Cross country trip day three.
 

First a disclaimer. This is not a pleasure trip as I have six days to get to VA. I read advice and thought about heat and am taking I 70. I did a similar trip twenty years ago but went the southern route.

I highly recommend taking the southern route!

First, heat. It is miserably hot driving through Nevada and western Colorado with stretches longer than 100 miles with no place to stop. Literally NO place.

Second, the countryside is definitely beautiful . The hills and rock formations are amazing. But unless you’re a geologist how many hundreds of miles of the same scenery can you take before your mind goes numb. Especially with no bathrooms lol. And the one really amazing thing to see is not marked on the roadway at all (Sego cave pictures) and I couldn’t find it. (In Sicily I went to a tiny island just to see cave pictures so you know I like that stuff lol.)

The roads are constantly being worked on around Denver (I used to live there) so the traffic can back up horribly.

The one one truly worthwhile part of the trip is actually a side trip getting off the 70 to the 40, going past Winter Park (an ordinary ski town) and up to the hidden gem of Grand Lake a tiny town and the highest batural lake in the country crossing the Continental Divide on the Way. From there you can drive through Rocky Mountain National Park (summer only)and ending up in Estes Park then driving to Denver. Estes Park is far more commercial than Grand Lake but also has more to do. Now THAT drive is well worth it. But otherwise I am pretty unhappy with the route.

On the southern route there are a million things to see and do, lots of good food and no super long dead stretches of highway (unless you drive through Texas of course)

Anyway that’s my two cents worth after three mind numbing days of driving. We’ll see if it gets more interesting as I head into Kansas.

Best to all

TF

I hope thinks get more interesting for you. At least you've managed to stay awake while you drive!

If you take a southern route in August, it will also be hot, but it will be humid as well. If I have to deal with heat, I'll take low humidity anytime, and I'll be thankful for working air conditioning!

Summer is the main time roads can be worked on in places like Colorado, so construction is pretty much a given. I went through several stretches in Arizona last week - it's just the best time of year to get that work done.

Lee Ann

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2a0eb7da96.jpg
This is some of the art at Sego Canyon. If you are ever in the area, take the exit off I-70 to Thompson Springs which is about 10 miles east of where UT 191 goes south to Moab where you missed Arches and Canyonlands NPs. Too bad this had to be a quick trip and in summer when it is beastly hot. Glad you got to drive through RMNP.

Thanks for reporting and I hope the rest of the trip goes well.