On the second day of our journey to California, we drove through the Rocky Mountains from Burlington to Craig, Colorado. Here’s my mother’s description:

We had several different and lovely views of Denver—took a side road to Lookout Mountain where we had another picnic lunch—chilly but pretty. Views from Berthoud Pass were awesome and breathtaking followed by a minor snow storm! From there into sunny snow-covered mountains from Kremmling to Steamboat Springs.

Mother recorded some of our expenses on this trip. Breakfast on June 4, 1971, was $5.65 and dinner was $7.00. That’s for a family of four! It wasn’t fast food, back then. When we traveled, we liked Big Boy’s, Howard Johnson, International House of Pancakes, Sambo’s (cringe) and any local diner or café that had a lot of cars parked in front of it.

Edited to add: I had another memory about this day during a conversation with my brother.

We stopped right at the Continental Divide on Berthoud Pass. Dad filled two Dixie cups with water. He poured one on the east side of the Continental Divide and said, “That water will end up in the Mississippi River, where we started our trip.” We walked over to the west side of the Continental Divide where he poured the second cup of water and said, “That water will go to the Pacific Ocean, where we’re going.” That’s what a Continental Divide is.