Day 19 - Golden to Amarillo

I had a great night's sleep at Michael and Michelle's house. It was so quiet compared to the motels on main roads where I have been usually sleeping during this trip.

But when I looked out the bedroom window early this morning, the surroundings and my car were still in bed, under a heavy white blanket of snow. The snow was much heavier than what I had seen in Mt. Shasta.

I set out for Colorado Springs hoping to visit the museum dedicated to Nikola Tesla, the genius of the first half of last century who pioneered alternating current electrical generation and distribution, among many other things. He had a laboratory in Colorado Springs and I was hoping to see some of his original apparatus.

As I drove down interstate highway 70 once more, with the wipers batting away the snow flying off the car's hood as I gathered speed, the weather got worse and the visibility lessened. I exited onto highway 470 and then interstate highway 25 south, bound for Colorado Springs. Snow and spray pelted the windscreen and I could hardly see six car lengths ahead.

The orange juice I had with breakfast didn't seem keen to stay in my body, so I escaped from the freeway towards the Garden of the Gods, knowing there should be a public restroom there. Restroom there was, and enjoy it I did, as well as the enthusiastic crowd of volunteers and visitors at the Garden of the Gods. Today was Earth Day, and there was a hive of family activity, complete with a live outside broadcast setup from the local "oldies" FM radio station.

I enquired of the volunteers at the Garden of the Gods about the location of the Tesla museum in Colorado Springs, only to be disappointed by the reply that the museum had closed a couple of years earlier due to lack of funding. What a shame.

It rained as I drove around the Garden of the Gods, and with the cloud base getting even lower, I gave up the idea of driving up Pike's Peak. I made a decision on the spot to head for Texas. I checked the map and Amarillo appeared to be a viable target for the day, so I bade farewell to the high altitudes and the snow as I turned off highway 25 south onto highway 50 east and finally onto 287 south at Lamar which I then followed through a small corner of Oklahoma and finally into Texas. It rained most of the way until I was about 50 miles out of Amarillo. The closer I got to Amarillo, the clearer the skies became.

I am relieved to be back down at only 3,000 feet above sea level now. I have seen enough of the high altitudes and cold of the Colorado Rockies. I am also missing my sweetheart Janet, and prefer now to take a more direct route to Florida so I can get my business done there and return to Hong Kong as soon as possible.