Day 13- Fort Collins to Casper, WY

I can hardly remember back to this day now...umm.. John and Gail from Fort Collins have joined us now and will be following us through Cambria. We slowly went through Fort Collins, an affluent community on the outskirts of Denver, with many traffic signals. Another day with beautiful blue skies.  We stopped in Laramie for breakfast with the Europeans, then went on to the old Wyoming Territorial prison. It was a fascinating stop, a AAA GEm. Unfortunately we had only an hour, so had to rush through itl There were other sites in Laramie, but we just didn't have time.  John had suggested we stop at a small town Medicine Bow between Laramie and Casper, so we did and visited the cute museum and wonderful old hotel

Once we arrived in Casper, we determined that Dasy May (and Linda) had another trying day, with Ken needing to drive her since Linda became very frustrated.  (Must go get ready now- will catch up someday.

(Pauls' Birthday party )

Day 12 -Leadville to Fort Collins

LOVELAND PASS PART WAY UP

It  was an another beautiful day to head up over the Rockies and onto Fort Collins. Soon after leaving, we headed up the Loveland Pass which reached almost 12,000 feet as well as being on the Continental Divide. Although instructions were given to not go through the Eisenhower tunnel, but to divert to the pass, most of the MOAers missed the diversion. However, once through the tunnel. they did come back up to the summit.

LOVELAND PASS SUMMIT

Once over the pass we entered the Rocky Mountain National Park and Construction delays Again we went up to over 12,000, only this time, it was straight down each side of the road, AND we had to sit at the summit for 20 minutes. It was quite scary,.

Members of the Fort Collins British Car Club were to meet us at the Estes Park Visitor Center, which they did, but we didn't make it in time, due to construction delays.

DAY 11- Ouray to Leadville, CO

Another beautiful blue sky day. The weather report for tomorrow isn't so great, but we will prevail. There was a tornado in Billings Montana, our destination in a few days. They hadn't had one for 50 years, so we trust they will have no more this week.

Philip and I were a little behind leaving this morning, so we had a very different day than the rest of the group. The plan was to stop at the Ute Museum in Montrose, but the Daily said it opened at 10 AM and it was only 9 AM, so we skipped it. Apparently it opened at 9 AM, so many in the group went the museum and reported it was very nice. Instead, we went to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which wasn't listed on the Daily, but we passed it and went in. In 1995, it was still a National Monument, and Bill Clinton signed the bill in 1999 that made it a National Park.

 Because we were there for a couple of hours, we also missed the Gunnison Museum and Auto Museum, reported to be fun. We completed our 117 mile drive and arrived in Leadville around 3:30 PM. Fortunately, the Silver King Motel was torn down and rebuilt. It had to have been the most awful hotel in 1995, and those of us returning were dreading it. Elaine did the laundry while Philip and Linda (and many others ) cleaned their Morgans. Cocktails in the parking lot, then several of us went to the local Szechwan restaurant, some to the Steak House and others to the Pizza parlor for dinner. What was strange were the warnings that it was dangerous to take our Morgans to downtown Leadville. We survived it.

Linda has an appointment tomorrow with an electrical specialist to look at her electric Morgan. He has already diagnosed it as a bad new voltage regulator- they are supposedly junk. I disagree- but who am I to say. She made it today up all the high hills- to 11,000 feet without any difficulty.

DAY 10 - Mesa Verde to Ouray- A delightful day

We awakened to another beautiful blue sky and fair weather. Not to jinx our beautitful weather, but now we have had 10 days of blue skies, with only a few clouds. We have only worn jackets going over Tioga Pass. Today we antiicipated needing the jackets, but we went up to over 10,000 feet with just a light shirt on. Ken and Pat were kind enough today to follow Linda and allow us to drive with the group and have some fun. Thanks Ken and Pat.

We left the high desert of Mesa Verde and headed up the mountains, stopping at Durango for about 2 hours. After coffee at Starbucks,  purchased a pretty belt and a lovely scarf. We walked around town and Linda bought an extension cord to plug in her trickle charger each night for her Morganit , since the new genearator is not charging her battery. She now has the first electric Morgan, each night being plugged into her room socket from the parking lot.

We then traveled up the beautiful Colorado mountains, stopping for lunch in Silverton and ending up in Ouray. Southern California Morgan members, Dick and Lois, has us over for a BBQ at their home in Ridgeway  about 11 miles away  It finally was a  fun day, and Linda made it successfully up the hill. We did have our brake lights go out, but that was solved with a new fuse, installed with borrowed needle nose pliers. 

Tomorrow, off to Leadville, CO.