Went to bed late and got up late, so it was 10:00 before I was able to tear myself away from the Roachs' hospitality and meandered out the back gate of the compound onto US6.

US6 parallels I-70 for quite a ways, occasionally swapping sides, but is a less frenetic road to travel. I was stopped for a couple of minutes once where a crew was scaling rock off a cliff face, otherwise it was mostly smooth sailing until Gypsum, where it seemed there was no option but to get up onto the interstate. (Not quite true, I think I could have gone another five miles, but the scenery would have been the same.)

There's a lot of road construction in Colorado this summer; I-70 turned into a two-lane for quite some distance, including (IIRC) a long tunnel. Eventually, though, 133 pulled me off in Glenwood Springs, south past Paonia (home of a popular summer BMW rally), and to a decision point in Hotchkiss: east through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, or west on the more direct route through Delta.

It was early enough that I picked the longer route, and just outside of Crawford stopped for fuel, believing the "No services for 80 miles" sign just before the Sinclair station. (Not true, as it happened, I spotted another Sinclair station after 56 miles.)

The road would have been entertaining, if not for the low (35 mph in most places) speed limits and the traffic obeying them. I understand that the little towns along the way depend on speeders for much of their revenue, so perhaps it's just as well.

Then into Montrose, and down US50 into Ouray, where I followed John Sullivan's directions to his recently built house on the bank of a creek still full of snowmelt. John's wife Suni answered the doorbell, and John arrived shortly thereafter.

Steak and twice-baked potatoes for dinner, followed by a walking tour of the town and a brownie sundae dessert rounded out the evening.

I'm really enjoying these stops, and wondering why I haven't done this before.

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