TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005
Day 1: The Problem Day
Everything went smoothly yesterday. Our flight left on time. We arrived in Denver and found our bus quickly to Stapleton where our hotel was. And someone gave us a free ride to our hotel. But this morning we had to get up really early in order to make it to the Union Station for our 8:20am train ride aboard the California Zephyr. The hotel shuttle brought us to the station on time and as we went to pick up our train tickets, I realized that I had left my backpack which contained my iPod and my camera (about $1500 worth of stuff) in the shuttle. I called the hotel, but it was too late for them to bring my bag back to me because our train was on time. So we boarded "the most scenic train ride in North America" camera-less (Niki forgot hers at home). The train ride from Denver to Glenwood Springs was beautiful. We crossed the Rocky Mountains and went through the Moffat Tunnel which is 6.2 miles long at an elevation of over 9000 feet. We arrived in Glenwood Springs a couple of hours late because of a train in front of us that was having some mechanical troubles. From the train station we walked over to Enterprise Rent-A-Car to pick up our rental, but there was a problem. Niki's driver's license had expired and they refused to rent to her. The agent looked at me and said "I'm going to need your driver's license and you're going to be the only person that's allowed to drive the car." I don't have a license, but I decided to give it a try. I reached into my wallet and handed him my California State ID card. He took the card and started copying down all my info. He made me sign on the contract that I would be only person driving the car, and handed me the keys to a brand new Ford Explorer (a free upgrade!). We calmly walked out, put our luggage in the car, I handed Niki the keys and we drove away as quickly as possible. We drove south on the 82 towards Aspen, and then west on the 133 up over the McClure Pass (8755 ft) to Paonia where Steve and Sue live. Steve wasn't there because for some reason he wasn't expecting us until tomorrow, but Sue welcomed us. We were both really tired, but we went out for dinner at the Delta Fireside Inn where we had some great Prime Rib.
Day 2: Highway 141
After eating breakfast at Butch's Cafe in Paonia (mmm...), Steve took me and Niki on an all-day scenic drive on Highway 141 which had some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. It was a pefect day. Sunny and in the eighties. We drove in a loop though scenic canyons that rival the Grand Canyon passing through Paonia, Delta, Whitewater, Gateway, Naturita, Norwood, Ridgeway, and Montrose. We stopped for lunch in Norwood and ate at the Lone Cone Saloon. Then we headed back to Paonia because we had to be at KVNF to do Steve's radio show from 7-10pm. We all had a lot of fun doing that and Steve's got the show in MP3 format.
Day 3: Steve Tries To Kill Me
For some reason, before I left, everyone thought that I wouldn't come back from this trip alive. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Steve has a habit of getting into bad predicaments like when he set himself on fire earlier this week. It rained all morning and with the unseasonably warm weather yesterday melting the snow in the mountains, the river behind Steve's house was really raging. So Steve, who has second-degree burns all over the right side of his body, asked me if I wanted to take a kayak ride nine miles down the river to Hotchkiss. You'd really have to be crazy to get into that river in a little kayak, but I was looking for a little adventure, so I said I'd go. We put on wetsuits and headed down the winding river. We were doing well for about a mile and then we lost our balance and flipped the boat. I swam back to the boat, and we got it flipped over and got back in. The water was freezing, but the wetsuit was actually keeping me warm. When I got back into the boat I could barely breathe. I had been in high altitudes for 2.5 days now and it hadn't bothered me at all, but after exerting myself a little to get back to the boat, I couldn't breathe. I took deep breaths but I wasn't getting any oxygen. We stopped for a few minutes so I could try to catch my breath, but I never really did. I was scared that if we were to flip again, I wouldn't have the energy to swim, but we went on. We went a few more miles and did pretty well. Then we got to the hardest part... three sharp turns in very deep, rough water. We made it through the hardest part and then flipped the boat in the end. This time the water was moving really fast and I banged into a few rocks. I made it back to the boat and we continued on. It wasn't long before we flipped a third time. This time, we were in really rough water and I hit a bunch more rocks before making my way to land. I smashed my knee into a rock and I got a bunch of cuts including one on my hand which would not stop bleeding. I was now cold. Really cold. I could not feel most of my body. Luckily, we were almost to the end. So, frozen, bleeding, and unable to breathe, I got back in the boat with Steve and we continued on. Steve had to paddle from here on because I couldn't feel my hands. We finally made it to the end where Sue and Niki were waiting for us with clothes and bandaids. I ran into the truck to get warm, went back to Steve's house and took a hot shower, and I was okay.
Day 4: Another Scenic Ride
Today was another beautiful day. It was partly sunny with a few showers. We had to drive Sue to the airport in Grand Junction because she was flying back to LA for a few days. On the way, we stopped at Faye's Cafe in Austin and had a delicious homecooked lunch. I had the hamburger steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. After dropping off Sue at the airport, we took the scenic road back driving over the Grand Mesa. At the top of the mesa, it was 20 degrees and snowing. We drove around some more and ran into a hail storm and a few showers. The weather was lighting up the mountains really well and Steve was on a mission to take some pictures. He got some great ones.
Day 5: Time To Go Home
We left Steve's house at 9:00am and headed over the Rockies to Denver. The car ride was really nice and we passed through some areas that we didn't see on the train ride. Some of the passes we crossed were well over 10,000 feet and we passed through another snow storm in Vail. We made it to Denver in about 4 hours. I went to the hotel that we stayed at and got my bag back. Everything was still in it. Then we went to Downtown Denver and walked around the 16th Street Mall for a couple of hours. It's a lot like the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, but much longer. Then we drove to the aiport, dropped off the car, and flew home. Steve took a ton of pictures while we were there. Here's a gallery of a few of them. Steve and Niki also filmed some of our trip on video and Niki spent two days editing a movie using the footage and a remix of "Magic Carpet Ride." Check it out here!
