Day 3 - Grand Junction, CO to South Fork, CO

With a short drive ahead we slept in late and after breakfast at the Village Inn were on the road at 8:05. And without visiting one of the ten local Starbucks. How did that happen?

The first part of the drive was on Highway 50 through Delta, Olathe and Montrose. Ok, we stopped in Montrose for a Starbucks.A few miles before Gunnison we turned South on Highway 149, also known as the Silver Thread Highway. If you are looking to make time this is not the road for you. It's slow going, but this time of the year it is one beautiful drive. Fall in this part of Colorado is about bright yellows, reds and oranges mixed in with the evergreens. At high altitude Fall comes early and 11,600 feet above sea level qualifies as high altitude.

Not much in the way of towns on 149. Lake City was the first and it's a great jumping off place for an exciting 4-wheel drive through 14,000+ foot mountains. Then came the old silver mining town of Creede, which is the only incorporated town in all of Mineral County. With a population of 712, Mineral County has a lot of open space to pack in a lot of scenic stuff.

A short distance before our destination the highway follows alongside the Rio Grande, which has it's beginning in the nearby mountains. About 2:00 we rolled into South Fork for four nights with a old friend of nearly thirty-five years. Time does travel fast. 233 miles today.

Posted from my iPad2

Autumn colors
Silver Thread Highway