Meeting friends at Salida, CO

My next stop was Salida, CO where I will meet up with John and Linda and caravan up to Baker City, OR for a rally there and then begin our Canada adventure.  I had a bit of trouble finding the place John had designated to camp and eventually meet, but a couple of calls to John straightened me out.  It is the Arkansas River Recreation Area and runs all along the Arkansas River.  Here is my no hook-up site.

I was watching out across the river and spotted this car driving near the railroad tracks.  I thought it a bit odd since it’s trunk was open and it had a Dominoes pizza delivery sign on top of it.  There was a guy walking along the tracks guiding the way and several people in the trunk dangling their legs out the back just enjoying the ride. Maybe he was delivering pizza to the railroad. HA!

Here is a pic of the sunset that night.

John and Linda meet up

The next day John and Linda came down and they treated me to a great pizza at Amico’s in town.  That pizza is soooo delicious.

Then we took off and our destination was a winery at Palisade, CO.  We had to go over the Monarch Pass.  It was 7 miles going up and 9 miles going down.  Very slow going both ways.  I took this pic at the summit which was 11,300 feet.

It was pretty smooth sailing once we got over the pass.  We stopped at the American Legion Memorial Park in Gunnison, CO for lunch and to let the dogs run.  It was a beautiful day.

Final stop

Our last stop of the day was at the St. Kathryn’s Winery in Palisade, CO just outside of Grand Junction.  It was a beautiful winery and after the long day some wine tasting was in order.  They had some really great wines.

Then we pulled up our chairs and had wine and cheese.  Thanks Harvest Host for finding us this great spot to spend the night.

Long day…

It was a long day but it was good.  Tuesday we will have even a longer day driving, but then it will be some short days after that.  Our goal will be to reach another winery outside of Santaquin, UT.