Day 4 - Tuesday, March 22 - Hays, KS to Fruita, CO

Starting mileage:  78136 Starting time: 8:45 am
Ending mileage: 78720 Ending time: 5:45 pm
Travel mileage:  584 Travel time: 10:00 hours ( including time change)

When we got up this morning, Google Maps indicated that I-70 was now open in Colorado so we decided to try it.

When we left, it was 34 degrees with snow blowing sideways in the strong wind other cars were on the road and it seemed manageable. The first 30 minutes was "white-knuckle" driving, with gale-force wind blowing snow across a lightly snow-covered highway. In this time we saw a FedEx box truck, a semi-trailer and 3 cars in the ditch. The snow stopped and we just had to deal with the strongest wind we've driven in.

At the last main town before Colorado, I-70 was closed with a barrier and police cars blocking the road. We went into a coffee shop to get coffee and figure out what to do. We decided to take a route south towards Santa Fe which hopefully was open. When we left the coffee shop, we discovered that I-70 was again open and continued on our original route. Just after entering Colorado, 3 semi-trailers were banged up and toppled on the side of the road. It was again "white-knuckle" driving for over an hour with driven snow across the road and slush in spots. We lost count of the number of vehicles off the road. It cleared up but was windy for almost all the way to Denver, the next 3 hours.

We were impressed by the number of very large wind farms along I-70 with hundreds of wind turbines. The "wind socks" in the road median above the high wind warning signs were all perfectly horizontal.

As we drove up the Rockies west of Denver, there were a number of snow squalls but it wasn't too bad. Carmen and I had our "Rocky Mountain High" at the highest pass at 10,942 feet. From here it was almost steady downhill for the next 200 miles until we arrived at Fruita, Co at 4,500'. The sun came out and it was around 50 when we arrived.

Along the way down, it was mostly bare along the road but white at the higher elevations. Many of the mountainsides look almost black which apparently is from the pinion juniper which has very dark needles. 

We are staying at a Comfort Suites in Fruita, just west of Grand Junction, CO and not far from the Utah border. Fruita started in 1882 when settlers could get 500 acres of land, 200 fruit trees and water for $500 on the condition that it be alcohol free which it was until the 1970s. Fruita has a liberal-feel to it. There were 3 Subarus parked next to us. There were many young, fit, outdoorsy-looking couples walking around. We went to an Indian / Nepali restaurant that had PBS on the TV! We had delicious Nepali food.

Gas prices $3.69 - $3.89

Rocky Mtn town of Frisco at 9000'

Day 4 route - Hays, KS to Fruita, CO