Grand Mesa Day 3: Into the Heat

After spending the first couple of days hoping that Donna's battery would hold a charge, she finally broke down and went to the local auto parts store. Borrowing the shop tool set, she pulled the battery and replaced it. A quick trip to the local coffee shop and we were on our way to Douglas Pass (This site has more pictures).

The views were spectacular. As we started the climb, the road narrowed down to just the road, the shoulder was the white stripe. The road itself was pitted and damaged, and combined with the steep grades the ride a little more technical than it should have been. More than once, I had to think fast when coming around one of the many twists and turns. The road was particularly pitted with "alligator skin" near the summit. And whoever thought it would be a good idea to put a cattle guard at the summit -- on the turn -- obviously does NOT ride a motorcycle.

The view on the downhill side was spectacular!

I would have liked to stop and take more pictures, but this stretch of highway didn't have many pullouts, and the most of those were either on the opposite side of the road, or came up fast and I had enough time to think "there went one." Traffic was fairly light, so we didn't feel much pressure as we rode.

Of course, once we reached Loma, we needed to stop and remove the extra layer we put on for the pass. While we were stopped, we checked directions to our final destination and saw that we will be a bit off the beaten path. The Powderhorn resort is a few miles past the town of Mesa and 25 miles from Palisade. I see a winery tour (or two) in our future.

Our latest digs are really nice. It's upstairs (isn't it always?) so the views are pretty amazing. We have two balconies -- one off the living room, and the other off the downstairs bedroom.

Tomorrow we will explore our new digs and probably go in search of a grocery store. This place is pretty remote, so it looks like we might be eating in more than eating out this trip -- and that's not a bad thing.