Back on the road............

At last I have left the garage, all repaired and glad to be back on the road. I left at 3pm the truck having been in the garage 12 days with no solar; also we cannot plug into American electric I have no power in the house which means no fridge therefore no food!! To remedy this I have to run the engine, so I may as well be moving, also I would like to get out of the city as soon as possible, it is so noisy. Les has been emailing me almost every day so I follow the route he has sent me I am soon out of the city and Into mountains and scenery. Looking for food and a night stop finding a supermarket this solves both problems. A good night’s sleep follows. I have to tell you here that Halloween and Pumpkins have taken over this country I have never seen so many pumpkins in the whole of my life, Halloween decorations and costumes are everywhere as bad as Christmas at home, every shop, every house, some trees I guess on the night there will be folk dressed up every where we shall wait and see! Just passing scen
Well I followed the road through the mountains heading for Aspen; the mountains are beautiful the colours of the trees amazing much more golden then at home, not as many browns and reds I also think the colours are much brighter, in England the autumn (fall) colours are more subdued. In Aspen it’s self the streets are lined with Aspen trees! Which turn the most gorgeous orange/gold and the leaves kind of dance in the wind it is a most beautiful site, unfortunately I could find no where to park to take any photos (sad)

I stopped for lunch at “Sally’s Breakfast” well I can eat breakfast any old time, I bet they have burger’s and steak’s as well, there were a number of people sat out side which was to cold for yours truly On opening the door my mouth dropped open. The room was not large and had a 3 sided counter with bar stools/chairs (they had backs) in the centre was the kitchen, the music playing very loud was the Beatles, the chef was shouting at the waitresses for not paying attention to the customers needs, I was told to sit where I liked in shock I just sat! Next to a Buffalo Bill look alike his plate of food was HUGE, I had taken my book to read whilst waiting but could not take my eyes off what was going on. The chef would have given Jamie Oliver a run for his money, every thing was home made, everything was cooked fresh in front of your very eyes I have never seen anything like it, the atmosphere was great. I ordered Manhattan Eggs, which were scrambled egg with smoked salmon one of my favorites, well my food came on an enormous plate I dread to think how many eggs were in the scrambled with lots of thick pieces of smoked salmon, home made Hash Browns gorgeous and a large home made scone (biscuit) Buffalo Bill laughed when he saw my face!! It was good I managed to eat all the egg n salmon most of the hash browns but failed with scone, the only down side is you cannot get a decent cup of tea in this country, a nice pot of tea would have been the icing on the cake. However I give the whole experience 100% excellent food, good music, good company at the counter it was great, I think so American !!!!! I had a nice cup of tea!!! Then got back on the road to catch up with Les and Margaret, the mountains are just beautiful with lovely log cabins some of which are very old, small townships, apart from Aspen which was not too large but very touristy, I pass mines most of which I think are coal also an old coke making plant. I came to the Town of Montrose and decided to park up for the night following a sign to “local car park” had a good and peaceful night, starting off fairly early I am still on catch up with LnM on the way out of town I pass a Wal Mart, thinking I could have parked there, little did I know that LnM had parked there and were still there. I continued on heading for Durango where I saw the 4th July parade this is a high Mountain road winding through old mines and mining towns, there had been a lot of snow when I passed the old mining town where I had stayed in June it started snowing not very much just enough to make every so beautiful This is just a winter wonderland like driving through Christmas However the road was clear!!!!! The road was fine but very slow but I am happy with that, Silverton was covered with snow but the just in a blink NO snow all the trees were green it was so sudden it was quite a shock. When I got to Durango I went to Mc Donald’s to use their internet. Les and Margaret had not come on the same road as me but were heading for Mesa Verde vie Cortez, Mesa Verde is between Durango and Cortez, So I head for Cortez asking at the gate of Mesa Verde if another truck like mine had gone in with the people speaking like me, they said no. so driving into Cortez deciding were to park so they could see me. Bingo there they were in the car park of a hotel emailing me to tell me where they were. I have a problem with my brakes the ABS (anti locking brake system) light is on and I keep getting a crunch when I brake moving slowly. Sooooooooo we have to go to Farmington to the Freightliner garage there Les will get his light fixed. So after a day visit to Mesa Verde which was just as wonderful and interesting as last time we are now in a garage AGAIN At the moment for me there is some discussion as to the payment, after only 5 days mine must be covered by guarantee, I am waiting for the other garage to ring back, I was told that all work is guaranteed by any freightliner garage in the US so fingers crossed.