After our excursion to Black Canyon National Park, we were kicking back when I heard the sound of drums. Then I heard a bass picking up the beat, soon a few other instruments joined in. I walked across the Elks Lodge parking lot and saw a stage had been set up at the golf course across the street and a band was doing sound checks. Donna checked online and found a concert series sponsored by the city of Montrose with their last performance of the season scheduled for that evening – right across the street from the Elks Lodge! Two bands were scheduled to play and admittance was free.

First act onstage

We brought a blanket and sat on the grass. They had beer from a local brewery – Horsefly Brewing where we had lunch earlier – and a few food trucks. The first band was loud and played some original music and spacy covers of material that was almost unrecognizable. They were good – the lead guitarist seemed to be from the Frank Zappa school with chromatic scale solos hitting about a thousand beats per second. The second band also had original takes on covers that featured a reggae or ska beat. They had a horn section with a trombone, saxophone and trumpet. Good times.

Saturday morning we went into town for the farmers’ market. Donna wanted to stock up on veggies. I expected to find hot breakfast there, but there wasn’t any food service at 9am. I ended up walking to City Market for a plate of biscuits and gravy.

It was time to light the fires and kick the tires and we headed out shortly before 11am. Our route took us down US550 south. We wouldn’t leave this highway until we reached Durango. About 40 miles south of Montrose, we made a stop at Ouray. This small town is tucked in a narrow valley with towering mountains and canyon walls surrounding it. It sits at an elevation of about 7,800 feet above sea level. I found parking on the side of the road on the north end of town.

Parked in Ouray

It looks like we’re parked uphill – we were! Nothing is level in Ouray. We walked through town – uphill and checked out the shops. Crossing Main Street was also an uphill walk – the road crown is incredible. We popped into a shop along the way. Donna found a purse she couldn’t leave without and I bought a T-shirt.

Purple Peacock building in Ouray

US550 south of Ouray is known as the Million Dollar Highway. It’s a fairly challenging drive with steep grades, narrow lanes without shoulders and sharp curves and switchbacks. Speed advisories of 15mph on the switchbacks were the norm and we even saw one curve with a 10mph advisory. The speed limit is only 30mph for much of the way – it made me wonder why a slow vehicle turnout was necessary. We started with a steep climb out of Ouray and immediately passed through a tunnel – it was marked 13’10” clearance so we were okay.

13’10” clearance

Donna shot a few photos of her windshield view. I was concentrating on the road and didn’t get to see much of the views which she said were spectacular.

Fall colors

This high up in the mountains the aspen trees were already displaying fall colors.

Red Mountain – above the tree line

The first summit was the highest – Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 feet above sea level. From there we dropped into Silverton only to climb again to Molas Pass at 10,910 feet above sea level. After dropping down from Molas Pass we climbed again to Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet above sea level.

Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel

From there it was a downhill run into the Animas River Valley. We saw a runaway truck ramp and I commented on how it must be a heart-pounding moment when a driver decides to leave the highway and plow into a gravel trap.

A little while later, I thought I caught of whiff of something I didn’t like. I casually asked Donna to crack her window open. I smelled it again – hot brakes. I was perplexed. I hadn’t used the brake pedal all that much – I relied on the Jacobs Engineering Engine Compression brake most of the way. The Jake brake works well at controlling our downhill speed – I only used the service brakes for some of the sharper turns.

I slowly applied the brake pedal and my heart was in my throat as the pedal sunk to the floor, barely slowing us down. The brake fluid must have been boiling. There wasn’t any traffic to speak of, so I wasn’t too worried about having to make a sudden stop. But we were only about 10 miles from Durango and traffic would surely build and we would have to stop in town.

I still hadn’t said anything to Donna. I saw a slight uphill grade ahead with a wide shoulder. I slowed down with the Jake brake on high. I pulled off and pumped the brake pedal to build some pressure and got us stopped. Donna didn’t know what was up. I went outside and found the right front brake was overheating – the caliper must have stuck and been dragging. I told Donna what the issue was. I didn’t want to alarm her by telling her of the trouble before I got us stopped.

I let the brakes cool for a bit, then reversed and tried stopping. The brakes were fine. I had reversed to look for any sign of fluid leaking, but our spot was dry. We got back on the road. The brakes were back to normal and the caliper didn’t seem to be dragging. I’ll have to look into it further.

We’re at the La Plata County fairgrounds in Durango. The office is closed on the weekend but Donna made prior arrangements to reserve site 2. We maneuvered through the crowded parking lot without too much trouble and went past the rodeo arena, dropped the trailer and set up. We’ll pay up on Monday. The weather forecast calls for sunny days with highs in the low 80s and overnight lows in the high 40s. A passing shower is always possible around here, but no significant rain is in the forecast.