Emma said we need to get away from the cold weather, so we tried to comply.

We left Ontario on a grey and dreary Christmas Day in search of warmth and sunshine, but instead we’ve been dodging storms and moving from one weather system to another. Sigh.

Our final destination is Arizona (where the sun is) via Denver (where a daughter is) and we are giving ourselves about a month to make our way at a leisurely pace. The van will stay winterized until we get to an area that can stay consistently above freezing, although we are starting to have doubts about the feasibility of this happening.

To add to our misery, the grouchy CBP officer that had to work on Christmas Day relieved us of our dog food (it contained lamb) and half a tomato (tomatoes are not allowed, he said sternly).  The half onion was okay to take through so we didn’t tell him that it actually touched the forbidden tomato, and we continued to the other side where we bought the exact same dog food at the first open PetSmart.  Go figure.

Grey skies, unrelenting rain and wind pretty much the whole way, our theme for this leg of the trip is Keep On Truckin’

The first night we stopped at Great Sauk Trail Rest Area for a cold night and a glorious sunrise. We bought a small oil-filled radiator and used it at night. It was very quiet and worked well, but our batteries ran out sometime during the night. Looks like we will be able to use it only when we have shore power.

We will be monitoring the batteries’ performance under different conditions during this trip and are thinking of a collaborative post about the battery/solar system in the future.

The second night, after skirting an unexpected winter storm, we entered Colorado and stayed at the Julesburg Teapea Welcome Centre – another cold and windy night, but this time we remembered that we had a 12-volt electric blanket,and had the propane stove working all night.

It was nice and toasty and the next day we rolled into Denver.

Surprise, another storm is heading our way and this time it dumped a lot of snow over New Mexico. Road closures, collisions, deep freeze, you name, they got it. Plans change quickly under these conditions and we are looking for a window that will allow safe travels south west. And yes, we may have to change the route a bit.

Did we mention that it looks like we are getting sick?

on the plus side, gas is so cheap.  most places it’s around $2 a gallon.  Haven’t seen these prices for a long time.  It sure helps with the slightly elevated gas mileage that can be attributed to driving in high winds.

We did sneak a walk in town and some time with Denver daughter, so all is well.

Here are some sights from around town.

Okay, let’s try this again: warmth and sunshine, here we come!

BY THE NUMBERS

• Cost: (mostly cheap gas and some coffee and snacks) $297 Canadian 
• Distance: 2,421 km (1,506 miles)
• Fuel consumption: 6.8 km per liters (16 mpg) mostly fighting wind

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