We settled up with the owner of the campground this morning. She was really nice and understanding. She’s from Florida, the Tallahassee area, and it took her a while to adjust to the dry heat of the desert. She told me that she and her husband are B.A.S.E. jumpers. B.A.S.E. jumpers parachute off fixed objects. B.A.S.E. stands for Bridges, Antennae, Span and Earth. They usually jump off the cliffs here right at dawn to avoid the heat.
Andrew and I got our truck loaded and headed out, taking a beautiful drive up hwy 128 following the Colorado River thru the canyon. We went thru Grand Junction and had to stop at REI to warranty a few things. We love REI!! Andrew’s roof top box was purchased in 1998 and it had acquired a couple of cracks on this trip. REI (and Thule) had no problem replacing it with a new box! They said Thule had a lifetime warranty and they had a new one on the truck in about 15 minutes. The propane tank we had problems with, they had to order, but replaced without question. No problem, we can do without it for a little while longer. We both bought pants with zip-off legs that we weren’t pleased with, they returned those also without a problem.
We were also checking out the size and “feel” of Grand Junction for a possible landing site after our trip. We really liked the fact that it had a microbrewery, but we didn’t get a chance to sample it’s wares. We might have to look into real estate around here.
Our route to Edwards, Colorado took us thru the beautiful Glenwood Canyon and we saw lots of people rafting and kayaking on the river. The river was really high with snowmelt. We noticed several rafters had wetsuits on, so the water must have been really cold. Brrr….
We met Jack and Ellen at their house in Edwards. The hills are green, its perhaps 70 degrees and just beautiful. They agreed that Arches and Canyonlands deserved another visit, but maybe in February or March.
We went out to dinner at an Italian place, Tavolaccio, in Edwards. The food was good, but we had the worst waiter! He had a thick accent which made it hard to understand him and, when we asked him to repeat something, he stepped further from the table to repeat it. I asked to add shrimp to an entree (something they offered on another entree), he said he’s not sure the chef would do that (they did). He filled two water glasses at the table and left a third empty. We had to ask repeatedly for bread. Dinner was ok, but he was most annoying!