Then and Now

Nov 12 2005

Oct 8 2007

Ely - Denver

Monday we left Ely at 4am, rolling east on the US-50. We entered Utah at dawn and had some spectacular scenery as we crossed Panoramaland before connecting with the I-70 and crossing the continental divide. Including numerous photo and leg-stretching stops it took us about 13 hours to get to Denver, a good 3 hours over-schedule.

On arrival in Denver, I dragged Anderson down to East Colfax Ave, the wickedest street in America, to follow in Kerouac's footsteps and see some of my old stomping grounds. We attracted a following of coke-riddled bums as we walked east, apparently they thought we were going to start dropping dollars. On the way back we had dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery outside on the 16th street mall. I ate buffalo for the first time ever, in the form of buffalo fajitas. Anderson thought he would eat light and order a salad... the resulting huge plate that arrived loaded down with greens and chicken, croutons and bread rolls was the proof that if you are eating out in this country, you are not eating light. One to one and a half meals is calorie sufficient to last an entire day. On that note, high fructose corn syrup appears to be the magic ingredient which is in almost every food and drink I have consumed in the last 8 days.

Tuesday went down to Littleton to visit some more old stomping grounds, go to a mall and do boring stuff like washing at the laundromat I used to frequent called 'All My Suds'. Got a bit lost getting back downtown after taking a wrong turn, and ended up skirting around south Denver and getting on 3 freeways before finally figuring out where we were. Then just when it was all good and we were pointing in the right direction the freeway split and we were dragged east again because I was in the wrong lane! Visited the obligatory downtown sites, the state capitol, civic center and US Mint, then met Cindy for dinner at Chilli's on 16th Street.

Quick update...

Hi guys,

I'm just using wi-fi at a highway rest stop about 130 miles northwest of Fort Worth on US-287. We left Amarillo at about 7.30am and are heading down to Dallas. Have a lot to say but no time right now - sorry for the long wait for the post have been away from the internet for a few days. Huge thunderstorm as we drove into Amarillo last night, were lucky to escape with no damage to the car from dime-sized hail stones.

Will post the story and pics for everything east of Ely next time i get online. Meanwhile, i'll leave you with one photo....

Dawn on US-50 in Western Utah, near the Nevada border on Monday morning during the trip from Ely to Denver.

It's a long road to Denver...

...and we're only half way there.

Today we covered 573 miles, crossed 12 distinct mountain ranges and once we got to Nevada only went through about 3 or 4 towns. They call it the lonliest road in America.

Here are some of today's pics:


















No shit, this is our car man! Its a Pontiac G5 Sporthatch, classed as a 'compact economy' model by the rental company.

Me at South Lake Tahoe.

Ok, this is the coolest thing in the world. We randomly came across this while driving the Lonliest Road, its literally more remote than the middle of nowhere. Its called 'Sand Mountain' and its a giant mountain of sand. People come here from all over to ride their dune buggys on it. It was just really random to hardly see any traffic for hours and then to arrive here with all these RVs parked up and crazed dune riders speeding up and down this pile of sand in the desert.

The town of Ely, Nevada. Pictured is its traffic light, and some the several casinos that line its main street.

In the morning, its eastward to Denver... a journey of 673mi.