Day 2 Colorado

We slept amazingly well!  The foam cushions along with the foil backed foam and winter blankets kept us cozy all night.  The tent cube was not hot nor even really warm upon jumping out of bed but it was very tolerable!  The water bottle on the table next to the tent wall was frozen nearly solid but that was the only evidence of the temperate outside, except maybe the weather app which showed 4 when we got up.  The entire cube was quick to take down and put away.  We headed to town to the post office to drop off the cards I caught up on yesterday and then headed out towards Fort Garland, our stop for the night, after another scheduled long drive day.  The campgrounds in that area are closed for the season so Andrew booked a nice hotel for the evening.  

As we were driving we noticed the truck "catching" and we couldn't decide if it was because it was cold, the transmission, or the catalytic converter as the check engine light popped on at this point and flickered and then stayed on.  Since we were only 950 miles into a 4000 mile journey we opted to have it checked out.  After researching any Ford dealerships/repair centers even remotely close (In this part of the country everything is VERY remote!), we did find one in Burlington, Colorado and it was only a "little" out of the path we had laid out.  A quick phone call was disappointing as they didn't have time to look at it at all and a shortage of manpower would have probably kept the repair not done timely either.  He recommended Grant's Garage down the street and they told us to bring it in and they'd at least give it a look.  

WOW!  We were greeted at the door by their garage dog (cutie!) and then Grant himself hooked it up and we had a part and the fix done in less than an hour (ignition coil), over their lunch break even.  We spaced and didn't get a picture taken with Grant or his lovely wife who answered the phone and told us to come in.  To get our steps in we walked down to the Safeway while they were working on our truck and channeled a little bit of momma and bought them cookies and a small meat tray since they worked over their lunch period.  They were greatly appreciative!  

Back on the road and we'd still make it to the hotel at a decent hour. It was about a 3 hour delay that could have landed up much longer!  It was an amazing drive, so flat you can see forever, hints of snow, a little and then more, sometimes fields that were cut down and sometimes bushes, maybe tumbleweed.  The trees mainly were near what we assumed were residences as they were so far in the distance you couldn't tell.  Snow fencing up.  BIG farms, big hay bales, big herds of cows, then nothing.  At one point I was just staring off and saw a small herd of something.  Research led me to believe it was a small herd of pronghorn!!  Very cool, but you'll have to take our word for it as I wasn't quick enough for a picture.

As we got closer to Fort Garland we passed through a small town (ALL the towns are small here!) and there was a herd of deer IN town, a male with a huge rack and quite a few does or smaller males maybe.  They were IN town, not in the surrounding fields, but eating tall grass on an unkempt lot between two houses.  I wasn't quick enough to get that picture either, and I question whether they were mule deer or white-tail even though I feel the coloring and size was more inline with a white-tail.  

We made it to Fort Garland and checked in. The heater was off in our room when we arrived so it was very cold; we turned it on while we went to eat.  We grabbed nice salads and brisket across the street at the All-Gon restaurant (That is their spelling, not a typo.); it was quite good!  The room was no longer cold when we got back; it had warmed up considerably and was almost too warm!! Bedtime in a real bed in a real room. 

Andrew did all of the driving today as we had the block of time for our truck repair in the middle.