21. Day 16 – Cheyenne to Denver – the last day of the first stage of our around the world trip

Wednesday 24 May 2006

Last night in the RV Park, shortly after we arrived, we met our neighbour, a friendly American from ‘everywhere’.  Jerry and his wife Suzy LeRoy had opted for the alternative life in retirement and had been travelling for four years in their magnificent mobile home, complete with car attached.  It was great to talk with them and to compare adventures.  They had travelled all over the USA and even to Alaska on the Alaskan Highway so we had stories to compare.  Of course our Earthroamer looked tiny parked beside their Winnebago.

Pip hadn’t seen enough trains so Dick took her to the railway museum in Cheyenne.

Dick remembered that he had been in Cheyenne before, on his world helicopter flight in 1983.  He spent a night there just before the end of his flight. The Railway museum is situated in the beautifully restored Union Pacific Terminal in the centre of the city.  It reflects the golden days of railways.  It is obvious that in the 1930s & 40s railway was the way to travel as in those early days aviation was only in its infancy.  After an hour in the museum we drove five blocks to the east to see a ‘Big Boy’ steam locomotive restored and sitting in a park.  This is the world’s largest steam locomotive.

Cheyenne is a thriving ‘small’ city with an obvious high standard of living and well off residents.

We then drove to the south onto Highway 25 and crossed into Colorado.

The wind was still from the west and still strong but it was now a cross wind and affected the stability of the vehicle – but only slightly, we found we could sit on 60mph very safely.

We passed Loveland Airport, which reminded us of our Cessna Caravan flight from North America to Antarctica in 1999.  We had spent a night at Loveland Airport on the way to San Diego.

We now turned to the west again to locate a beautiful valley, which we missed in March when we were on the California Zephyr train from San Francisco to Denver – to pick up the Earthroamer.  The train was running late and as it came out of the famous Moffat Tunnel we were in darkness so we missed seeing it.  We drove through Boulder and then up a small winding canyon to Nederland.

We stopped and visited this quaint old gold mining town.

It was obviously a hippie habitat from the past and there still remained that influence.  For example, in Alaska everyone seemed to support President Bush and the Iraq war, but there was a difference in Nederland with posters on the shop fronts giving the alternative point of view.

It is good to see that freedom of speech is alive and well.

After a cup of coffee we continued south on Highway 119 and then west following the Union Pacific railroad to the portal of the Moffat Tunnel.

Built in 1923 to 1927, it was paid for by the local governments on either side of the tunnel.  Previously, the track had climbed over the range meaning that it was closed often in winter due to the snow.  The huge portal was unusual because it was built like a stage in a theatre.  The explanation is interesting.  A large steel frame and timber curtain is lowered to seal off the tunnel and giant pumps blow air to remove the noxious fumes generated by the diesel engines.  The curtain is made of wood so if someone fails to raise it when the train comes through, little damage is done.

Beside the railway tunnel is a smaller tunnel with a large outflow of water.  This was built as the pilot tunnel and now supplies most of the water flow for Little Boulder Creek.

You may think this would be a quiet and pristine environment when the trains are not running – not so. The giant fan makes a screaming noise that is almost deafening.

We drove up about a mile of the old track, which went over the Pass.

We parked and then walked another few miles for exercise.  On the way we passed 4WD, quad bikes, motorbikes, and push bikes.  Once gain we felt the altitude as we were over 8,000 ft.

Driving back down the valley we stopped for our last cup of tea on the banks of the fast running Little Boulder Creek.

We sat in the sun and talked about what a fantastic time we had had over the last two and a half weeks.  We were now on the last leg of the first leg of our journey. 

As we headed towards Broomfield, we drove through the small town of Rollinsville with its interesting red building, once again linked to gold mining.

We were then driving through the Roosevelt National Forest as we entered Jefferson County.  On highway 72 we passed a huge train just to give Dick his last thrill, and arrived back in Broomfield at 6pm.

The Earthroamer factory, where we were going to leave the vehicle was closed for the day, so we decided on a luxury night in a hotel.  We had now finished the first stage of our journey. All that remained was to drop the vehicle off the next morning at the Earthroamer factory for servicing and storage, and then go to the airport for the long flights home.  We said goodbye to our trusty Earthroamer knowing that we would be back in three months to continue the journey.

Of the 40,075kms around the world, we had now covered 16% of the distance.

436km for today – 6,543km total

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