Adventure! Day 11 - Garden of the Gods and the Drive to Lake City
Headed to Lake City Colorado now. After breaking camp and drinking a free coffee from the camp store, we took a hike this morning at the Garden of the Gods. We didn’t want our whole day to be driving. We went on the Central Garden trail; it was accessible and there were people in wheelchairs and parents pushing strollers. Even though it was supposed to be an easy hike, for me it was strenuous. The best part was watching everyone climb on the rocks.
It was a really beautiful place in its own way. To me it felt stark and dry - I’m used to luscious tropical flora and fauna, and so my mind feels parched and paper-thin in this part of the world.
We’ve got a problem with our rear view camera, and it really cramps the driving style. We will troubleshoot once we get to Lydia’s. But Eli is driving us for the next 3 or 4 hours. He’s up there just a-singin’. Then we grocery in Gunnison and Liam will drive. I’m probably more than the normal amount of concerned about this drive. Maybe I can sleep through it. We got 20 gallons of gas and now we have a full tank, so we are all set to just ride. It’s pretty here; there are white lines of snow up in the highest peaks, and that’s not something we see in Florida.
All over the country there have been heat advisories, but we keep avoiding them as we head west.
Eli drove Monarch Pass with great joy and enthusiasm, and then we did groceries as planned. Liam did the last hour and surprisingly it didn’t take him much longer than the map thought it should, even though he took it a little slower. I guess it’s a rate time distance problem. He was amazing at staying between the lines and it felt as safe as it could have. He seemed to think it was no big deal.
Tara kept telling everyone to look out the windows and Stella kept looking and then regretting her life decisions. She spent the hour reminiscing about Kansas and squeezing my hand. She has a strong grip.
We are here now and it’s just as wonderful as I was dreaming it would be. We arrived to a hot meal ready to be plated and dogs and cats ready to be petted. One more sleep and then we see Damien, Kayleigh, Caitlin, and the Hoy boys.
