05.16.2014 |  Before leaving Estes Park, we had breakfast at the Sundeck Restaurant and then stopped by Black Canyon Inn for a few more photos. Would’ve stopped by Stanley hotel once again, but their policy is to have a $5 parking fee and it was far to early to take measure of their offer: parking fee converted into a drink at the Cascades bar inside. Today we had breakfast again right by our roadside digs, awful traffic (but safe arrival) in Lone Tree.

Lovely dinner tonight in Denver (basil seafood and double order of “Rock and Roll”––avocado in smoked salmon skin with…delicious) at John Holley’s Asian Fusion. Vile delay today because of GPS inadequacy. GPS doesn’t play well with the Rockies. Locals corroborated here.

After traveling three weeks ago in Botswana and assorted ports of call, Chad took the time to drop by the Hampton Inn and catch up a bit. Glad am making this trip happen. Hope to see Maggie, too, for breakfasts mañana. His father’s Jud’s getting an honorary doctorate tomorrow at U of Denver. And he has been working on a documentary about multiple myeloma, from which both he and Matt Damon’s father, Kent, have been stricken. My understanding is that though multiple myeloma’s invariably fatal, Chad’s dad seems to be beating the odds. From what I’ve heard from Chad and elsewhere, Matt Damon seems to be a good bloke as well as a hard-working, successful actor.

View outside hotel of Rockies

Before heading to Colorado, I drove to Cheyenne’s supercharger while Susan used the gym and got her gear ready for the hotel cart. The supercharger here is one the end of an RV parking area at the Frontier Mall (check name). Rather difficult to work ones way in, but here Tesla’s charging cord fixtures are arranged for driving rather than backing in. Still, spaces are organized diagonally within the RV array and “Schmidt” is everywhere, so there’s not a lot of space to navigate. (This may be more perplexing than usual as we’re in the big open-space part of the country.) One of the stall’s parking area’s was deluged in rain at its terminal point, which may relate to why this bit of tarmac real estate has a comparatively wonky parking configuration. The mall has no wireless network, so forget remote monitoring of charge.

Cheyenne’s wonky superchargers

Lots of snow melt here over past few days, but it’s safe to charge up and maybe even scare up a few newts!

J1772 freebie in Loveland, CO’s civic center parking lot

Trust me: avoid this and pack light, despite your copilot’s best intentions: I

Trust me on this: avoid this and pack light, despite your copilot’s best intentions: II

Mind the heavy foot, esp. in tempting 75+mph environments

Today we decided not to be at the full mercy of supercharger stations. Our Rubicon was off the beaten path on 25S to Denver. Susan had chatted with a desk clerk in Denver who’d grown up there and advised us to stay near the supercharger in Lone Tree (his hotel, Hampton Inn) rather than the downtown Denver expensive hotels. He mentioned that Red Rocks and Estes Park, relatively close to Denver, are not to be missed. So today we thought to check and see whether either was on the way to Lone Tree.    Clearly we didn’t have enough power to make it to Estes Park on 34W and back to 25S to make Denver. Time to search plugshare. Pulled into a visitor’s center in Loveland, CO and asked for assistance, which the desk people were eager to offer. Dixie there said, “Love this job because every day I lean something new.” While she was googling I checked out the plugshare app, and we both found the same venue: Loveland’s civic center. Right across from the town library and a public lake were two J1772 chargers. Plugshare says there’s a $1/hr. charge to a credit card, but actually both are currently free. We’re only talking 22/mi gained per hour, but if you explore the town a bit and find a good restaurant––as we did at nearby recommended Next Door––you can bolster your energy by 40 miles or so while dining and walking.

Long story short, we topped off well and, largely from Kelley’s and Meredith’s recommendations at Next Door determined to stay at a very nice, inexpensive motel in Estes Park for the next two nights and update our Denver stay to one two days hence. So we’ll be looking at beautiful high country for the next couple days!