Arrival Saturday, July 25
317 Miles | 5.5 Hours
Crossing the Colorado state line, we are greeted by a cheerful billboard that reads “Welcome to colorful Colorado!”
A young pair of couples who look like Instagram models pull over and hop out of their shiny Toyota Tundra giving us thumbs up on the Airstream and snapping a Polaroid picture of us by the sign before striking a few poses of their own.
The terrain gets a lot more varied and, yes, colorful as we enter Colorado (sorry Kansas). We’re also looking forward to spending some family time on our next stop with Datta’s cousin Maxine and her husband Jim, at their horse ranch. We take a back roads route to take in the scenery and spot some wild turkeys and pronghorns along the way before realizing there are no gas stations on this route. A little stressed out, we manage to run the fuel gauge down to under 20 miles range left as we coast into the first available station in over 100 miles.
Everyone’s excited to get to see Maxine and Jim and the horses, but we’re not sure how they want us to handle social distancing so we put our masks on as we pull up their gravel driveway.
They greet us with open arms and warm safe hugs, directing us to pull the Airstream into the level pasture around the back of the home where we park her and we unload our essentials to settle in for an extended stay taking over the guest quarters of their lovely home with sweeping views of the valley and the mountains beyond.
Datta has an appointment first thing Monday morning to drop off the Audi at Prestige Imports in Lakewood, less than an hour away from Jim & Maxine’s where the Audi network had located 1 of only 4 available replacement kits in the entire country for the adaptive air suspension intake module, which now has added an extra blinking light on the dashboard since we departed Michigan.
Audi agrees to diagnose the check engine light for free since the Q7 is under extended warranty for fuel System related issues, which is good because their shop rate is a shocking $200 per hour(!).
On the bright side, the loaner is a sweet A5 s-line pocket rocket that makes the drive back to the ranch go by very quickly. Their original estimate of 2-day turnaround stretches to 4 but they finally diagnose the issue on Wednesday and do an electrical overlay which makes the light go out for the time being. And the job is still covered under warranty since the electrical was dedicated solely to the fuel supply system.
In the meantime we learn that Datta’s classmates that were going to visit in Espanola are out of town so we decide to postpone that reunion to a later date and extend our stay at the ranch by few extra days with everyone enjoying the horses and Sibri enjoying making slime and cooking with Max. Plus there is great bandwidth for the myriad of emails and webex calls throughout the day.
There’s plenty more to do in Castle Rock as well, between sampling the offerings at a local brewery (like their best selling peanut beer) while watching Jim and Maxine take their weekly dance classes. We enjoy locally-sourced small batch ice cream, shop at the local crafter's market, and pick up a replacement yoga mat, although we still have no luck finding weights, which are sold out nationwide, thanks to the pandemic.
Sibri hones her skills horsebackriding and mucking, as well as how to drive the tractor. Mari bakes a re-creation of the raspberry rhubarb jalapeño pie we discovered back in Custer and Maxine keeps cranking out amazing creations from her kitchen all day that make it hard to even imagine leaving.
It is agreed by all we should come here more often before hitting the road once again, this time fully rested and well-fed, with all Audi warning lights quieted on the dashboard for the first time since well-before Michigan.
Departure Thursday, July 30
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