Day 12 - Gondola Rides and Flat Tires !

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Well good morning Montrose, Colorado !! It's bright and early and Tim is chomping at the bits to get on the road. He's always like this when we have one of those days that consist of mostly driving and a little sightseeing. We were up and ready to pull out of Wally World by 9:00 am. He found a place called The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in the book so he plotted out our route and off we went to check it out. It's actually part of the National Park Service and we were able to use our yearly pass to get in so Tim whipped it out and the nice lady let us through the gates. We followed all the signs and made our way through the park watching for wildlife along the way. We saw a couple of chipmunks but that was about it so far. I saw the directional sign pointing to the actual canyon itself so Tim made a sharp right turn and as soon as we topped the hill we saw a breathtaking sight. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was absolutely gorgeous........you really can't describe it with words and pictures don't do it justice but it's just beautiful. A small river runs through it and it's something amazing to see. It reminded me so much of the Grand Canyon but on a much smaller scale. We hung out there for a little bit, took a few pictures and talked to a few of the visitors like ourselves and then headed on out to check out the rest of the park. Our next stop was the Pulpit Rock Overlook and it was just as beautiful as the canyon itself. Tim and I just love sitting on the rocks and looking out into the wide open, breathing in the fresh air, trying to count all the different colors and just taking a few moments to soak in all up. We could just lay there all day on the mountain tops but it was time to get a move on it and finish up this park so we could ride on over to Crested Butte and see what it's all about. As we rode through we made a few other stops and admired the scenery all the while Tim is keeping his eyes and ears open for a bear or a rattlesnake. Bless his heart, he still hasn't seen either one out in the wild and he's just not gonna rest until he does. We exited the park and made our way on down the highway and over towards Crested Butte. On the way, we passed a spectacular lake called Blue Mesa Lake. We stopped for a minute to take a few pictures and to eat lunch and then we were back on the road. On the days we call "driving days" there's not really a whole lot to do but today was our lucky day. During our drive we came upon a place called Monarch Crest so we pulled in to check it out. Well as soon as we turned into the parking lot I look up and what else is there but another gondola ride to the top of a mountain. Yes, I survived the other one but that was just yesterday and I surely wasn't ready for another one so quickly. We went inside to the gift shop and snack bar and as we were eating our bowl of chili, Tim gives me that pitiful little look he does and of course I caved in and agreed to get on the dang thing and go to the top with him. He and Kayla know just how to work me !!! If we made it to the top alive, it would be the highest point we've ever reached together so he used that as a little motivation for me. It was 62 degrees where we were at the bottom but the lady said it was much colder up top and there might even be some snow so heck, I had to do it now. Everybody likes to play in the snow !! I hopped on just like a pro, scrunched my eyes together, held my breath and off we went up into the sky. We made it, thank goodness, we were actually 12012 feet in the sky and it was magnificant !! As soon as we jumped out of the cart at the top, I saw the snow and all my fears just disappeared. Tim immediately starts making snowballs and challenges me to a snowball fight. It was ON.......we threw snowballs at each other like we were little kids but soon we realized that we were standing in the snow, wearing shorts and flip-flops and it was 53 degrees outside. CRAZY !! We really didn't care at the time because we were having so much fun but my when my toes started going numb I threw in the white flag and headed back indoors. The nice lady who works at the top of the gondola ride must be used to idiotic tourists playing in the snow because she had towels and jackets and everything we need to get warmed up right away. We enjoyed the view from inside and then made our way into the next cart and off we were......headed back down that big ole mountain. The more I keep doing all these crazy things the more I'm realizing how much I've been missing out on in life. I was a little more relaxed on the ride down but of course no thanks to Timothy ! He kept shaking the cart and telling me that the screws looked loose and stuff like that to scare me but I just ignored him and enjoyed the glorious views all the way to the bottom. Whew, well that was over and our belly's were full so it was time to get back on the road so we could make Colorado Springs by nightfall. Boy oh Boy we had no idea what highway 24 had in store for us tonight. A couple of hours passed as we drove through the lonely Colorado countryside, enjoying the view and keeping a close lookout for any animals or wildlife we could see. As we are driving through one of those long and desolate spots that only the west can offer all of a sudden we feel the motorhome swaying back and forth and we can hear what we think is metal grinding the pavement. Yep, it had to be, it must be, it was...........a flat tire !! Seriously, out of all the places in America and Canada we have traveled, this had to be the worse place to have a flat tire. We hadn't seen a mailbox in over an hour and we were still an hour and a half from Colorado Springs !! This was NOT good but Tim and I didn't panic. He pulled Big Bertha over to the side of the road and into a deserted cow pasture. Immediately we both grab our cell phones and start looking up tire repair shops, AAA, towing companies and anything else we could think of that might could help us. Well, Tim gets Joe on the phone who says he can't help but his buddy Bubba might can help but Bubba says he don't have the right stuff to help so he gives Tim Bill's phone number who in turn said he was done for the day and gives us John's number who we had to leave a message for !! In the meantime, I'm on the phone with AAA, roadside assistance, 911, my brother Patrick and anyone else who I think might can help us but everyone just kept saying that we were too far away or they didn't have the right stuff to change a tire on a motorhome or what seemed like every excuse in the world. By this time the sun starts setting and it's getting cold and dark and I'm starting to get a little scared. I'm sitting at the table with the gun in my hand and all I can think about is all those horrible movies I watched as a teenager and I just knew we were doomed ! All the while, Tim is calling every Tom, Dick and Harry within a 200 mile range and I get on the internet and start calling everyone in the Yellow Pages but they are all closed for the day so I have to leave SOS messages on their machines. It is dark and cold and I'm scared and Tim's trying to stay calm but he doesn't really know what to do and then, all of a sudden, his cell phone rings. It's a man named John who is a friend of Bill's and he got Tim's message and he was coming to help us !! He got all the tire information from Tim, went to get a tire for us and then drove almost 100 miles across Colorado to change our tire. It was an answered prayer or a miracle, whichever you chose to believe, all I know is that I had been sitting in a cow pasture in the middle of Colorado in the cold dark night with wild animals howling and someone was finally coming to help. John eventually arrived about two hours after he called and an hour or so and $613.68 later we were back on the road. Thank you, thank you, thank you John ! Amen, Halleluah, I wasn't going to die tonight and I was just as happy as could be.......really really tired but happy all the same. Magellan found us the nearest Wal-Mart which was located in a small town called Woodland Park and we made our way there in the dark. We were both so mentally and physically exhausted we didn't even set our alarm clocks to go off.........we decided we needed some sleep so we could start tomorrow off on the right foot. Well, as my Momma would say, these are the things memories are made of and I have to agree, we will definitely be telling this story for many years to come. Night !

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