Iron Horse - The Road Trip

I knew strange things were afoot at the Circle K when the wind picked up something fierce while I was waiting at the Park and Ride in Golden for Brian and Jessica. The forecast for Durango wasn't looking good, but I didn't expect the variety of weather we drove through on the way. Technology is getting better and the cross breeds of cellphone towers and trees are being released into the wild, at least in Golden.


We got the car loaded up pretty quickly thanks in part to Brian's bikes both being "space saver" editions. Not bad for four bikes, eight wheels, a coffee maker, and some other stuff.


Jessica still had a whole seat to herself.


After each subsequent band of weather, I'd call Mike, our eyes on the ground in Durango to see what was going on. In hindsight, we should have just stopped in Salida, pre-ridden the courses for that race, enjoyed the sun and some peace and quiet. Instead we headed straight for this little cell.


I don't even want to know what it looked like in the middle of the storm, because this was the fringe:


Driving on an inch of standing, dime size hail is like driving on ball bearings, but we made it through to the sunshine in Del Norte, CO, only to find a wintery scene on Wolf Creek Pass. I bet the skiing was good for this time of year.


It cleared up a little bit just after the pass and I am sure we caught the area at its greenest. The scenery in this part of the state is amazing. I don't know what it looks like during the summer, but when we passed through it looked lush and rain forest like. By the time we got to Pagosa Springs, the inclement weather was back.


The road to Durango was paved with good intentions, drowned in heinous amounts of precipitation in almost every form imaginable. Overnight improvements were not in the cards, it kept snowing at higher elevations and by morning Silverton had a foot of new snow.