East on 40 out of Steamboat, over Rabbit Ears Pass, and route 14, an hour to Walden, CO, remote. Went over Cameron Pass (10,276'), and down along the river: Cache La Poudre, and the Fort Collins area; route 14 stretched out over the plains for a hundred miles to the next real town. We watched a threatening dark to the east, dead ahead, loom, darken, and splatter us with big drops, just as we pulled into Sterling. Refuge in a gas station, then a nearby Wal-Mart. When we got a motel room, there were warning signs at the desk about high nitrates in the water. Warning signs at the hotel desk. The girl there said it was from fertilizer seeping into the ground water. Another girl warned us about the uranium from the mines. They all had a nice glow. Chernobyl Glow. We watched the weather channel and it didn't look good: half-dollar sized hail was falling nearby. So we drank beer. Interstate 76 in Colorado runs smack into Interst...