GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. -- A rock slide closed a 24-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in both directions Thanksgiving morning, sending travelers on a 220-mile detour.

No one was injured, but crews worked all day to clear dozens of large boulders -- some as large as buses -- from the road, said public information officer Stacey Stegman with the Colorado Department of Transportation.

The rock slide at the Hanging Lake rest area closed I-70 from Glenwood Springs to Gypsum around 7:30 a.m. There was no immediate estimate on when the road might reopen, but crews are working to have at least one lane open in each direction by Friday afternoon, Stegman said.

The slide covers all four lanes of traffic and is estimated to be 50 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet deep. About 40 massive boulders tumbled down the hillside and punched holes through the highway, left gaps in the decks of two bridges, damaged guardrails and knocked out two wall panels along westbound lanes of the mountain corridor.

Crews had to blast the biggest boulders with dynamite before it could be scooped up by bulldozers and removed. Crews also used jackhammers to break the larger boulders into more manageable sections

Fortunately, the highway was empty when the slide occurred because the road had closed after a semitrailer overturned earlier Thursday morning. Crews were getting ready to reopen the highway when the rock slide happened about a mile away.

No injuries were reported from the truck accident.

There is extensive highway damage, including serious damage to the median areas, officials said. Geologists were being called in to examine the highway damage.

The damage to eastbound lanes is worse that the westbound lanes, Stegman said.

Crews planned to work through the night to try to open one lane in both directions by Friday morning. They said it likely will be days before all the lanes are clear. It is not known what caused the slide. In the spring, alternating cold and warm weather sometimes loosens rocks as the soil contracts and expands.

Some people waylaid on their way to Thanksgiving dinner found refuge in communities along I-70. Truck driver Ken Sharp and his passenger, Christina Craig, planned on eating Thanksgiving dinner at a truck stop somewhere on their way to California when they learned the highway was closed. They joined others at the Rotary Club dinner in Silverthorne.

"I hardly ever make it home. Probably only once every two months," Sharp said. "This is my first Thanksgiving as a truck driver. The food was really wonderful and the people are so nice and courteous."

Organizers, including the town of Silverthorne, expected about 250 people to show up.

Other stranded travelers wound up at the Blue Moose in Breckenridge. Restaurant owner Michael Minarski and his wife, Traci, began serving the dinner four years ago for those who can't be home.

"There's a lot of kids away from their families and a lot of hungry people and this is just a great way to bring everybody together," Minarski said.

A U.S. Ski Team official said the highway closure shouldn't create problems for the World Cup competition that starts Monday in Aspen because the skiers and most of the people planning to attend were already in town. Aspen is south of Glenwood Springs.