Fall Trip Flop

 WOW - didn't think I would EVER say that a fall trip was a flop - not a complete flop but definitely not a great one!

It's always hit or miss on the fall leaves and I had a feeling this year our trip was going to be way too soon for those aspens - and I was right - we've had hot weather and lots and lots of rain and I think that all contributed to a later fall.

Glenn had decided he wanted to go over by Montrose - he'd heard there were LOTS of aspens (not!) and he wanted to scout it out for hunting - I said sure - he decided he wanted to stay west of Montrose, basically on the other side of the Uncompahgre  National Forest!

Nucla he said - it's a tiny town but let's stay there or Norwood - OK - Norwood had nothing but Nucla actually had 3 different places that were available.  I found an old house that had been restored and looked pretty cool so booked it for 3 nights!

It's always fun to stop in Johnson Village to have coffee and look at the mountains!  Unfortunately when we went over Monarch Pass there was no gold, just some ground cover that was starting to turn.

We met our friends in Gunnison for lunch and enjoyed visiting with them - then it was off to the road construction, hoping that we would hit it right so we wouldn't have to wait!  But that didn't happen - we sat there for a good 1/2 hour and then finally our line of traffic started moving.  It's a super slow process driving through the canyon of this pass with all the construction going on and it takes about 20 minutes to get through - sigh - and the trip continued.

Stopped at one place in Montrose to see if there were peaches any cheaper - nope!  Guess my freezer won't see any this year!

Glenn decided he wanted to drive on a forest service road across the national forest - the road wasn't bad but we were in the truck, pulling the razor on a trailer so it was quite bumpy - and you couldn't go over 30 mph.  I was just DONE when we finally got through!  There had been a sign part way through that Nucla was 27 or 37 miles away!  So I guess I expected the town to be there when we got through the forest but that was a NO!!!  We still had another 45 minutes........

Absolutely no cell phone service or coverage, even once we got into the little town!  I was surprised that cellular data wouldn't work!  It was raining by this time and we saw the ONE restaurant as we were looking for the street for our place but the place was closed - no surprise as it was a Monday.  

We found the house - and it was OK!  I have a hard time finding places that meet my expectations of cleanliness but oh well.....  It was old fashioned inside but renovated enough to have a modern kitchen and bathroom!  No king or queen bed - just doubles!

I had brought hamburgers to eat one night with plans to eat out the other 2 nights!  Glenn grilled them and we enjoyed the evening there, although were surprised there was NO cable or dish or any way to watch TV except with the DVD player and some old movies that were there.

The forecast was NOT good for the next couple of days and for once the weatherman was right!  We headed out the next morning to the national forest to ride and it was gray and cloudy and cool!  Although the landscape was pretty (in a different sort of way), the dense clouds didn't make for any pretty pictures!

We headed over to a lake called Buckeye Lake and the tall trees were great to see over in this area!

But there was hardly anything left of the lake - what a shame!  There were several small campgrounds there and it was a pretty place but I'm not sure it gets much use anymore due to the drying up of the lake.

It started to rain a little as we headed down this horrible road - so many rocks and so rough!  We had several spots like this!  Yes, I got off each time!

We kept going down and down and got to a super bad spot!  At that point Glenn said he wondered if this road was going to take us to private property where we couldn't get through!  I said really???  You didn't check this out before we started down this LONG, ROCKY road????  So he checks his phone and sure enough, there's private property at the end of it.  Since it was only about 1/3 of a mile till the property, I offered to just walk down there and see if we could get through as Glenn didn't even know if he could get turned around it was so bad!

So I walked down and sure enough - locked gate with huge signs saying no trespassing!!  I walked back up and Glenn had decided there was no way he could get turned around and was already high centered and needed help.  He finally got down, turned around and we began the long journey back up this rocky path - not fun!!

By this time it's raining - we had stopped and put on rain clothes (as the doors are off the razor) and we made it back to the truck and got loaded up!  We made it back to Nucla and I had him stop at the restaurant to check the times as it looked dark in there - yup it was closed.  The place closes at 2:00 each day - wonderful.

So we went home and had leftover hamburgers for dinner that night!!  

The next day was no better - rain in the forecast and lots of clouds - we headed out but only lasted a couple of hours as the rain was coming down and there were flash flood warnings out!

I guess the only GOOD thing about coming in early was that we could have lunch at the restaurant!!  We had a good meal (the place was packed!!) and of course I still had 1/2 of mine for dinner that night but Glenn didn't!!  So we stopped at the little grocery store and he got some brats to eat!

We finally figured out the DVD player with the TV - an entire page of instructions for using it!!  Glenn watched some old westerns while I read and then we watched a good movie together! Luckily I had brought the laptop so Glenn had plenty of browsing time!

The beds were comfortable and we slept well so that's a positive!

We packed up early the next morning and headed out - going back on the highway around by Ridgeway which was absolutely beautiful - the leave were just starting to turn and there's a pretty river alongside the road so it was a nice drive!  And in Ridgeway I found a great coffee place which made me smile!

I always told the girls I would have loved to have a bookstore and coffeehouse together!!  We had coffee and a muffin and continued our journey home!  Luckily we hit the construction just right and were one of the last cars to make it through before they started stopping people!

Monarch Pass was starting to turn with colors so that made the drive home pretty, even though it's a long one!  Next year - closer to home - there are lots of close places that have beautiful leaves and hopefully the timing will be better next year!