Colorful Colorado and Long Drive Days

We drove up and over the Colorado Rockies and into Utah in one go. Ideally, we would have spent more time in Colorado, but we needed to make it into Utah for the work week. We took full advantage of the KOA stay in Central City, arriving exactly at check in time. M got to run in the mountains twice, directly from the campsite. The kids loved playing at the playground and using the campground's wifi to stream a movie and do a watch party with their friends back in Pittsburgh. I took a walk around the campground to admire the scenery. Later M and I had a real wood campfire. When we left in the late morning, we knew it was going to be a long drive day, but the I70 was much slower than we anticipated. The mountains were gorgeous, but Colorado is so crowded! Rest areas were packed, there were hardly places to pull off and park without navigating a traffic jam (it was a gorgeous spring Sunday). We have learned the hard lesson of not stopping frequently enough many times, and we had to learn it one more time on this drive. The kids were really grumpy and argumentative - probably actually just hungry and needing to run around. The road was pretty rough for an interstate and one of our fenders partially detached. We stopped for groceries and did a quick removal and duct-tape/splicing of the wires job in the parking lot, but we need to figure out how to get a more permanent fix. 

It's pretty normal to experience the occasional mechanical problem, and driving as much as we do just shakes a lot of things loose in a camper. At least everything is still functional, although I think we need to get a new fender as soon as possible. Marko went around the camper with a screwdriver this morning, tightening up all the loose stuff. 

I'm really glad to be out of the cool, wet weather, and away from tornado threats. The midwest was cheap and empty, but storm-watching is too nerve-wracking for me. Now we are in the exact opposite in the San Rafael Desert...clear skies and tons of sun. We did our laundry this morning and swapped out all the fleece pants for shorts. 

M started his new job this morning, and I took the kids to Goblin Valley State Park. Tomorrow, we will either return to Goblin Valley or go to Capitol Reef. There are also supposedly some wild horses around and Laurel would love to catch sight of them.