Centennial RV Park, Montrose, Colorado

Today we drove from Rifle State Park to Centennial RV Park in Montrose Colorado. We needed fuel we were down to close to a quarter tank and if you get below that the generator wont run which means we can not run the roof air while driving, so we really needed to fuel up somewhere, last fill up was August 27 on our way up to Estes Park,. Today we took on 82 gallons today, we can hold 125 gallons. Its a 150 gallon tank but can only get 125 into it due to the way the tank filler tubes are connected to the upper side of the tank. We had to drive into Grand Junction to get fuel which we really were not planning on doing, we were going to go around it to get to Montrose, but we needed fuel.

Just a comment about driving on I70 in Colorado West of I25, you really have to stay focused driving a motorhome on I70. Our previous driving in the mountains on 2 lane roads like we did to and from Estes Park I expected the driving to require more effort and of course the scenic byways such as 7, 72 and 119 make it all worthwhile. I70 being an interstate the traffic really moves along very fast but you need to ignore how fast they are going and drive within the limits of the motorhome. I70 also has a really steep climb up to the Eisenhower ( west bound) and Johnson (east bound) tunnels. Likewise they have steep down hills sections for several miles as you leave the tunnels. I70 has faster moving traffic with sweeping turns that are fun to power through in a car, but a motorhome doesnt quite power through sweeping turns quite the same. So you have to keep reminding yourself to drive totally different and slow down before the turns and avoid using your brakes. DONT TRY TO KEEP UP WITH THE TRAFFIC, drive within the limits of the vehicle. It is a spectacular drive, you find yourself driving through rugged canyons with I70 West lanes suspended above the I70 East bound lanes. I missed a lot of the scenery, the road really requires a lot of concentrated effort. It was still a spectacular drive, but didnt see nearly as much as I would have seen had I been driving a car. I am glad I did not tackle I70 west of I25 last year. I learned a lot last year and needed all the skills I learned last year to competently drive I70 this year. I am sure I would have done just fine last year, but it would have been much more stressful and I probably would have felt in over my head. Last years trip we had short segements of challenging uphills and downhills and I learned when to downshift going up steep hills and how to use the engine brake effectively going down steep hills.

I asked Debbie to take pictures as we drove and she took pictures of a lot of things I didnt see. I will post some of these pictures within the next few days.

I70 East of I25 is just the opposite, its straight as an arrow with not too many challenging mountain climbs and mile after mile of corn for hundreds of miles. You can find yourself losing concentration while driving I70 through Kansas for example. Not complaining about Kansas or all the corn at all, its just that there is a huge difference driving I70 west of I25. All those miles of corn in Kansas are impressive in their own unique way.

Finally a park with gravel roads and gravel sites and grassy area for your picnic table. We will stay here again.

The idea here is another RV pulls in next to you but pointing the other direction and pulls all the way forward. That way the RV units are not exactly side by side, they are offset and no one is looking at the side of another RV. Its a great idea.

The place is empty because technically it is closed but they let us stay longer since we got there before they closed.