Getting to Grand Junction, CO

Morning of June 25th, threw my things back in the Jeep and grabbed a pastry and coffee from the motel lobby before getting back on I-84E (going southeast through Idaho and Utah).  Travelling through southwest Idaho and northern Utah (including Salt Lake City) didn't see any appealing areas or vistas that begged me to stop and enjoy the surroundings -- only quick exits and bypasses seemed appropriate (unless you were looking for a half dozen wives, perhaps).

Took the cut across at Provo (route 6) to get to I-70E into Colorado -- hoped the road would be in good shape and not some 2 laner winding through the mountains.  As I recall, the road was fine and besides I didn't have any desire to head to Las Vegas as I-15 would have taken me -- where would I park a camper while I was in the casinos gambling?  Only had to stop for gas in Ogden (above SLC) and again in Thompson, UT to be sure I had enough gas to get me to Grand Junction (little piece of mind too).

As I drove across the high plains on I-70E, I hit some pretty strong cross winds coming from the south and I could see in my rear-view mirror that the wind was alternately blowing the awning and its bag onto the top of the pop-up camper and back down again.  The winds tried heartily to blow the trailer around as well but, think the torsion-sway bar I had installed helped to prevent that and kept me running fairly straight even in the strong winds -- thankful I had invested the $400 or $500 for it.  Later in the RV park 2 days later this whole unit was blown down by some of the same strong winds while I happened to be out hiking.

Arrived in Grand Junction a little before sunset and drove from the west end of town to the east looking for a decent place to spend the night.  Ended up circling back to the west end and stayed at a Comfort Inn -- most expensive one night spent on a motel (cost more than three nights in the priciest RV parks).  The breakfast next morning was about the best I had in a motel (should have been for the price of the room) -- dinner was a different story as most of the fast food places shut-down before 10:00 pm and had to make do with my leftovers (tunafish sandwiches in the room).

Did get in touch with the cousins (Don and Richard) to check and see when it might be convenient to drop in on them.  It turned out that Richard and his wife Doris were leaving town on Wednesday and wouldn't be back for a couple weeks -- that meant I needed to see them first in Canon City and then Don in Delta.