Cautiously Forging Ahead

Up relatively early, and savoring every bite of a delicious and satisfying breakfast, we executed the plan for the morning.  My comrade headed off to visit with a group of shaman to receive prayers and positive reinforcement that all would turn out, while I headed into town to learn more about our vehicular affliction.

Discussion surrounding the issue pointed to likelihood of something bad in the gasoline.  The agent at Advanced Auto recommended introducing another batch of chemical cleanser known as SeaFoam, and a full tank of premium to assist in ensuring the problem got sorted out.  The next step was to run some of this mixture down the highway to see how it worked out.

A 30 km trip out to Spike Buck Gulch seemed sufficient to test the effort.  Leaving the car running at that location and wandering about for several minutes, I found a bit of peace in the quiet little spot.  All seemed well enough, so I headed back to connect with the crew to relay my findings and discuss further action.

With the decision to move on down the road to the originally intended destination agreed upon, we hit the road again that afternoon, though following the relatively safer route of I-25 to Walsenburg.  The jump from there to Fort Garland felt as if it might make for a more tense situation, with more remote areas involved.  However, more traffic than anticipated allayed fears of being stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Mount Mestas welcomed us into La Veta Pass and on to Fort Garland, where we enjoyed a brief intermission the relatively new establishment, Mountain View Diner.  Their particular brand of comfort food, along with a slower pace encouraged a cautious sense of accomplishment here in the San Luis Valley.

The last 42 km of the journey for the day ended with a phenomenal view of the Great Sand Dunes and the San Juan mountain range in the distance from our humble geodesic dome at base camp.  An unexpected array of clouds, later sprinkling a bit of rain, determined there would not be much to see this particular night in this dark sky region.  Temperatures plummeted into the single digits as well, but we were mostly oblivious.  Satisfaction in having made it this far without further complication allowed us to at least suffer the void of noise pollution that blanketed the remainder of the night.