Santa Fe (9) to Denver (10 - under 13), Colorado

As we left Santa Fe and headed north, we were treated to more beautiful sights of the Rocky Mountains for about 100 kilometres or so, then the mountains slowly gave way to rolling hills and wide plains.

The I25 is a very good, separated dual highway and we were able to cruise along at about 100~105 km/hour with fuel consumption sitting around 9.5 miles/gallon. I know I'm mixing metric and imperial but I suppose it's an age thing, just like I know my height in feet and inches but my weight in kilos!

Not knowing what the driving conditions were going to be like (possibly mountainous), our overnight fallback distance was to be Pueblo and if possible, Colorado Springs. We left Santa Fe at just after 9 am and arrived in Pueblo early afternoon, saw a beautiful rest spot and stopped for lunch.

A good time to kick a ball around until I stepped into a hole in the ground and hurt my ankle! Seems that any soccer skills I used to have are a far distant memory.

As driving till had been very pleasant, we made the decision to drive directly to Denver rather than have a 100 km drive from Colorado Springs (CS) tomorrow. We were also aided by a one hour time change from Central time to Mountain time, clock going back 1 hour.

The terrain from Pueblo to CS started to slowly become more mountainous again and we had a surprisingly spectacular view of Colorado Springs as we rounded a corner.

Unfortunately the view of CS in the foreground with the Rockies behind didn't last long enough for us to retrieve a camera, and the shoulder on the road wasn't suitable to stop so we didn't get a photo. Nevetheless, we did get some good photos of other sections of the mountains.

As we neared (about 80 kms south) Denver, we had to turn off the I25 and the roads became narrower and busier. Fortunately "Homer" guided us safely to our RV Park in Golden, a suburb on the western side of Denver sitting at the foothills of the Rockies. It's a beautiful park and very secure - a great place to leave the rig alone for 8 days.

Next blog, the Norwegian Star and the cruise to Alaska