Civic vs Rockies

As Roberta already established Boulder was awesome but we had to leave to beat a snowstorm which we did.....sort of.

So we are driving I-70 climbing up and up from Denver.  Denver is already a mile high so our altitude is steadily rising even higher until we pass 11,000 ft.  At this point the snow is coming and the road is getting super steep.  There are signs saying "CHAINS REQUIRED WHEN LIGHTS FLASHING" which fortunately remained dormant.  I saw signs for chain stations which I hoped would be useful but it was just a broader shoulder on the side of the road.  Also considering that I had no chains every time I passed a sign a breathed a sigh of relief.

As we are pushing up and up and near and still climbing with the snow falling progressively harder the Civic starts to bog down upon acceleration.  Up at the top of the Rockies 45 minutes from a town or an exit is the last place you want to have car trouble.  The check engine light turns on to add a to the stress of the moment.

When we finally surpassed the top of the Mountain with the car continually bogging down at higher RPMs I breath a sigh of relief until I realized we are now plummeting down a drastic mountain with sharp turns and a car having engine difficulty.  I had not gripped 10 and 2 that hard since my driving test as I attempted to navigate the slush.

We went from snow to rain to clear with our collective blood pressure getting back down to normal ranges when we decided to find somewhere to get the car checked out.  Off the bat we chose closest place, then decided we could push til the next major town, then all the way to Moab after no new problems.  I concluded that it was the lack of Oxygen at the higher altitude that prevented the engine from firing and I'm sticking to it.  I am no car expert and after a quick search Google didn't prove my theory right but the check engine light went off today and we can only assume we are good to go!