Passport In Time - What Can I Say?

I'm back from a week in the boonies and a Passport In Time adventure. If I had only one sentence to describe it I would say it was one of the most exciting and unique experiences in my life. It really was that special.

Guitar and I left the Denver area on Sunday morning and headed for the far southeast corner of Colorado. Picture Canyon to be precise. Once we left La Junta, CO the population became more and more sparse. By the time we reached our destination there was a ranch house maybe every five square miles. It was 35 miles back to the nearest town. We were scheduled to meet all the other participants at the Picture Canyon picnic area late in the afternoon.

The group we were to work with included 10 volunteers, a cook and the Forest Service archaeologist. The accommodations were what we brought with us. Guitar and I slept in his truck camper, a husband and wife team brought their Scamp trailer and everyone else either slept in their trucks or in tents. There were covered picnic tables and a vault toilet but nothing else including water. The water we drank (and we drank a LOT during the week) and washed with all had to be brought in by each member of the team.

The volunteers were an amazing blend of folk. The picture at the top of the post shows the entire group just before we left on Friday afternoon. In the group we had a 77 year old lady who had more energy and stamina than any three city teenagers put together. There was a retired school teacher and a retired couple from Canyon City, CO, a book store owner, two young students that really knew their stuff and a businessman from the Parker, CO area. Guitar and I were the only members of the group that had not participated in one of these types of events before. After hearing the Forest Service archaeologist say that she had over 40 applications for this event, Guitar and I felt very lucky to have been chosen to participate.

Our task for the week was to survey Forest Service lands for any signs of historic and prehistoric activity. This included finding stone implements or evidence that stone implements were made at a site, looking for rock art left by ancient peoples or graffiti left by later people.

Monday morning was dedicated to training us what to look for and a little sight seeing to show us examples of some of the rock art in Picture Canyon. Amazingly, while we were doing this one of the volunteers discovered an arrowhead point and a stone knife! The point is pictured on the right above.

After a half day of training we headed off to the first area we were to survey. The mechanics of the survey are simple. You get a whole bunch of people in a line and you walk forward looking at the ground for something on the surface. We did not dig in the dirt. Everything we found was laying on the surface....and we found a lot. Sometimes we resorted to crawling around on hands and knees because some of the "finishing flakes" we were looking for, and found, were about a quarter the size of your pinkie fingernail.

Identification of artifacts required some skill and experience but after a little while it got a bit easier. Since everyone else on the team besides Guitar and I had some experience, it was easy for us to get help or a second opinion.

Some of the artifacts we found were; points, cutting tools, flakes left over from knapping an implement, ground stones, spoke shaves for smoothing arrow shafts and cores. Cores are the big pieces of rock that were the start of an implement. Once these people found the chert or quartzite rock they would pound off a piece to make into an implement of some sort. We also found a lot of expended cores which are what's left over after all the usable pieces were whacked off. The picture above to the right is a quartzite core that clearly shows a piece whacked off on the upper right of the stone.

During the week we went to five different areas that had never been surveyed by an archaeologist before. One area was a "quarry" area where stone was harvested and broken down into smaller pieces. Sometimes it was worked further at the site and sometimes it might have been taken elsewhere to work further. On this site there were hundreds if not thousands of artifacts strewn over a pretty large area.

One site was definitely a campsite where tools were manufactured. We knew this because most of the artifacts were tiny "finishing flakes". These are the last few pieces of stone that are chipped off of the finished product.

One site produced a number of grind stones. These are the flat rocks, usually sandstone, that were used as a surface on which to grind grain or meat. One example is shown at the left above.

The terrain ranged from flat and rolling to steep and rocky. The temps were in the upper 80's and it was hot, strenuous and dirty work. I probably drank a gallon and a half of water a day while we were out. We were back at the campsite by about 5-5:30 p.m. each day, ate dinner at about 6 p.m. Guitar and I were sound asleep not later than 9 p.m. every night.

On Friday morning we went to a site near a rock face called "Inscription Rock". This rock had graffiti scratched in it over a one hundred and fifty year time period. The earliest inscription I found was 1846. There was also a very interesting inscription left by a Colonel in the Oklahoma 1st Cavalry.

The project concluded at noon on Friday and Guitar and I drove to Trinidad State Park to spend the night and get our second shower for the week. Wow did that ever feel good.

As I said at the top of the post, this was an exciting and unique experience. I hope it's not a once in a lifetime experience because I fully intend to volunteer for more of these next year. Here's some more pictures to give you a flavor of the event.....click on any of the images to enlarge them.




Thanks for visiting.

Time for Adventure Time

There hasn't been a whole lot of blogging interest going on this past week. I have been preparing my gear for next weeks trip to Picture Canyon. The picture at the top of this post is a Google Earth snapshot of the area from 18,000 feet.

Now at 18,000 feet you can see a lot of country. Look at this picture and note the lack of...of...of anything. Only one structure is visible. That looks like a ranch barn in the upper left hand corner of the picture. The few roads/trails you can see are all dirt. Not a paved road to be seen. The thin yellow line at the very bottom of the picture is the Oklahoma panhandle border. Readers, this is the definition of, the representation of, "the sticks".

This afternoon Guitar and I will probably go get his camper from the storage lot and begin to load the gear. Tomorrow morning The Bride and I are going to spend a little time at the Tesoro Foundation's, Spanish Market and Mountain Man Rendezvous. This is a fun event with a lot of Spanish folk dancing, mountain man exhibits and contests and a juried show of Spanish Colonial artists.

After a couple of hours at this event I'll probably link up with Guitar again to finish preparations for Sundays trip down to Picture Canyon.

Last night The Bride and I were able to get together with Too Tall - Two Timing and K and a local restaurant called Rodney's. We all had a good time trading news and enjoying the food. Several of us chose the lobster enchiladas. They were very good and very spicy.

While we were dining K mentioned that in my last post, I was very general about where I learned about the Passport in Time program and it was actually she, that brought it to my attention. That is very true and I want everyone to know the truth. I took it from the way she reminded me of this that she would like a little "publicity" on this blog. Being the very good friend that I am I think I will oblige her. It will have to wait however until after my adventure next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Passport In Time Adventure

This past spring I became acquainted with an opportunity to do exciting volunteer work with the U. S. Forest Service. The program is called Passport In Time and it allows everyday people to work alongside professional Forest Service archaeologists doing really cool stuff such as "archaeological survey and excavation, rock art restoration, survey, archival research, historic structure restoration, oral history gathering, and analysis and curation of artifacts".

Can you see me salivating as you read this? If you can't just believe me that when I saw this opportunity I did indeed slobber all over my computer screen. These volunteer opportunities are available all over the United States but they are particularly numerous in Colorado.

After looking at all the available projects I decided to apply for one in far southeast Colorado, not far from the Kansas and Oklahoma borders. The project is scheduled to run from September 28th until October 3rd.

Much to my delight I was picked to participate. To make things even better, Guitar applied as well and was selected to participate also.

There will be between 8-10 volunteers working with a Forest Service archaeologist doing a surface inventory of historic and pre-historic sites. We will also evaluate the condition of currently known sites that include Indian rock art sites.

Our base of operations will be a very remote site thirty-five miles from the nearest town at the entrance to Picture Canyon. There will be no facilities whatsoever so everything we need in terms of shelter, water and other staples we will have to bring with us. The one exception is food. The Forest Service has arranged for a cook to prepare meals. We will have to split the cost of the food itself but the cook will do all the hard work.

Guitar and I plan to use his truck camper and will leave the Denver area early Sunday morning (next week) to travel down there.

I am so excited, I'm like a little kid getting ready to go on his first camping trip. This hits three or four of my top interests so I'm in curiosity overload!

So stay tuned to see how this thing turns out.

I may even get in a mini adventure sometime this weekend but you'll have to wait and see if this one pans out.

Thanks for visiting.

Here Fishy, Fishy

I slipped off to Tarryall Reservoir yesterday for a day of fishing. The weather was gorgeous and I had an overwhelming desire to use my float tube. As you can see from the picture above it was a perfect day to be that close to the water.

An interesting occurrence....the very same week that I bought my float tube, my new son-in-law, CaJon got one as a present from his wife, CaJenn.

Then today when I returned from my trip I had an email from CaJenn with pictures of their weekend fishing trip to a small lake in the California mountains. I think their fish are a lot prettier than mine. The fisherpersons have got the edge over me on looks too!

Here's their catch......

























Thanks for visiting.

Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and The Ladder Lady

I arrived back home late yesterday afternoon from a four day trip to Mesa Verde with The Bride and The Bride's mother. It was a great trip and spanned 863 miles of Colorado's best scenery.

We left as early Monday morning as I could manage with two women and a car full of luggage that would have sufficed for a trip of 3 weeks rather than four days. Our goal was to reach Mesa Verde that afternoon. A 380 mile trip all on two lane roads. That's a lot of miles under those conditions but it was a pleasant and scenic day. We travelled from the Denver area down through Buena Vista, Salida, Pagosa Springs, Durango and into the Mesa Verde National Park. The visitor's center in the park is about 25 miles from the nearest town lodging so we had made reservations at the lodge in the park itself. That was a wise choice and gave us the maximum amount of time to explore the park.

The lodge itself was nothing special except for the views. The buildings are situated on a high mesa and offered unobstructed views for at least a hundred miles. We could clearly see areas in New Mexico from our balcony. After a long days drive we three sat on the balcony with a cocktail and reveled in the extraordinary view! The lodge also had a full service restaurant so it wasn't necessary to leave the park for any reason if you didn't want to. The food too was nothing special but it was priced fairly. I had suspicioned that because we were "captive" customers the pricing would be outrageous. My hat off to whoever decided not to overprice the food.

Tuesday morning we took a guided four hour tour of the park. A park ranger accompanied us on the bus and provided commentary on the different sites. The tour included several mesa top pit house structures but the highlight of the tour was the Cliff Palace site shown in the picture at the top of the post. To access this site we had to descend from the mesa top down a very narrow and steep trail. After the tour the only way out of the site was another narrow and steep trail that had the additional feature of 3 ladders each about 8 feet tall that had to be climbed.

This is where the "Ladder Lady" part of the post title comes in. The ladders weren't an issue for The Bride or myself but we were concerned that it might be pretty difficult for The Bride's mother. In addition to being 72 years old she lives on the east coast so is not used to the altitude. To make a long story short, she did just fine and I decided that from now on her moniker on this blog will be "Ladder Lady".

Wednesday morning we headed out with the goal of spending the night in Gunnison, CO after driving the "Million Dollar Highway" into Ouray, Co and a visit to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The weather started out chilly and rainy but by the time we got to Molas Pass we ran into snow! Fortunately it was still too warm for it to accumulate but the Ladder Lady was not a happy camper.

She became much more of a happy camper when we reached Ouray and stopped for lunch, a little sight seeing and some shopping. This is the first time I have been to Ouray since the historic old Beaumont Hotel has been reopened after a complete restoration. What a great old building! A fantastic restoration that literally makes you gasp when you see the lobby. The Bride and I have added this to our list of "must stay" hotels in the future.

After lunch and shopping we were headed for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I had been there last year with my brother #4, and was really impressed with this little known National Park. I wanted Ladder Lady to see it. The weather cooperated by clearing off just long enough for us to do a quick tour and stop at several overlooks. After a couple of stops the clouds moved back in and we hightailed it to Gunnison for the night's stop.

Thursday morning we reluctantly headed back towards the Denver area, but by the scenic route down the Arkansas River Canyon into Canon City, Co.

I have been through Canon City a number of times but I confess that I always just "passed through" on the main highway. This time we detoured through the old downtown area and were pleasantly surprised by the shops and restaurants in the area. This will also be another area to explore more fully in the future.

We arrived back home in late afternoon, tired but with the warm glow of a great trip. I think we have Ladder Lady convinced that she should come with us on another trip to the Moab, UT area to see the wonders in that area. Ladder Lady leaves tomorrow afternoon for her flight back to the east coast.

Thanks for visiting...and here are a few more pictures.

Exhale!

It's hard to believe that two nights in the mountains can decompress me so much but it did. I've had that "yearning" ever since I returned from The Colonel's funeral but this was my first opportunity to really be somewhere out of the mainstream of normal everyday life.

If you've followed the blog you will understand that I felt a need to feel the silence, the beauty, the loneliness, the spirit, of the high country. Two nights, three days was all I could squeeze in. Funny how the theme of "3 days, two nights" keeps developing? Maybe this is just a convenient number. Like a loaf, or a dozen, or a chapter. The smallest unit available for an adventure? However you measure it, it was an adventure to soothe the soul.

Wednesday morning I set out in the RV and with the new float tube (a sophisticated term for a bellyboat) for Clear Creek Reservoir, a medium sized lake nestled in the Collegiate Peaks between Buena Vista and Leadville, Colorado. The weather was great, the ride was peaceful and I arrived at my initial destination shortly after noon. As I drove up to the lake it became clear that there would be no fishing that day....Wind! It was blowing pretty hard so I decided to pitch camp and veg out. I read a little, did a little gold panning in the river, and sat and stared at the mountains for a very long time. I still had two days.

Thursday morning was a glorious, early fall, mountain morning. It was cold as hell (22F) till the sun peeked over the mountain and then it warmed up rapidly. I broke camp and drove down to the lake and made ready for fishing in the float tube.

What a great adventure! A float tube is like a...a...I don't know how to describe it. You wear fishing waders to keep dry and sit on a fancy inner tube about 4" above the water. Fins on the feet propel you. It's very comfortable and pretty maneuverable as long as there is not a strong wind. You are really "up close and personal" with the water and if you're lucky, the fish.

I was lucky. In the space of about 3 hours I had caught 6-8 nice rainbow trout. The water was crystal clear so I could see the fish all the while I was bringing it to the tube. After catching them I released them all. I wasn't in it for the meat this time, I was in it for the soul.

I'm really sorry to report that the old, not to worry about it if it gets wet, camera I took with me on the water to record the event didn't work. I thought I had the best of all the "feet" shots to date. Picture this....a glassy surfaced mountain lake with a gigantic mountain peak in the background. In the foreground, my flippers sticking out of the water, a fishing rod and a beautiful freshly caught rainbow trout. That was the picture I thought I had.....I guess I'll have to go back soon with a camera that works! After a couple of hours, the wind came up and I headed for shore, lunch and to plan the next move.

The next move was to go a little further north towards Leadville and explore an area called Half Moon Creek. I was looking for places to boondock in the future and I found them there in abundance. The picture to the right is the one I chose for this night. The mountain in the background is Mt. Elbert. Mt. Elbert is the highest peak in the North American Rocky Mountains at 14,440 feet above sea level. Talk about exhale!

I spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening in the shadow of this mountain and by Friday morning early I needed to start back to home. This was not the normal feelin' bad cause it's all over trip back home though because there was more adventure waiting at home.

Guitar had arranged for he and I and our ladies to attend a concert by Jimmy LaFave. I never had heard of him before but that's nothing new. Guitar is a walking Wikipedia when it comes to music. I really didn't have high expectations and that was a good thing. It was a good thing because that made the sheer pleasure of the evening even more pronounced. I can't believe we saw/heard that caliber of talent for $20 a head. The concert was sponsored by Swallow Hill, another organization I knew nothing about but will definitely get to know better. The venue was an old church with a stage in front where the alter once stood. Seating was fold up metal chairs, and ours were center stage, three rows back.

Exhale, indeed! An absolutely mind and body relaxing few days....AND...it still not over.

In a couple of hours we are going to the airport to pick up The Bride's mother, Sylvia. Monday morning we are headed to Mesa Verde National Park for two days and then one more day somewhere between there and here on the way back. That night has not yet been planned so we are free to wander where ever we like.

While at the park we will stay at the Far View Lodge inside the park itself. This is something I've wanted to do for years and I'm really excited about the trip!

I believe that the lodge has wifi so stay tuned for a report on the next adventure!

Thanks for visiting

Together Again and I've Got a Plan

I'm always striving to put a little musical history in my posts and this is no exception. The title of the post "Together Again" is the title of a 1964 Buck Owen's hit. A great little song that has been covered by many artists including Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yokam, Kenny Rogers and even The Flying Burrito Brothers.

We...The Bride and myself, CaJenn, and The Emmer, were together again not for burritos but to have a very nice Italian dinner at a great restaurant in the Denver metro area, called San Lorenzo. None of us had ever dined there before and we were all pleased with both the food and the ambiance. Both CaJenn and I had the lamb shank and it was outstanding! The Emmer had Braciola and The Bride had the veal and they both had a smile on their face at the end of dinner too.

Unusual for us, we all had desert too. Each of us chose something different so we could try a little bit of just about everything that was offered. In the picture above you can see the deserts on the table. The desert in the foreground is the one I chose. A chocolate covered pear with creme Anglais.....

There's a little story to pears. The Bride hates pears. Always has. Always will. I'm not sure why and she's not either. I'm thinking it's a childhood thing she probably doesn't remember, like maybe when she was two years old she had to sit in the back of her dad's station wagon with a basket of pears and somehow they tipped over and covered her up making her think that the pears were attacking her and she would never see her Barbie dolls again. And then again maybe she just doesn't like the taste. I don't know but I do know she hates pears and I had one less person to share my desert with!

All that said and knowing she is this way, a couple of years ago her Mom sent her a small painting of a pear as a joke. I thought it was a pretty good joke so last year at Christmas, I got her a small oil painting of another pear. Can you see this developing into a house full of pears?

Anyway dinner was great. CaJenn will be with us until Tuesday when she has business to attend to in town.....which leads to my plan.

If you remember from the last post I bought a float tube to fish with over a week ago and haven't had the chance to try it out yet. I do believe that I will head up to the mountains on Wednesday to give it a try.

I'm going to head for a little lake just north of Buena Vista called Clear Creek Reservoir and plan to spend two nights there. There is an area for free but without services, camping right next to the lake which fits my budget perfectly. Hopefully I'll have the whole lake to myself!

I'd prefer to stay a little longer but The Brides mother is arriving in the Denver area on Saturday and we are going to take her to Mesa Verde National Park for a few days....but that will be another post.

Thanks for visiting.

Double Doins'

This week is a double congratulations week. First of all on this day 31 years ago I said "I Do" for my one and only time, to my one and only Bride. Happy Anniversary to both of us. The way I see it we're about half way through our adventure in life and as the old saying goes...The best is yet to come.

Speaking of adventures, 27 years ago tomorrow, an adventure entered our lives in the form of The Emmer. Both The Bride and I earned our parent stripes over the last 27 years but it was worth it and we have a wonderful caring daughter that we enjoy every single day.

On top of all of this good news it seems as if our #1 daughter, CaJen will be able to spend at least part of this coming long weekend with us. She will be coming out from the left coast on business and will squeeze in a couple of weekend days with us.

The only bad thing that's happened this week is that I had to cancel a planned short fishing trip to the mountains. I was going to leave on Sunday and return yesterday....just in time for my anniversary. (Didn't really want to try missing that, even for fishing!)

Anyway, Saturday I went to the lot to get my RV and start loading it. When I got to my space......it was empty.....no RV! Not only was there no RV but since it was Saturday the office was closed and all the phone lines went to an answering machine. I drove around the lot about 10 times making sure it wasn't moved to another spot but it plain wasn't there.

After about 15 minutes of sheer panic I finally reasoned that since they had just completed the repair on the window, the RV was probably locked up in one of the service bays. I had to wait till Monday however, to find out if my logic was correct. It was, but that didn't help my trip.

I was really looking forward to this trip because I just bought a float tube (aka bellyboat) to fish with. The picture to the right is just like what I bought. It deflates and folds up into a very small and light package so it's perfect to take along in the RV.

Maybe after the long weekend when the crush of people leaves the mountains, I'll sneak up for a couple of days.

Thanks for visiting.

Up, Up, And Away!

That's the title of a 1967 smash hit by the Fifth Dimension. I remember it well and had the album by that group. It was a "feel good" song that was a perfect counter balance to those turbulent times of the late 1960's

I just returned from Georgia and some turbulent times there so when K. called yesterday and asked if I wanted to go to the Balloon Festival at Chatfield State Park, I was more than ready! K. said that the official opening and mass ascent would be this morning at 6:45 am and she and Too Tall -Two Timing would be at my house by 6:15 am.

OK, K....I was skeptical. You see, K. is not normally a morning person. I was thinking that about 6 am I'd get a call from K. saying she was running late and would be there about 9am. I'm a big enough person however, to say publicly that I was WRONG. That's right his-self was wrong. K. and Too Tall - Two Timing showed up with military promptness at exactly 6:15.

Once we got to the state park we tried to figure out the best place to observe from and I suggested that we see if we could get right on the launch field. To our amazement that was allowed and there was a fair sized crowd already there.

It was sensory overload for about an hour and a half. I couldn't figure out where to look next or what to photograph....Over that time period I managed to take about 150 pictures. Over 30 balloons participated in the ascent and "ugly" is not something that you could associate with any of them.

The weather was delightfully cool. The sky was crystal clear. It was just a perfect morning for this type of event. If you click on the picture to the left to enlarge it, you will see that a powered hang glider was flying around the balloons for the perfect view!

We headed home by about 8 am and I'm hard pressed to think of how I'm going to have any more fun for the rest of the day......

Tomorrow The Bride and I will get together with K and Too Tall - Two Timing for dinner. Guitar will be out of town on an adventure of his own at the Trinidaddio Blues Fest. I'm looking forward to his report on that event.

Thanks for visiting.

Back In Colorado

I arrived back home yesterday at mid-day. I had a bit of trouble getting here but I made it in better fashion than The Bride, The Emmer and CaJen did on Tuesday.

My three ladies left Columbus on the shuttle bus at 5 am Tuesday. About 5 miles south of the Atlanta airport they encountered an accident which had the Interstate closed. The driver managed to get off the Interstate on to the secondary roads but was caught by all the other people that did the same thing. It took them two hours to make the last five miles. Because CaJen was not checking luggage she managed to run to the plane and got there just as they were closing the door.

The Bride and The Emmer were not so lucky and missed the flight. They were re-booked on another flight at mid-day that would fly them through Chicago and then on to Denver. After they loaded the plane a mechanical problem was discovered and the flight was canceled. They finally made it out of Atlanta at about 4 pm.

I stayed a day later and left on the 5 am shuttle yesterday. Not too far from where the ladies got caught on the Interstate, our shuttle ran into two accidents that had I-85 closed both north and southbound. We were between exits so we didn't have an option other than to sit with everyone else. Sit we did for about an hour and 45 minutes.

We made it to the airport about 30 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave. Because I was not checking luggage I managed to make the flight with a bit of running through the concourse.

The weather here is warm...upper 80's but it is delightful compared to the heat and humidity of Columbus, GA.

I'll take a few days to get my life back to normal and then I will probably head up to the mountains for a few days. Not sure where but I'm considering the Leadville area.

Thanks for visiting.

The Colonel's Last Patrol

The Colonel reached Fiddler's Green early this morning.

God Bless The Colonel.

The Colonel's Last Patrol

Nothing was ever easy for The Colonel. He will end his life as he lived, with difficulty. There is no doubt in my mind where he wants to be. In each of us however, is the primitive urge to live which takes over in times of stress. The Colonel's is stronger than most, and despite what the greater part of The Colonel wants, this part is keeping him alive, even if just barely. The doctors have conceded that he will die when that primitive part decides and not to any timetable of recognized medicine.

He has no artificial means of life support. His struggle is painfully apparent to us. It frankly tears me apart to watch, but watch I do.

Number 4 son has returned to the Atlanta area to attend to business. #1 and myself remain here alternating in keeping The Colonel company and deconstructing his physical life. Cleaning out his apartment. Making arrangements for the arrival of family and for the last ceremony honoring his life......

The Colonel's Last Patrol

The Colonel has begun his last patrol and there won't be any return from this one. After 90 years the body that surrounds his soul just can't keep doing what it needs to do. It's late at night and I am sitting next to his hospital bed watching him begin the journey. It may be a few hours or a few days but it is a one way journey. When he reaches his destination he will once again be that young shave-tail Lieutenant arm in arm with the love of his life that went on ahead of him two years ago.

Over the past two years he told me many times that this is what he dreamed of. Being reunited with his bride of over 60 years................

God Speed Colonel! When you reach your destination, kiss Mom for the four of us left behind to keep the memory.

"Fiddlers' Green"

Halfway down the trail to Hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen,
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers' Green.

Marching past, straight through to Hell,
The Infantry are seen,
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marine,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen,
Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene,
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he's emptied his canteen,
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen.
Or in a roaring charge of fierce mêlée
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And go to Fiddlers' Green.

Good News, Bad News, Muffler Man News

Good News. My RV repair guys are going to be able to fix the broken window by just replacing the glass and not the whole window.

Bad News. It will still be pretty expensive and it won't be done until Monday so I will miss the Circle The Wagons trip I had scheduled to start today.

More Bad News. I made a a reservation for my camping spot at Ridgway State Park just to be on the safe side. When I'm traveling alone I rarely make a reservation because there is an $8 reservation fee. This reservation fee applies to each reservation whether it is one day or two weeks. In many instances, the camping fee is $13 and the $8 reservation fee amounts to a 70% surcharge..... Obscene. And if you think that's bad, there is also a cancellation fee if you decide, or in my case, just can't make it. By the time it was all said and done I was charged an additional $26 because I couldn't make it.....So, the charge for three nights camping (including reservation fee) was $62. The outside contractor, Reserve America, that handles all the reservations for the Colorado State Parks will keep 50% of the entire cost ($36) AND they will be able to charge someone else for the campsite as well. Something is really wrong with this. The outside contractor is really gouging citizens who supposedly own the parks by virtue of the taxes they already pay. Our wonderful state government seems not to care how its citizens are treated.....as long as the state gets its cut. I'm not sure who I can complain to that might make a difference but someone in the Colorado State Government is going to hear from me.

Last night I went to Bud's Bar in Sedalia to meet up with the rest of The Circle to wish them a good trip and to dine on a great cheeseburger. While talking about the trip, Too Tall - Two Timing mentioned that he had spotted a Muffler Man not far from Rock Mountain National Park! Long time readers will remember that I am a connoisseur of Muffler Men. Just look at the left margin of this blog under Labels/Muffler Man and you'll see that I have 8 different posts dedicated to Muffler Men. They are just another bit of weirdness and kitsch that I enjoy.

Anyhow, seeing as how my camping trip had been sunk, I decided that this morning I would go look for the cowboy Muffler Man and maybe take a short day trip in the mountains on the way back. As you can see by the picture at the top of the post I did exactly that.

This is a true Muffler Man. An original. You can tell by the position of the hands...right up, left down. It is not in the best of condition however. The left side of the brim of the cowboy hat is missing. This Muffler Man sits in the yard of a private residence not too far from Lyons, Colorado and it's one of the few of these giants that are "residential" in nature. Most of them are found in front of businesses or in amusement parks. Seeing a "new to me" Muffler Man was just what I needed to get me out of the funk caused by the cancellation of my trip, and there was more to come.

After finding the Muffler Man, I decided to head into the mountains and specifically to the little town of Nederland. Nederland is a quirky little town of about 1400 population just west of the Leftist Nation of Boulder. It's most famous for it's Frozen Dead Guy Days that is celebrated every March.

Whoda thunk that in addition to all of this quirkiness, I'd also find a piece of real history? As I was entering this little town I couldn't help but notice a huge old steam shovel sitting on the side of the road. I can remember seeing a few of these still operating when I was a little boy but they are now pretty well extinct.

To make things even more exciting (doesn't take a lot to keep me excited), this was no ordinary steam shovel. This was the only remaining steam shovel to have helped excavate the Panama Canal! Wow. And to think it now has a place of honor in Nederland, Colorado. And the 1400 residents have not only this to be proud of but Frozen Dead Guy Days as well. Let me tell you God has really done right by Nederland.

All of this excitement just made me ravenous so I stopped at the local brew pub for a bite of lunch. Yes, even with only 1400 souls, Nederland has it's own brew pub....Frozen Dead Guy Days, the last Panama Canal steam shovel and a brew pub....makes you want to go there doesn't it?

Anyway, the food was good but the view from the deck was even better and right next to the brew pub, another bit of kitsch. Vintage travel trailers for rent. Man, I've hit a home run for the day! As the old saying goes, "When one door closes, another opens." My camping trip was a bust but today's trip was fantastic. I decided to quit while I was way ahead and head for home.












A pleasant ride with temps in the upper 60's....couldn't be better.

Thanks for visiting.

....And When You're Not, You're Not

As a follow-up to my last post, "When You're Hot, You're Hot", the weather finally moderated some today and it's almost pleasant. That did not change my plans to escape to the mountains for a few days.........something else did.

This is what I discovered when I went to pick up my RV from the lot yesterday afternoon... A smashed window. A probably very expensive smashed window. It looks to be a random act of vandalism. There was nothing missing from inside the RV and it looks like the window was shot out by a small caliber round or a pellet of some sort. I haven't found the projectile but the curtain behind the window has a mark on it similar to what an expended round would make.

I am bummed big time. Not only was I really looking forward to this trip but this is going to be an extreme hassle to get fixed. This is an older RV and no one stocks or makes windows, or even window glass for it anymore. At very least it will require a special cut of automotive glass. At worst it will require someone to custom fabricate another complete window unit, frame and all.

My local repair shop has someone scheduled to look at it tomorrow but I have very low expectations that anything will be able to be done to salvage the trip....I was going to start on Thursday.

To top it all off we are predicted to get some pretty strong thunder storms today and tomorrow so first thing this morning I was picking out the glass and wrapping that whole area in plastic and duct tape.

This retired life is getting stressful!

Thanks for visiting.