Driving the North Loop

I didn’t take many pictures today as it was overcast and very rainy for most of our drive in the Colorado countryside.

We headed out on HWY 24 back towards Colorado Springs for several miles before heading North on 285.  This is where the town of Fairplay is located.  It’s a normal town, but has an old section along Front street.

At the far end of this street is a museum town that is supposed to be like it would have been in the 1800’s but they charge admission to get into the area, and consequently almost no one was in that part of the town. 

Loyce was shopping the shops, and I was standing around like all good husbands do while waiting for the wife!

Looking South from the same place in the street, there are more shops and a guy that is two wheel dollying goods down to the Hotel at the end of the street.  They looked like groceries, and he made several trips from his store at the North end.

It actually is a bed and breakfast, and I was in the street watching as another batch of groceries arrived.  So I had to go investigate.

But buy the time I was in the door, the fellow was back to the kitchen already.  But since I was already in here, I wandered back to the breakfast area.  And low and behold there was a back porch on the hotel where folks sat to eat their meals.

I slipped out the back door and took a picture of the valley below.

It doesn’t show up too well in the panographic, but there was a fellow out in the lake fly fishing and a large number of folks on a dock across the lake.

Here are the guys fishing.

And all the folks on the dock.  They were not too sure they wanted to go out any farther than the ramp.

I sat and watched for a while, but not having sat down or ordered anything, I felt compelled to leave with my pictures in my camera.  It was very pleasant back there in the little sitting room.

From there, we went to another gift shop, until it began to hail on our car.  This town is at 9500 feet and the weather can change rapidly.   So we left town.

We drove North up to Breckenridge.  We climbed to 11,800 feet or so and then came back down in the ski resort.  It was raining heavily.  We drove around town a bit looking at the high end shops on main street.  We never parked anywhere, as the traffic was nasty.  The town was jammed with people.  Many of them had their trendy sweaters on with moose and elk prints.  It was cool, but I can’t help but wonder how the clothing will look back in Chicago or New York.  I didn’t feel the urge to take any pictures.

We drove on to Frisco, which is more of a rafting and biking town on I 70.  Folks are more normal here, and the bicyclists that have all their belongings in a pack on their back are the common site.  They wouldn’t fit too well up in Breckenridge.  You know, no Mercedes!

Loyce again shopped the town and added a few little packages to the back seat!  I drove around some while she was in the stores.  It was still overcast and Lake Dillon was dark and brown.  I passed on photos.  Too dingy.

So late in the afternoon we drove back to Copper Mountain on I 70 and then South thru Leadville to Buena Vista. 

As we made supper here at the motorhome, it was still raining outside quite heavily.  If it ever made 70 today, it was here in BV before we left.  It was about 60 in Fairplay, and even cooler in Breckenridge as it rained.  They are at about 9500 feet, so I am not sure it ever is overly warm there.

We again crossed the continental divide North of Leadville at 11,300 going back home.

Tomorrow we plan to change campgrounds to the Blue Mesa area West of Gunnison.  To get there, we will have to drive the Motorhome up over Monarch Pass.  That is another 11K crossing.  It will be the highest the RV has ever been.

Wish us luck!

Retired Rod