White Knuckle Week

Again, a lot has happened in the past few days. We spent the night in Vail Sunday night to break up our drive to Durango. We met up with Drew’s high school friend Lori who has lived in Vail for the past couple years. She tried her hardest to convince us to be fellow ski bums but we decided it wasn’t in the cards for us. The next day we wanted to see Aspen so we drove farther west to Glenwood Springs and then turned south. After seeing the town, which was very cute and very pricey (gas was a dollar a gallon more expensive than anywhere else in Colorado), we decided to move on. We had also always wanted to see Crested Butte and we figured there had to be a way to get from Aspen to Crested Butte without going the long way around. Our National Geographic atlas didn’t show a way so I looked it up on my iPhone. Sure enough it showed us a county road that took you through a 12,000 ft pass. We headed that way from Aspen, drove half an hour along a road lined with multi-million dollar estates, only to come to a fork in the road- the left fork had a “road closed” sign and the right fork was an unpaved road consisting of boulders and dirt. My iPhone route directed us towards the right fork and as we stood assessing the condition of the road (or lack thereof) a big Toyota truck came towards us. Drew flagged them down and asked them about the road. They said it was beautiful with incredible mountain views and waterfalls but they had to turn around because they popped a tire. The driver kept looking at our Subaru and asking what kind of tires we had, if it was four-wheel drive, and if it had a low gear. Finally he said, “You should be alright” which for some reason was reassuring enough for Drew to want to proceed. I was absent for this conversation or else there is no way in heck we would have proceeded. So down the sketchy road we went. It got more and more rocky and narrow and windy and scary. My stomach was doing flip-flops thinking about how we were going to pop a tire out in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone service- I was sure I was going to miss my interview in Durango the next morning. But of course I didn’t say anything to Drew because I was trying to be adventurous and be a good sport about it. But finally enough was enough, I thought ‘screw adventure, this is stupid’ and thankfully at the same time Drew said “I think we should turn around.” So we did. We drove back through Aspen, up to Carbondale and then finally south again. Ultimately it turned into a two hour detour, but hey, now we know of a great off-roading trip to do one day when we have bigger tires, a satellite phone, and no next-day appointments.

The drive after that was amazing alternating with ugly. We drove through awesome mountain passes in the Gunnison National Forest, then through flat, ugly, coal-mining towns, then finally the San Juans. These were by far the most impressive and rugged mountains we've seen in Colorado. Some are rocky and craggy and some are green with snowmelt waterfalls that reminded me of pictures of New Zealand. We drove the pass through Ouray, which is nicknamed ‘The Switzerland of America’', a name it definitely earned. The bad part of this drive was that our gas tank was on empty. Drew was supposed to stop in Ouray for gas but there were only two crowded gas stations at the north end of the town. We thought we’d just catch one on the south end of the town but there wasn’t one and the road just spit you straight into a windy mountain road with no place to turn around- we had to keep driving. This was the scariest drive of my life. It took us along a road with no guardrails and cliffs at the edge that you would roll down forever. So as we climbed that gas gauge went further and further below E and I was getting more and more freaked out. We could see down the other side of the mountain into the valley and there were no gas stations in sight. For the second time that day I was sure I wasn’t going to make it to my interview in Durango. But finally we got over the pass and were able to coast. We ended up coasting in neutral literally for twenty miles into the next town; my friend Debi was right that our trip was “very Jack Kerouac”. I’ve never been so happy to see a tourist town with gas stations and cell phone service. I was so happy I even forgave Drew for killing a chipmunk in the road; he said “Anne, it was either us or the chipmunk” which I understand, but still, it was sad- may he rest in peace.

We made it the rest of the way to Durango without incident and had BBQ and locally brewed Ska Brewing Co beer for dinner. Despite Drew’s best efforts I was able to attend my interview this morning. It went very well- the doctors were great and it would be a four day work week! But now we’re conflicted about where to live and which job to take. I’m almost more stressed about this decision than I was about surviving the drive to Durango- Drew’s white knuckle drive turned into my white knuckle job hunt. I haven’t officially been offered the job in Durango but Drew and I are going to have to decide what to do if they do offer it to me. When we decided to quit our jobs and move out here I thought I’d be stressing over not being able to find a job and running out of money; I never dreamed I’d be stressing over which great job opportunity to pursue. Right now we’re leaning towards taking the job in the front range, but we’re going to sleep on it… we’ll let you know!

p.s. Sorry there aren't more pictures, I was too busy freaking out to take any.

Drew’s fun fact: Dueling is legal in Paraguay, as long as both parties are registered blood donors.