Day 26

On to Denver, but really Aurora. Driving down from the mountains is terrifying. There's ruts in the road from tire chains, and those plus the wind tried their damndest to throw our van into the guardrail. We had more than a couple "this is it" moments on the drive, even while going well under the speed limit. These are also the steepest inclines we've had on the trip, but the van pulled through. It's nice having a button to turn off overdrive. It makes engine braking a lot easier.

Our campground in Aurora is in Cherry Creek State Park, smack dab in the middle of the Denver sprawl. More nickel and diming. You have to swipe a credit card in the shower. We also got charged to enter the park even though we already paid to camp there. What a world!

Rainey found a food truck where we got the best mexican food we have ever eaten. We had quesa birria tacos, a carnitas quesadilla, and a steak burrito to share. It was heavenly. I'd drive this whole way again just to eat there.

We also stopped by a farmers' market to try and get some Palisade peaches, but they're a week or so out of season. Ho hum.

Denver traffic is something else. Maybe we've just been away from cities for too long.

The weather here is also nuts. Colorado boasts 300 days of sunshine per year, and this is not one of them. I haven't seen storms like this since the tornado that wrecked Dayton in 2019. We had hail but it was pretty small.