FRIDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2023

(Atlanta, GA – Silt, CO)

The black out blind was really good, I thought, as I lay in bed, waiting to get up. It was 0440, and the alarm would go off at 0500. It didn’t. I checked my phone alarm which was set to go off five minutes later. It was set for 0520…and then I remembered we had agreed on 0515. Oh well. I was awake now.

I got up shortly after the alarm and made coffee (first hotel coffee machine of the trip) before heading for the shower. We were downstairs for breakfast by 6am and that’s when I realised the lack of light in our room was nothing to do with the black out blind. It was still dark outside.

After breakfast we put the few items we’d had out back into the case and went back downstairs to check out, a process which comprised simply having over the keys. And so, we were outside at 0645 ready for the 0700 shuttle bus. God job, because people got on early and it departed 6 minutes ahead of schedule.

Atlanta airport was busy. The traffic was congested and it felt noisy and chaotic. Still, we found our way into the terminal, and printed out the baggage tags for our cases (I had checked in on line last night). Attaching them to the cases was somewhat beyond my brain capacity at that time of the morning, but luckily a Delta person came to our rescue.

Atlanta is the world’s busiest airport. Over 45 million passengers last year. After dropping the bags we queued for security. And queued. And queued. When checking in, it recommended arriving three hours before flight time, as security lines are slower while they refurbish the airport. The queue wound around all of the shops and areas in the main concourse, giving us ample time to, for example, admire the domed roof. It took an hour, we had walked 3,200 steps and had in real terms only made it 50m from the front doors, as the crow flies. Crucially, though, we were now ‘air side’ of security.

We got the shuttle train to concourse B, and found gate B24, as per the gate we were told. We found two seats and gratefully sat down. However, the gate was labelled for Hartsford, CO, departing just half an hour before our flight. I wondered how they could turn the plane around that quickly… a quick check on the app revealed that they had changed the gate to B10. We got up and wandered off to our new gate. It had been so lovely to sit down for 3 minutes…

Now settled in at B10, where the gate showed ‘Los Angeles – flight departed’, I presumed that it would soon change to Denver. We enjoyed a 15 minute rest, but with no signs of activity, I checked the app again. It was now gate B09, which was located the other side of some shops and not visible from our location. Ah well. Time to move again.

We did board at gate B09, and the flight pushed back on time for the 2 hour 48 minutes it would take to get to Denver. Due to time zone changes, we would be arriving just 48 minutes after departure. Air traffic was launching planes at one minute intervals, using two runways. There was still a lot of cloud over America, with some beautiful formations, at least when viewed from above.

The skies cleared over Kansas, and I noticed that most of the fields were farmed in circles. Although they look pretty from the air, I couldn’t help thinking that this wastes over 21% of the available land (if my maths is right…). As the land goes on for miles and miles and miles, perhaps that’s not so important. As we went further west, there was a greater number of rectangular fields. Whether the farmers want to get more from their land, or are just farming things that are less dependent on irrigation, I don’t know. The closer we got to Denver, the more wind turbines I started seeing. There were hundreds of them.

We landed safely and my first thought after disembarking was ‘where’s my coat?!’. When we landed in Atlanta yesterday if was 26C; in Denver it was 3C. It was very busy in the airport but it had a nice feel. We got the shuttle to the main terminal, by which time our cases were waiting for us. We headed out to Ground Transportation and saw an Alamo car rental shuttle bus arriving, so followed it to its bus stop.

Before long we had completed the car paperwork and found an appropriate vehicle (Toyota Highlander), with the help of the attendant. Andrew spent some time familiarising himself with the controls, while I refreshed my mind on where we were going. Navigation is very simple, just follow I-70 westward. The only thing to remember is the exit numbers for the three stops we would make. First stop, Denny’s for lunch. The roads were busy, but moving. We found the diner easily enough and had a good meal, which was welcome as it had been 9 hours since we finished breakfast, and we’d just had a biscuit and a mini portion of crisps on the flight.

Then it was onward and very much upward, crossing the Rockies. After passing through the Eisenhower tunnel at just over 11,000 feet, we descended to the town of Silverthorne, where we called in at the Columbia factory store. Just getting out of the car and walking to the store made me feel a little light headed. I could definitely feel the elevation of 9,318 feet. Still, it proved to be a successful stop, and then an hour later we were on our way again, continuing westward along I-70.

The scenery was beautiful. Snow on the peaks and in north-facing gulleys, high mountains, golden rocks, and as we descended in altitude the trees began to look more autumnal and less like winter.

Andrew did all the driving, which I was grateful for. We were both very tired by the time we reached the hotel (Holiday Inn) at Silt. Neither of us was hungry, both far too tired to be bothered, so we bought some snacks in the hotel and were gratefully stretched out on the bed by 1930. On this time zone, we were up around 0300. We left before sunrise and not the moon is up. Nowonder we’re tired!

There is definitely a lie in tomorrow (whether we are asleep or just resting). Tomorrow’s high altitude scenic drive is unlikely to happen as a winter stormy is forecast for the weekend, so we’ll just see how it all looks in the morning.