab, Utah where we would stay while visiting Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. The trip to Moab from Estes Park was estimated to be more than six hours so we decided to break it into two short one-day trips. The truck did an excellent job of hauling our Big Sky up the Rocky Mountains as we headed west on Interstate 70. If only the Colorado Highway Department had done as well. As we were approaching Vail, there was a flashing sign over the highway telling us that I-70 westbound was closed at Vail Pass. While the State Police were through in barricading the highway and forcing all of the westbound traffic off of the interstate, they didn’t bother putting up any detour signs or otherwise telling us where we were supposed to go. Fortunately, we had maps along and were able to figure out secondary roads to take to get around Vail Mountain. The detour was long (over 50 miles) but scenic.

We had reserved space in a small campground in Gypsum, CO as this was the only campground we could find that had space available for RVs of our size anywhere in Colorado between Estes Park and Moab. The campground itself was barely adequate – no sewer hookups and no traditional amenities such as a pool. But what it lacked in amenities was made up for in price – this was the most expensive campground we have stayed in to date. I guess they thought they had a captive audience if you wanted a campground for our size RV anywhere on this route. A different side to our great adventure!!!!The next day as we headed west we again encountered barriers shutting down I-70 westbound and forcing us on another detour. This detour was not particularly scenic, and the last half of it consisted of sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for 30 minutes – we had to go through a small town to get back onto the interstate, and neither the Colorado DOT nor the highway patrol felt it was incumbent upon them to expedite traffic through his small town, so every vehicle being detoured had to stop at the four way stop in the middle of the little town before being able to proceed onto I-70.

Thank goodness we didn’t try to do the trip from Estes Park to Moab in one day as that would have been overwhelming. Jo did have fun taking many pictures of the back of Rick and Ann’s motorhome as we followed them through the mountains.