The Journey Home begins

Well its Sunday and was time to pack up and set out for the journey home. As I mention packing and journey again in the same sentence I must profile our unsung journey member, whom to this point has eluded mention or photographs. Nancy Stipe is a member of our MG club, an avid MG owner, and graciously and dutifully volunteered to pilot a chase/support vehicle for the journey. Where does this volunteer/support spirit come from for such a long hot journey? Well Nancy is a retired Navy Corpsman. Her help has been invaluable on this journey, sweeping along behind us in case of trouble, transporting some of our possessions including tools and spare parts, and providing cold bottled water and energy drinks, and snacks! A BIG thank you from all of us Nancy! Nancy is also the clubs Webmaster and you can see her work at our club website at http://www.scmgc.org/.

Our return journey plan is to reverse the stops we made on the way to Breckenridge. Today's destination was Grand Junction. This was to be the easiest day since it is void of the Colorado National Monument drive we included in last Wednesday's opposite direction drive from Grand Junction to Breckenridge.

Our drive went well. The westward climb over Vail Pass was not as severe as the eastbound climb. Then came the long slow descent from Vail, to Sulpher, to Glenwood Springs. Here is a short 2:20 video of the bluffs, plateaus, and colorful cliff faces that typlify I-70 as it parallels the Colorado River approaching Glenwood Springs. We cruise at around 65 MPH. The Colorado speed limit in that area is 75, and many of the passing vehicles are likely at 80 or 85 MPH, so that will explain the speed differential you see in the videos.

Kristian, who I am following in the video above, stopped with us at Grand Junction to cool off and to wait out the heat of the day, then he journeyed on ahead needing to get back to his home in Hermosa Beach a day earlier than the group. Today was also Kristian's 32th birthday!

The group has amended its plans and will set Cedar City, Utah, as the destination for Monday, a distance of 337 miles. We are still kicking around the idea of visiting Bryce Canyon Tuesday. The heat is forecast to be in the brutal range at 105F to 108F.

Update: Kristian called about 11pm tonight to say he made it just fine to Mesquite, AZ.