Today’s material is out of sequence, but the message is the same. I was up at 5:30 AM this morning and for the first time in 13 years, felt a real crisp morning chill in the air. That woke me up extra. It was not as bad as I remember. This does not automatically make me a cold weather fan. It’s around five hours out of Denver, but since where I’m heading is near the Denver/Aurora line, I will increasingly henceforth refer to my destination as Aurora to differentiate it from Denver.
I’m at the Chek Inn in Lamar, CO, a town where Wiki says woman outnumber men though, like Florida, you wouldn’t know it by looking. Surplus women always hide in deep caverns beneath the bedrock, emerging to insist they only join dating clubs to make friends with men who insist they only read Playboy for the articles. (If I was a single woman over 24, I’d be walking right up to every attractive man and asking them if they are single and what they do for a living until I found the one I wanted.)Here is a herd, I mean, flock of Canadian geese enjoying the municipal lake in Aurora, CO. (Trust them Canucks to find a free government service and stop migrating.) This is across from the library, which I found less than a half hour after arriving. But I’m certain if Wallace was here he could have, in the same time, found you the local casinos and whorehouses. Now don’t you smirk, that is a lifestyle, too.
The southeastern end of Colorado is a rain shadow desert, all it needs is water and good people. (Same as Hell.) It was a gloomy day but dry hot as I kept glancing west to see the mountains. I never did but that’s my second time only in Colorado—and the second time I made a wrong turn. I got on route 50 to Rocky Ford which turns out to be along part of the old Santa Fe Trail. Some major road maintenance put me two hours behind schedule. But for the river valleys, it is scrub desert mostly into ranching and wind farms.
Next, I went north along route 71, a place so desolate my cell phone didn’t work. It runs north to Limon, a town that appears to consist of a penitentiary. “Do not pick up hitchhikers in this area.” Despite being a road through the wilderness, even 71 was not immune from the semi-trailers blasting along at five miles over the speed limit. They are the plague of America, and no, I don’t care if it would cost more to move goods by railroad.
Finalizing a rough count of these trucks, I pass one per mile on the small roads, and two per mile on the freeways. That’s oncoming only, so that’s some 3,000 trucks I passed on this trip. There appears no paved roads left that go some place that you can take a pleasant drive rid of this constant pest.
A lot of Colorado, despite being in walking distance of snow-capped mountains, suffers badly from drought. It is what geologists call a rain-shadow desert. The prevailing Pacific streams drop their water getting over the mountains, and arrive here dry enough to suck up most surface moisture. Being that Florida also suffers water shortages, you just know there is a political factor.
This is a section of wooden water pipe. These had to be expensively connected to distant lakes to create subdivisions east of Denver. Supply has never kept up with demand, there is a water ban in effect all summer long. And there will be problems as long as Joe Average thinks he’s cool when he has a big green lawn in front of his house. Well, at least as cool as the other average Joe, which is so cool it is almost painful.
But I’m here, drinking some of that ice water in the family room of Marion’s. Colorado has fewer signs of the big depression, but then the economy here isn’t based the flimsy Florida tourist model. There appear to be hiring signs (for engineers and skilled labor). I’m parked in the big double garage, the back yard is like a forest. And the downstairs of this huge four bedroom has an entertainment room larger than my trailer and Florida room combined.Arriving in Denver at 2,280 miles puts me 126 over projection. Around half of that is explained by side trips around town. Gas cost was $311.75, or more than $100 over budget ($204.63). The extra 23.5 gallons took me from 53.911 budget to 77.486 real, I suspect mostly due to a suspected grabbing front brake pad too expensive to attend on the road.
As I was still trip-weary, we went over to Safeway for a shop. I nearly froze my yarbles. It was a brisk night for August, but we had to do the last half-mile on a windswept sidewalk, which kept me operating the eBike from tree to tree for shelter. Ain’t been that cold in a long time, and it was not invigorating.
It is clear too much time has passed for Marion and I to ever catch up. She is looking good but will never walk again. We last met up five years ago and while she’s lost weight and I’ve gained, over all I’ve recovered slightly. And it is good to be back west where people are friendlier and things generally work better.
ADDENDUM
Now we know. Hollywood, FL to Denver , CO is a five day trip in a Russian side car. I could point out this is likely a first in American history, but that would sound so much like bragging that I won’t. Technically, it could be done in four days though I don’t think you want to try that. My biggest summation is to tell you it is not the same as a motorcycle trip and I cannot speculate if you’d find the trip pleasant or not. There is nothing quite like it, though I’m trying to think of a comparison.
Statistics are: 2280 miles, or around 105 miles more than calculated. The two delays (Demopolis and Wichita Falls) make travel time in hours meaningless, plus I ,stopped at least twice as often as usual. Running all day uses around $37 in gasoline and expect total costs with motel to center around $117 daily. Not bad for such exciting a journey.
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