Snow...

On the Road Again Day 8 | Snow on Grand Mesa

One last road trip before we leave Colorado. Which took us back to the Grand Valley wine country to sample a few more wines before climbing up up to the top of Grand Mesa. It blew and rained and the sun came out a few times, just like at home. You can see the effect of yesterday's storm in the color of the river.

Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, and by our estimation (actually, the altimeter on my GPS), we reached just over 11,100 feet before the road headed back down. Somewhere around the Powderhorn ski area the white flakes started to fall. We rarely turn back (even when sometimes we should). We kept on climbing, wondering if it would stop.

It had been snowing up here for a while; the trees were at that picture-perfect stage of green frosted with white, and the meadows were already white. We kept driving, until the views disappeared and the road got slick and we pushed on to the summit and started down. About then we slid toward the ditch for about the third time, and that was enough for us. We stopped and put on the chains. Each time a truck with Colorado plates came by, they stopped and asked if everything was OK. The state highway guy pulled over, got out to chat, and helped buckle the last piece of cable when Dave's hands got too cold. Nice people around these parts.