Day 9 -- La Junta to Breckenridge, Colorado -- 198 Miles

Since arriving in La Junta (Spanish for "the junction") yesterday, I've been trying to decide which direction I should suggest to Concetta that we drive. We'd visited Bent's Old Fort, the one place I definitely intended to see on this trip. Concetta said that she'd go with whatever direction or destination would someday get us to Idaho, as she would really like to see more of that state. Since Idaho was north and west of us, there really was no sense going east into Kansas. In fact, in our most recent trip we had traveled through Kansas, and had even seen the infamous cow town of Dodge City. Grabbing the atlas, I poured over the Colorado page looking for a scenic way to head north from La Junta.

If you've read many of our blog entries in the past you know that most of the time we try to avoid the blue Interstate highways. On this leg of the trip we definitely wanted to avoid the traffic and congestion of the Interstate 25 corridor that runs north and south through Denver and Colorado Springs. What I ultimately hit upon was for us to head west on lightly-traveled Interstate 50 until we reached Canon City, Colorado. Just west of Canon City, we could jump on Colorado Route 9 and go in a northwesterly direction that would completely miss all the hustle and bustle of the Denver/Colorado Springs metro areas. In the process we'd get to travel a lightly-used, two-lane road that neither of us had ever driven, and perhaps visit a couple of early mining towns in the process.

Even though we seldom travel the blue highways in our travels, and almost always stick to the narrow two-lanes, even we were surprised at the absolutely stunning vistas of majestic plains and thick green forests that we saw today on Colorado Route 9. We had to take it slow due to the many twists and turns and changes in elevation, but this snail's-pace really allowed us to enjoy every single mile.

At one point, when we crested a hill, the unimpeded view of the far off, snow-coverd Rocky Mountains spread itself across our windshield, extending even into our side windows. We were just totally awestruck. Neither of us could remember EVER witnessing such a breathtaking vista.

Unfortunately, there was no place to stop and photograph the unequalled magnifience of that chain of peaks. Seldom, if ever, was there even the tiniest shoulder on which we might pull over and photograph some of the beauty we saw. It can be quite frustrating. We so often had to be satisfied with just being present in the moment as one of the most beautiful drives on the Continent unfolded before our eyes and stretched beyond the far horizon.

At first the day was sunny with just a hint of rain clouds far to the west. But throughout the day more and more rainclouds gathered around us and seemed to further curtail our photographic efforts. Though we only experienced a few sprinkles on the windshield, the threatening skies and low light levels finally did in our enthusiasm for clicking the shutter at every turn.

Our intention was to quit driving early today and attempt a bit of laundry. That being decided, we set our sights on a camp near the town of Fairplay, Colorado. Unfortunately we somehow missed our turnoff to that camp, and before we knew it we were already headed north out of town. Instead of finding a place to turn around, we revised our strategy and decided to drive on to the next town of Breckenridge, Colorado.

As I told Concetta, I had heard about Breckenridge for years, but my mental image was of a scenic minning camp and semi ghosttown that had ultimately become a ski resort something like Aspen. My expectations turned out to be way wrong. The reality of Breckenridge is light years from my mental image and nothing short of incredible! The whole down is buzzing with lights and people and commercial activites and rows of new buildings and traffic circles and an overhead tram and, well, you name it. It looked to us like every young "with it" person from a dozen surrounding states has come here to spend their vacations and be cool.

The camp where we're now located looks more like a picture postcard of a camp than one of the rough and tumble camps we normally frequent. Each site has a large concrete slab on which to put your rig, and each site is landscaped with river rock, aspen trees, and small pines. The whole camp is in fact a resort subdivision with streets and cross streets and a rec center and tennis courts and cabins to rent if you don't have an RV.

We're not sure what wildlife comes with the space we rented, but we just had a beautiful red fox come and spend about a half hour sitting in the unrented space next to us. He sat quietly, just watching the few walkers and RVs go by while I took a bunch of photos of him. I figure he must have a "den" somewhere in our block because every once in a while he disappears somewhere and then returns in ten or fifteen minutes to resume his vigil.

While I was setting up the rig, Concetta went in search of the laundry facility and returned to say that the machines were all in use, but the facililty was immaculent. We're planning to get up early and try and get the sheets and towels done before we leave. Beyond that we're not sure what our plans are for tomorrow. The nice Italian girl from Venezuela in the registration office told me that she was giving us a space in which we could stay an extra night in if we so chose. So maybe something will turn up to take our fancy. Maybe we'll find a way to go ride the tram that runs to a mountaintop here somewhere?