Hello everybody,
Here's your eighth installment of Thistle Dew Too's (TD2) 2021 Adventure. This is Week 6, and we've now turned northward. It's been getting a bit warm where we were last week, and we want to head through Colorado and get a little Rocky Mountain High -- that should cool us off!
So we headed up toward Taos, following a Madrid, NM shop lady's recommendation to take the scenic "High Road to Taos" to get there. We camped along the Enchanted Circle scenic byway, but only spent a few brief moments driving through Taos itself, as this quaint old town's roads (and tourists) were not so conducive to RV navigation.
From there we took RT 64 through Chama and into Colorado. What an amazing road -- quite scenic and remote, with no cell service and little traffic for many miles! And it's up over 10,000 ft, but with modest grades the whole way. Drive it if you get the opportunity!
Once in Colorado we had an interesting experience. There is road work on RT 50 (continuing into 2022) that periodically closes the road for extended periods. Indeed, my phone GPS re-routed me away from it due to the road being closed. But later, my phone re-routed me back (I guess the road had re-opened), so we doubled-back, only to see a flashing sign that said it would close again for the night in about 45 minutes. Could we make it? We weren't even sure how far it was to the construction area, and there were quite a few steep inclines along the way that slowed our progress. But we arrived just in time for the last group of vehicles that was led through the construction area. Phew!
As we were going through the construction zone, I had started to hear my brakes making some noise. We pulled into to a campground on the Blue Mesa Reservoir -- the largest reservoir in all of Colorado. And when my neighbor at the campground mentioned the noise to me, I knew I had a problem. Metal-on-metal sound with my front brakes. Not good in the high passes and steep grades of the Rocky Mountains.
The next day as we drove through Gunnison, CO, we stopped at a visitor center so I could post a message on the Lazy Daze forum to see if anyone knew a good mechanic nearby. And then we went into the visitor center, and I asked the lady there if she had any recommendations. She gave me a couple, and sure enough one of them had great reviews online, so I called (this is now Friday at 11:30AM, and they're closed on Saturday) to see if they could take a look. Brian, the owner, said come on by and they'd check it out and *might* be able to take us that day! Well, it all worked out, and while they were replacing our front brakes, we got to walk and dine and shop in their lovely town. Couldn't ask for a happier resolution to this problem; we felt quite lucky. Oh, and we tested it later that evening, as we went over Monarch Crest at 11,312' with quite steep grades on the other side!
Certainly some excitement during this week. Of course those aren't things easily photographed, so that means we had to take more scenery pictures -- and here are a few preview shots:
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| Looking rather ominous, perhaps time to leave the centerline |
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| "I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky" -- John Denver |
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| Is this pose good for you? |
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| Blue on blue on blue at the Blue Mesa Reservoir |
Please click this link to access the full set of photos for Week 6 ("Brakes are Important") of our TD2 2021 adventure. As you move your cursor over each photo, you will see a descriptive caption, and if needed, place the cursor on the caption itself to read the whole thing, or just double-click the photo.
Next up, we'll be heading north while meandering eastward to position ourselves near the Canadian border for a shortcut home (if they open the border on 7/21) in Week 7.
So until next time ... Steven and Carol Crisp are wishing you all the best and hoping you are having fun!
