Day 22 -- Silt to Montrose, Colorado -- 156 Miles

Sometimes you just have to take the road less traveled," I said to Concetta when the incredible vista out our RV front window prompted her to tell me that we were certainly lucky to be able to see what we were seeing. Today, while it would have been much easier on the rig and on the driver to take the Interstate to our next camp, we elected to take the little-used back road when we left our camp in Silt, Colorado this morning.

It didn't go smoothly at first. Instead of heading west on the Interstate toward Grand Junction from our camp in Silt, Colorado, we headed east toward Denver, even though we had no intention of reaching the mile-high city. Our intention was to jump on Colorado Route 133 south over McClure Pass that would eventually land us in the town of Delta, Colorado on Interstate 50.

Trouble was, I didn't notice on the map that you first had to exit Interstate 70 via Colorado Route 82. Route 82 would eventually give you a choice between heading south as we intended, and heading east toward Aspen. Since we arrived at the Route 82 turnoff ignorant of the fact we needed to exit, we drove another couple of miles on Interstate 70 before we figured out we'd made a mistake.

Fortunately, it was fairly easy to exit Interstate 70 in a couple of miles, cross over the east-bound stream of cars to the west-bound side, then make another stab at exiting where we were suppose to exit.

Let me just say that the trouble we took to find the exit for Route 82, then segway over to Route 133 when the opportunity presented itself, was more than worth it. At the time, we had no idea that we would soon be climbing McClure Pass, elevation 8753 feet, and that the scenery would turn out to be so magnificent.

Naturally, climbing the pass on a narrow mountain road didn't afford many opportunities for photographs, but we stopped when we could. The shot of Concetta standing in front of the RV was taken very near the top of the pass. Stopping certainly made me nervous as nothing but a steep dropoff could be seen as we pulled into a tiny patch of dirt beside the winding road. I put a block under the front wheel to make me feel a tiny bit better about parking on an incline, then I rushed to capture the photo (photo below left).

Though the view was to die for, we didn't tary. We got our photo and jumped right back in the RV and got going again. In just another mile or so, we topped the pass and began the low-gear descent. By the time we stopped for lunch on the far side of the pass we had traversed some of the most beautiful mountain country that we have ever seen.

Not only was the scenery fantastic, but we experienced very little traffic over the whole stretch of the road, and much of the time we had the glorious alpine world totally to ourselves.

When we were about 25 miles from the intersection of Route 133 and Interstate 50 at the town of Delta, Colorado, the Route designation transitioned to Route 92, but this time we noticed the change and planned accordingly. Our intention was to find a camp for the night in either the town of Montrose to the east of Delta, or Grand Junction to the west.

The canyon through which we had been traveling also hosted the north fork of the Gunnison River for much of our drive, which made for some pretty photographs. However the narrow canyon also made for some non-existent cell phone coverage. Our intention, once we got a few bars on the cell phone, was to call the KOA campgrounds in both Montrose and Grand Junction to see who would let us have a space for the night.

Finally, as we broke out of the confines of the Gunnison River Canyon we managed to connect with Montrose, and they agreed to let us have a spot for the night. They would not agree to let us have more than one night as all their spaces were booked for the Memorial Day weekend.

Once we reached the town of Delta, we took a few minutes and stopped by a Safeway to top up our grocery supplies. We then headed east toward the town of Montrose just a couple of dozen miles away. However, we didn't get far, as within just a few blocks we came upon a whole line of rusty cars from the 1940s and 1950s sitting beside Delta's main street (photo right).

"I can't pass this by without shooting these cars," I told Concetta, and I pulled alongside the curb and turned off the engine. Then for the next ten minutes I wandered the grounds shooting the assembled cars and trucks from every angle. It wasn't until I was about to leave that I spotted the "No Tresspassing" sign.

Once I had recrossed the street I noticed that the owner of the rusty cars had still more cars on that side as well. In fact, there was a great big sign announcing that the whole operation was known as "Orval's Used Cars and Collectibles." Well, I figured, I better see if I can go find Orval and appologize for tresspassing on his used car lot.

And that's what I did. Turned out, Orval and I got along as if we'd known each other for years. We traded stories of rusty cars we had known and loved, and as I was leaving, Orval and I shook hands and he gave me a broad grin and told me to come back any time. I think he really, honestly meant it. Once again, I realized that the best part of being on the road was the people we meet who enrich our lives, if only for a few moments.

Back on the road, it was only few minutes, and we were pulling up the driveway of the Montrose KOA. As I got ready to go inside the office, Concetta reminded me to ask to be put on a cancellation waiting list so that we might lock down a space for the Memorial Day holiday if it was at all possible.

It turned out that getting the space for the next three days was a piece of cake. When I asked about getting on a list in case someone cancelled, the clerk, whose name was Chelsea, told me there was no such list. "Well," I said. "Can I be the first person on the list you COULD have?"

That cracked her up, and she said that I could. "But," she paused a moment, then went on, "I think I have a space you could have for three days. Someone HAS just cancelled. It's sort of a long way from the laundry room and this office, but it's available."

"I'll take it," I told her, and that was the end of our quest for somewhere to stay over Memorial Day weekend. Right here in the good ol' Montrose KOA we're going to hang out, do some laundry, clean the RV perhaps, and go visit whatever local sights that intrigue us. Come Sunday morning we'll be back on the road and looking for new adventures, so stay tuned.