August Road Trip Day 9 Colorado Springs To Las Vegas

I'm two days behind on writing these blogs, so now time to catch up.

Sunday morning had come relatively early, but not that early. I took the time to write the Blog for day 8's adventure and began to prepare for my trip Wecst and eventually heading home to California.

After working on the previous day's Blog, I began to re-pack my camera's, clothes and my carry bag that held cords, and extra items that I might possibly need to use. ANYWAY!!!

At around 830am I finally got the show on the road and departed Colorado Springs and proceeded north towards Denver and Interstate 70.

The drive north was uneventful and the scenery was still very pretty with lots of mountains, valley's and flat area's with lots of green and such to see everywhere. I eventually merged on to a local toll road, route 470, which would take me west around the city of Denver and eventually Interstate 70 and the way Westward. Please keep in mind as you are reading this part, that again State Route 470 is a toll road, the upside for me was that on this particular day (Sunday) the toll road was free... Yeah me...
Route 470 will take you through the Western Suburbs of Denver and you get an idea of just how spread out things are in the area, but again with some spectacular views. After about 45 minutes of driving along I finally come up to the exit for Interstate 70 West and Grand Junction...

Once I'm on Interstate 70, I proceed west and of course begin getting phone calls and text messages from my family and friends about where I was at and if I was okay. I agreed to try and meet up with two of my Marine brothers and their families somewhere along the way on the drive West.

A few minutes into my drive west, I come across a sign/ exit for a place called "Lookout Mountain Park", my interest is now peaked, and I proceed to exit the Interstate and begin to make my way up to this mountain park to see what I can see. The roads that lead up to the park allows you to view the many mountain tops, hills and valley's that surround the area and the many homes among them.

"Lookout Mountain Park" is also home to the grave site of "Buffalo Bill" Cody, and there are some related area's to "Buffalo Bill" located within the park, but you will have to go back and visit as they are all closed due to this Pandemic. I walked around the area for a little bit and eventually found one of the many trail heads in the area, that would provide a great spot to take pictures of the area and if the smog wasn't an issues, would have been a great place to get a picture of Denver.

After a little bit of time, I proceeded back to the interstate and proceeded to make my West again.

A few minutes more up the road and I found a place called "Buffalo Overlook"/ "Genesee Park", I decide yet again to get off the road, with the blind hope that I might see some Buffalo roaming around. Yeah well, after finding a place to park and walking up to the overlook, there was nothing there.. Guess that's how the cookie crumbles.

Once again I get on the back on the road West bound and move on through the mountains. During this period I end up catching up with one of my Marine brothers and his family and we begin to leap frog back and forth through the traffic. Eventually we come upon the town of "Georgetown" where there is a sign talking about "Clear Lake. For many years I have heard about this "Clear Lake" and decide to jump off the road and take a drive out to this place to check it out.

I get off the interstate and proceed through "Georgetown" and eventually begin making my way up a twisty winding road and into the mountains above the town. At one point I can see Interstate 70 as it towers over the "Guanella Pass Road" (route 381), but you eventually continue making your way up and then the road begins to flatten out. After about 20 minutes of driving, you will come upon what is known as "Green Lake", this lake is located on private property, the water is very clear and the way it is situated against the hill side, is in just a very pretty spot. There really isn't a great spot to pull of the road and take a picture of this lake and the property surrounding it, so be very careful.

About 1/4 of a mile further up the road you will come upon the entrance for "Clear Lake", you will turn left off of "Guanella Pass Road" and proceed down the road to the first parking lot, that has plenty of parking and then you can hike down to the lake itself, or you can drive down a dirt road and try to park closer to the lake. Keep in mind that many people come to this lake and get there early in the morning for the prime spots, as this is a really popular spot to go fishing and boating. I did find a place to park and walked down to the edge of the lake and snapped a few pictures and then left to proceed down the hill and back to the interstate.

During the drive down I did happen to see a mountain goat (aka RAM) but didn't stop to take a picture (shocked I know right), and on the drive down you could see many parts of the ever flowing stream that was coming down the mountain from "Clear Lake" and through the town.

Once back on Interstate 70, I proceeded through the many mountain passes and proceeded towards "Silverthorne" and then eventually get to "Vail" (yeah, that place, the one that is known for all the
movie stars). It is just absolutely incredible as to how the mountains and the mountain passes go way up and we drive through these areas not really thinking about how the "Pioneers" back in the day made it through these areas.

During this drive I stopped at a view point within the town of "Silverthorne" and took some pictures of the surrounding area, and then continued onto the "Vail" area, where was going to eventually catch up with David and his family and join them for some lunch in "Eagle-Vail" and to take a quick break again from the drive.

The place we met up at was called the "Grand Avenue Grill" a little restaurant/ bar located next to the "Eagle River" (The Eagle River? - Watch the movie "Hot Shots" and you will get it). The food wasn't too bad and the company was eh, okay (just kidding David), but after about 30 minutes or so, I finished my lunch and decided to get the show on the road. My friend decided to meet up with an old friend from long ago and spent a few minutes more there.

During this time I moved further west through the mountains, and eventually because of some of the construction the road went down to one lane in a few spots, so things slowed up a little bit. After about another hour or so of driving, came upon a rest area called "No Name". I had to check this out, I mean who's ever heard of a place called "No Name"

My Marine brother James and his family had been making it a habit for a number of years to stop at this particular rest stop, and if I am not mistaken, they stayed over night here on several occasions, there is a camp site you can stay at, and the rest area actually runs along the "Eagle River" as well. So it is actually not too bad of a place to take a break.

On the road again and heading West bound, I continued to climb and descend through the many different mountain passes as I was coming out of the Colorado Mountain in the towns of Rife and Parachute (yes these are real towns look up the information!), the sky went from a bright clear Blue to an eyry looking smoke filled sky that was turning everything to an orange color. Obviously there was a fire raging in the area and if you looked off to the north (right side of the road) you could see in places where the fire was fully raging.

As I got closer to Grand Junction, the skies turned back to blue, but I could see in my rear view mirror (yes, the back of the truck was empty enough now for me to see) and to the north of where I was at, in the far off distance that the mountains were on fire and man was the smoke coming up big time. It look just as bad as it does in Southern California when we have fires.

I stopped at the Loves Truck stop on the West end of Grand Junction to stretch my legs and get something to drink and just take a few minutes break. At this point the run to the Utah state line is about 25 miles.

During the drive from Grand Junction to Green River the trip is uneventful, but there is loads of open space and off in the far distance you can see the many different hill tops and the many canyons with all different colors showing with the suns rays reflecting.

About 13 miles from Green River, my Marine Brother David called me up and said he screwed up and missed the last fuel point before we were to get to Interstate 15, and he didn't have much fuel left. After figuring out where he was, I told him I would be there in a few minutes. Fortunately he was able to get his truck and camper trailer turned around and back to Green River to get fuel. Not sure how we would pulled it off, considering I have four (4) full fuel cans in the back of my truck with "MOGAS" (Unleaded Fuel) and he's driving a FORD Diesel truck... At any rate, I told him I would meet him at the truck stop. I got there he got fuel, I topped off the truck ("Sarge" Mobile) and we said good bye one last time as we would end up separating since he was going to northern California and I was headed to Vegas. The drive from Green River to Interstate 15 is about 160 miles and will take about 2 hours, the upside is that in Utah you can drive 80mph...

Getting back on the road to what would be another push towards Vegas and eventually home.

The drive from Green River to the turn off for Interstate 15 is really uneventful, but man some of the views are really breath taking and just nice to see. I did continue to stop at various view points along the way and took more pictures. At one point along the drive David called me and asked me to stop and take a picture of his truck and motor home while driving by along the highway. I pulled off at an exit about 5 miles ahead of him and his family, jumped out of my truck and proceeded to the edge of the interstate to take the pictures. If you do this, please make sure you think about your safety and of those of whom are driving along the road, most drivers are not going to see you and for gods sake don't go walking out into the middle of the Interstate (yeah I know, but people do it).

After this I stopped a few more time and then pressed on to the 15 South and to make it to Vegas and my friends home, before it gets too late...

Eventually I make it to Interstate 15 and get onto the Southbound lanes and proceed towards Vegas, I figured and assumed at the time, that I had only a couple of hours left of driving before reaching my friends home in Northern Las Vegas. YEAH UMM about that, from where I was at to Vegas was about 4 more hours, OOPS!!!!. I called my friend Cliff and told him to eat dinner without me as I was too far away, he said he would have something set aside for me. He's alright for a retired Master Chief...

I stopped briefly in the town of Beaver, Utah and bought a sandwich from Subway. When I tried to get a Roast Beef Sandwich, the young girls behind the counter, proceeded to tell me that they no longer carried Roast Beer... WAIT WHAT!!!!! Well they said, it was a corporate decision as the cost for the meat was to expensive to buy for now, apparently it is a nation wide thing. I have to check out on this once I get back to Oxnard.

Again back on the road and heading south it is about 222 miles from Beaver to Las Vegas, so another 2 1/2 hours of driving, at this point the sun is beginning to set, and as it does, the rays of the sun reflect off of surrounding mountains, bringing out with it all sorts of colors.

Eventually the sky turns to black and the stars begin to come out and twinkle in the sky above. I finally make it into the town of St. George/ Hurricane, Utah and am so much closer to ending the days drive and being with my friend and his wife. After about another hour or so of driving I make it to Northern Las Vegas, on the left side of the road I can see Nellis AFB and the Las Vegas Speedway and to my right I finally find Route 215 which will take me west and finally get myself off the road.


At about 930pm I finally arrive at my friend Cliff's home and am finally able to put the day behind me.

After taking a few minutes to eat, and have a talk with my brother and friend it is time to call it a night