2025 Spring Break at Carlsbad Caverns with Sydnee and Fox

Several years ago I took 3 grandkids on a trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  Sydnee, my oldest grandchild was about 15,  Beckham was 10, and Jessie Mae was 6.  It was a great trip and I especially remember how excited we all were as we began hiking down into the cave mouth.  It was just so cool.

This year I decided to take my grandson Fox (10) to the caverns, but when Sydnee heard I was going again, she said she'd love to go.  I'm not sure it's for the fun or because it's free food for a few days, but I'll take what I can get.

The drive down from Colorado Springs is about 8 hours.  We weren't in a big rush but we also didn't want to arrive at midnight, so left at 8:30 with a full bag of grapes, a bag of doritos, and other good snack foods.

I was listening to an audiobook, Sydnee mostly slept, and Fox played on my Nintendo Switch.  I gave them both Dramamine to help with any carsickness so we had no incidents.  Many years ago I took Sydnee on a road trip where she ate an entire bag of grapes then puked all over the front seat.  She's never going to get away from reminders of that trip.

We stopped for lunch in Las Vegas New Mexico and the vote fell in favor of Wendy's despite my many bad experiences there.  Sure enough, it took 30 minutes to order and another 15 minutes to get our food.  We burned over an hour on lunch at a fast food place.  No more of that in the future.

The drive down New Mexico is really boring.  Flat with scrub bushes alongside the road and only hills in the distance.  The first long stretch was 70 miles with no services so be sure you're filled up and emptied out.

We stopped in Roswell to gas up then hit the Jersey Mike's to get sub sandwiches for tomorrow.  My idea is to pack in our lunch.  The last time we wound up buying expensive sandwiches in the cave that weren't very good.  This time we'll pack things in with us.

After we checked into the hotel, we got Chillli's for dinner.  Mostly because it was walking distance from the hotel.  Then Fox and I went to the pool and hot tub.  That was his highlight of the trip so far.  4 other boys and a girl his age were int the pool and they played like the best of friends for over an hour.  The noise was deafening.  The other parents all had on noise cancelling headsets and only looked up at the worst of the screams.  I had decided to leave my cell phone and ear buds to concentrate on him and because I wasn't sure the buds would survive the hot tub.

When we left the pool, I asked Fox if he knew the names of the other kids, he said "No idea".

We made fox take a good shower and wash (he just wanted a quick rinse), then we went to sleep.

I woke up at 6:00 and went down to breakfast.  Standard rubber eggs, belgian waffles, and yogurt.  Then I wrote the first part of this blog and browsed the internet.  When Syd and Fox hadn't shown up by 8:30 I decided to go wake them up.  They were still deep asleep so I started the process of waking them up.

We need to be on the road by 10:00 to fit our entry time.  If you're reading this far into the future, this is when Trump and Musk fired a large number of federal employees including National Park employees.  They're so reduced that you have to schedule an appointment to get into a national park.  Our entry time is 10:30.

The drive to the caves took about 30 minutes.  We got the obligatory photo by the National Park sign then went up to the visitor's center.  At the front desk I showed my reservation and my park pass so there was no cost.  If you don't know, at age 62 you can get a lifetime national park pass for $80 and visit as many parks as you want.

You can either ride an elevator straight down 750 feet to the "Big Room" or you can walk the mile long trail down and through the main cave entrance.  We wanted to hike the trail because it's such a cool hike.  Lots of steep switchbacks down through a massive cave entrance.  The bats and/or birds flying around us was also kind of cool.

First though, we had to listen to a park ranger warn us that the next bathroom was an hour away.  He said to go now or to wait but not to pee in the cave.  He said he wished it was just a hypothetical warning.

The hike down was as cool as I remembered.  Fox kept whistling (puckering his mouth and yelling) to check for an echo. We walked and took pictures for a while, then Sydnee got tired of my decrepit pace and asked if she could go on.  I said yes and that's the last we saw of her till we reached the bottom.  Since it was just me and Fox, that's who got in all my photos.

The descent isn't horrible but it is very steep and if you have bad shoes, you'll get blisters.  Several people were stopped and rubbing their feet, including a guy in crocs and no socks who I'm sure would have big blisters by the end.

On my last trip we got cold in the cave.  It's in the low 60s, so this time we had good coats with us which meant we were overheated.  Or at least I was overheating with a long sleeve shirt and medium jacket.  What I should have worn was a light short sleeve shirt and the medium jacket so I could layer easily.  Instead I eventually tucked my jacket into the backpack I was carrying but continued to sweat with the heavy long sleeve shirt.

After about an hour of switchbacks we finally reached the beginning of the big room loop.  We found Sydnee waiting there for us.  She said she'd been there waiting for 15 minutes.  She also said she had needed a drink but when she pulled her water bottle out of her backpack, her apple has come rolling out and had rolled down off the trail behind her.  I took a picture and we decided to notify the next ranger we saw rather than try to get it ourselves.

I was still pretty overheated so we sat for a bit, then Fox complained that he was hungry so walked over to the snack are to eat our sandwiches.  That was a good call.  It let us rest, gave us more energy, and there were bathrooms.

After lunch we headed toward the loop. We'd seen allot of cool things on the way in but the great views and interesting formations just kept coming.  We stopped at nearly all of the information signs.  There were numbered markers as well and I king of wished I'd rented the audio tour to get more details about the various sights.

At one point there was a map showing the whole cave.  That's when Fox spotted "The Bottomless Pit" and after that he started wondering about every hole, whether it was bottomless or not.

We started trying to get creative with our photo taking but there was so little light most of them didn't work.  My camera is a Galaxy S23 ultra.  I bought it 2 years ago when MikeP and I went tour Greece.  I got it specifically because of the great cameras it has and it turned out to be great for this trip too.  In Greece I used the 10x optical zoom to get good photos.  But here I used the low light image stabilization and stacking feature to accumulate enough light for good pictures.

One of my selfies didn't have enough ambient light to see my face so it came out as a distinct silhouette.  I liked it so much I made it be my Facebook profile picture. (For those in the future, Facebook is a social media site where people share stories, pictures, and try to show off for each other, kind of like this blog).

About 1/3 of the way around we somehow wound up near a group of people where the Dad had a POWERFUL flashlight that he insisted on keeping turned on and shining on everything around him.  He destroyed my night vision several times by shining it back the trail or even on things close to the trail and lighting up the whole area.  I was trying to slow down and avoid him but it turned out Sydnee was deliberately sticking close to him so her 4 year old iPhone could get a good picture as he flashed things.

As we neared the halfway point and the "Bottomless Pit" Fox got more and more excited wondering if we could go down or if it would suck us in.  I think he'd have loved being sucked into a grand adventure.  But finally we arrived.  It was big and it was deep enough that we couldn't see the bottom but there was no screams of the damned or zombie attacks.  It was 350 foot to the bottom and a long ways to the roof above us.  When I saw the thing about the roof I looked up and sure enough, it was WAY up there.  Incredible to be in such a massive underground space. 

I don't think Fox was too disappointed.  It was awesome.

We were half way around the loop by now and feeling good.  Last trip we had a 5 year old Jessie with us an had to carry her most of the 2nd half of the loop.   We were also nearing "Coolness Overload" by this point.  Soo many formations, soo many cool lighting effects, soooooo many people.

We seemed to speed up a bit and didn't stop quite as often for photos.  Sydnee turned on the jets and left us in the dust pretty quick.  Fox hung with me as we hiked the back side of the loop including the big hill you have to climb.  We stopped at the top for a breather and just to let some massive groups go past.

This turned out to be a great thing as once we started the last 1/4 of the loop we were nearly alone except a couple other people.  It was very peaceful.

We met Sydnee by the elevators and decided finish our sandwiches and other snacks.  I offered to let them buy T-Shirts but neither one wanted one.  Fox found the most expensive thing in the gift shop, a cheap plastic lantern for $50, and wanted that but I said no.  He never found anything else he wanted so we headed for the elevators.  It's 750 foot to the top but they go so fast it really didn't seem that long.

We went back to the big 3d map of the cave to look at all the things we'd done then headed for the car.

Back at the hotel I gave Fox the nintendo switch and headphones then Sydnee and I took naps.

We ate dinner at nice little carniceria.  Fox got ground beef tacos, Sydnee got steak tacos, and I got a Mexican Shrimp Coctail in a massive glass goblette.  It was great.

I watched Fox swim for an hour.  This time the pool was empty.  I let the hot tub jets massage my sore back and leg muscles.  It really helped.  Sydnee was too cool to come with us so we'll have to live with her sore calves.

I really loved this trip every time I've come.  I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't claustrophobic.  If you can't do the hike in, just ride the elevator down.  If you can't do the mile loop, there is a 1/4 and 1/2 mile cutoffs or even just walk a ways then sit on a bench and relax.

2024 Thanksgiving With Kyle and Laura in Missouri

 Thanksgiving used to be a whole family gathering.  Lots of people, lots of  cooking, lots of food, LOTS of noise.  Then our dang kids grew up, got married, got in-laws, moved away, had their own kids, and have schedules that aren't centered around Nannette and my needs and wants.  It's so unfair.

This year, we decided it was time to drive out to Missouri and spend the holiday with Kyle, Laura, Pendaryn, Tyr, and Willow.  3 years ago they moved to to Chillicothe Missouri so that Laura could teach middle school in Hamilton.  We've really missed them, but just like when we moved away from Arizona, the worst thing is being hours away from family, and sometimes the best thing is being hours away from family.   I know they've grown allot since moving and it makes the visits that much sweeter when we get back together.

Our grandson Beckham lives with us right now, so he was coming with us.  Then our oldest daughter Koren said she had to work most of the week, so we decided to bring her youngest son Gideon Fox with us as well.  So we'll take 2 of Koren's kids with us on the 10+ hour drive from Colorado Springs to Missouri.

I'm an early morning person, but most of my family isn't.  So on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I set my alarm clock for 4:00am.

I wasn't actually trying to leave at 4, but I know how long it can take to actually get a family up and loaded.  So I took 15 minutes to wake up.  I had packed 90% of the car the night before so I only needed to pack the last few things.  I started our Toyota Highlander warming up then set about waking the family.  Gideon and Beckham just got up and walked to the car in their pajamas.  Nan actually got up and ate some breakfast.  Her blood sugar had dropped into the 50s overnight so she really needed something.

All together we were on the road by 5:00am which is pretty good.

I usually feel good for the first few hours of an early morning drive.  The  traffic is very light so I can keep the headlights on high beams and I keep the speed right at the speed limit in case there are deer or other wildlife on the road.  We picked up the freeway in Limon and really started the higher speed journey just as the sun was coming up.

We got about 3 hours in when I stated the get the yawns.  I always get them a few hours into a drive and have learned to just take a few minute nap to let my brain reset.  So the next McDonalds we saw, I stopped.  Nan took them in while I lay the seat back and got 20 minutes of rest.  I don't think I ever actually fall asleep, but my mind wanders enough that I seldom remember the time.  I just kind of naturally open my eyes after a while and feel allot better.

They were still eating when I went in so I ate the Sausage McMuffin and eggs sandwich Nan had bought me, visited the facilities and we all piled back in the car.  But just as I was about the leave, Fox asked "do we have any game for me to play?"  In fact, I had brought the Nintendo switch, so I dug it out along with a headset (so we didn't have to listen to 8 hours of Mario tunes) and gave it to him.

The drive was about like every other drive.  We stopped for gas 2 hours later, then drove through Chic;fil'a for lunch and another gas stop in Topeca.   We arrived at our Hotel at about 5:30.  With the time zone change that means it was an 11 1/2 hour drive including stops.  Not too bad.

We checked in to the Fairfield Inn and unloaded our stuff, then headed to Kyle and Larua's.  They hadn't eaten yet so I ordered and picked up Pizza hut (Pepperoni and Hawaiian).  The kids were all excited to see each other and played so much it was hard to make them stop and eat, but finally everyone got fed.

We all piled in cars again and headed back to our hotel to change and go swimming.  The pool was indoors and heated, but it was still a touch chilly,  We played and swam for nearly an hour.  We made Fox get out of the pool a few times because his lips would turn blue.  He has a heart defect that reduces his circulation and makes him prone to that but we watched him close.

This was a pretty good first day to the trip.

Day 2

It rained most of Wednesday which put a damper on our plans.  Originally we were going to do yardwork but that was out.  We didn't even leave the hotel till well after 10.  So we did a little house cleaning and playing with grandkids.

Lunch was McDonalds, then some grocery shopping for the Thanksgiving dinner and more playtime.

Nannette has been struggling with some health issues that leave her exhausted so she took a long afternoon nap while I did some work.  Then Fox wanted to swim so went with him.

Around dinner time we went to a new Mexican restaurant in town.  We all liked it.

Day 3 - ThanksgivingWe all

Another slow starting day.  I got up around 7 and went to grab the hotel breakfast but all they had was fruit and a granola bar in a bag.  I thought about grabbing McD's or something but no one seemed to care.

The hotel itself only has 2 or 3 rooms rented out so I made myself comfortable in the dining area and watched videos on my laptop while Nan, Beckham and Fox slept until almost 11:00.

Finally they woke up and we headed to Kyle and Laura's.  I had ordered a honey backed ham and tukey breast, so there was no serious cooking.  Just mostly heating food.  It was simple but very yummy.  The kids sat around a small table and talked while the adults sat around the big table and told the kids to quit goofing off and eat.  Pretty typical.  Ham, Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, and rolls.

We sat around talking for an hour or so then I took Nan back to the hotel for a nap.  Fox stayed to play with cousins.

At 3:30 we got in the car and headed for the movie theatre.  I'd booked us tickets for Mulan 2.  We took up most of a row with just us.  Plenty of popcorn, soda, and left over haloween candy to eat while we watched.   We all enjoyed the movie, even with a 2 year old throwing the occasional fit, and other little boys who need to use the bathroom.

After the movie we took Beckham and Fox to the park to drive through the Chillicothe  Christmas lights.  It's a really nice show for a small town and being free.  We were all very impressed.  It's only about 1/4 mile winding through the park, then turn around and back out but around 50 exhibits.

We went back to Kyle and Laura's for more ham, turkey, potatoes and stuffing.  Plus some left over pizza.  No one was  left hungry.  We left Fox to stay the night with his cousins.

Day 4

I was up early again and had the standard belgian waffles, eggs, sausage, and orange juice at the hotel breakfast.  I took bagel sandwiches back to the room for Nan and Beckham but I don't think they liked them.

At 10:00 I left to get Laura.  Her phone has been failing so we headed to the ATT store to see about an upgrade.  We stood in line for 45 minutes but the single guy serving customers only got through 1 so I decided to leave and just do the upgrade online.  I took Laura home then headed to the hotel.

The ATT webiste said it would be 5 days to get a new phone delivered, but that a new phone would be ready in 2 hours at the nearby ATT store so I placed the order and headed over there.  By this time there were 3 people servicing customers and I had the phone and was out in only 15 minutes.

We got back to Kyle's house and started raking up leaves.  I brought our leaf blower and got quite a stack built up pretty quick.  Kyle started trimming a big hedge they have running down the side of the house and Beckham helped me stack the leaves into Kyle's mulching bin.  We filled it several times and tramped them down but left with still allot of leaves stacked up around the bin.  Hopefully the current leaves will decay and leave room for them to fit the rest of the leaves.

I also worked on Kyle's back door.  2 years ago I switched out his ancient locks for a modern lock and deadbolt set, but since then, the door and jam have weathered and settled a bit so that there's a good gap letting cold air in around the door.

He has good weather stripping so it just needed the bolt latch to be tuned a bit.  I brought my work bag with us so I had everything I needed.  I removed the screws for the strike plate, and chisseled out a slightly deeper set for the plate.  Then I whittled down a couple golf Ts, added some wood glue, and pounded the Ts into the old screw holds then cut them off.  Finally I set the strike plate and drove the screws into the jam in the new position.  The resulted in having to push the door fairly hard to allow the deadbolt to latch.  This in turned mashed the door into the weather stripping and stopped all of the cold air coming in.

I also had to tweak the strike plat for the door knob.  There was now such a big gap that the tongue wouldn't even latch.  I took 4 more golf Ts loosed the screws on the plate and wedged the T's it, then tightened the screws again.  Not the best fix, but it brough the plate out enough that closing the door would latch again.  Probably need to actually marry some wood onto the  jam to fill in the gap but I don't have the time or materials to do that much so this will have to do.

BY now it was lunch time so we went to Taco Bell.  I'm sure we raised the overall noise level by several decibels.

After lunch we went to the hotel and swam for an hour again.  The 3 little boys especially love playing together, but even Willow had a great time swimming with Nanna and her dad.  I wish they had a hot tub or that the water was just a bit warmer.  It leaves everyone pretty shilled when we get done.  But this time I'd figured out the kitchen area and made hot chocolates for everyone after they got dressed.  It was a big hit.

Nan took another nap and I went over to Kyle's to watch kids while he and Laura took some time for themselves to go shop.  I watched Big Hero 6 with Tyr, Willow slept, and the boys went downstairs to watch shows and play.

Out final dinner together was to a restaurant they'd never tried before called Shooters.  It was pretty good.  Not as good as the mexican place but everyone seemed to enjoy it except for Willow who was very grump after being woken up from her nap.

We said our final goodbyes and got lots of hugs and kisses.  We'll be heading out first thing in the morning for home.  The forecast calls for light snow so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Alice Mae Dougan White Leach - Life Story

Alice Mae Dougan was born on July 1, 1931

She was born in Emmett Arkansas in her parent's home on Route 2.  The road lead "around the country" South of Emmett.  It was a 2 bedroom house with no running water and a 2 hole out house.  Her grandpa Dougan owned the house in addition to his own home.  Grandpa Dougan farmed the land growing corn, cotton, beans, watermelon.  They raised cows to provide milk for the family.

Alice's father  Douglas Henry Dougan worked the farm with his dad.  Alice's mother Hazel Octavia Mohon worked at home.

Douglas and Hazel were both raised in Emmett.  Their parents farms were adjoining so they probably knew each other their whole lives.

Alice was the oldest of 3.  Alice Mae Dougan, George William Dougan (3 years younger), and David Randall Dougan (11 years younger).

Alice's earliest memory was of the farm house and her mother.  Part of the house wasn't finished.  Hazel and Alice used to sit in the unfinished room playing jacks together.  

Alice started school when she was 5.  She used to walk to school about 3 miles each way.  All 12 grades were in the same big school building.

Right behind the house was a methodist church.  They attended sunday school in that church. Douglas used to take their horses around to pick up some of the neighbors for church.  One night a lady in the church got "The Holy Ghost".  She was wearing a big lacy white dress and she walked around yelling and preaching to the people.

Sometimes they would lay a big blanket on the floor and the kids used to go to sleep during the meetings.  Meeting lasted until everyone was finished having their own say and carrying on.

Alice remembers picking beans with Grandma Dougan.  She was a big woman and wore a large dress.  They would pick beans and store them in the folds of Grandma's dress.

When Alice was about 7 their house caught on fire.  She remembers that they got all of the jarred fruit out of the storm house.  Not a jar of the fruit was broken.

After the house burned down they moved in with Poppa and Momma Mohan.  The house was 1 level with  4 or 5 bedrooms.  The kitchen was down a long hall and seemed far away to her.  They stayed for about a year with Poppa and Momma.

They rented a house way out in the country, about 10 miles from Emmett.  They called it "The Hill Place"  It was a big house (to young Alice).  The government built them an outhouse.  It was a 1 story house.  Alice doesn't remember if they had a car, but her dad continued to go back to Grandpa Dougan's farm to work every day.

One day they were going home from Grandma's house.  It was raining so hard that the creek below a bridge had risen so high it threatened to wash away the bridge.  Douglas got out of the wagon, held the halter of the horses and led them across the bridge so they wouldn't panic or bolt.

The school bus picked Alice up by the mailbox and drove back into Emmett.  

After 3 years, they moved closer to town with Douglas' sister, 3 youngins, and another sister.

Daddy, Momma Dougan, and a neighbor all bought new freezers.  But the next morning, Daddy's freezer hadn't even got cold.  They had to go back to the store to get a new one.

When Alice was about 17 she met Charles White at church in Emmett.  The first of the month they would have a singing at the church.  Everybody came to sing but the girls and boys would stand outside so they didn't have to sing.  She and Charles were both outside.  Charles was from Sutton, about 20 miles from Emmett.  He had 3 bothers and 2 sisters.

They wrote letters back and forth.  Every so often they would meet back up at church.  Or Charles would borrow his father's car and come to visit.  Every so often they would go to a movie on Saturday night.  They didn't have enough money for gas and a movie.  They courted for about a year and a half.

When Charles got his own car and would still come to visit.  One night Charles just said "Why don't we get married?"  and Alice said "Yes lets get married".

The next morning Alice woke up and told her momma "I'm going to marry Charles."  Her mom said "when?".  Charles father said "You don't even have a window to piss through".

That night Alice and Charles drove to the Pentacostal in Laneburg to get married.  The preacher told his congregation that the meeting would be a bit longer because they had a big wedding to perform.  Alice and Charles were married at the start of the meeting, then they walked out.  They didn't hang around for the service.

Alice thinks that if they'd waited a week, they wouldn't have gotten married.  She'd have stopped herself because they hadn't really thought about marriage and what it meant.

Alice's parents were on their way to the show as they got married.  They didn't know they were doing it that night or they would have stopped.

NOTE!!  I will continue editing and updating this story for the next few weeks. - Clay

Colorado Fun Ride August 2020 - Day 6

 

Today I head for home.

Everyone else is going to meet at 8:30 as they head West for Telluride, but I head East for Colorado Springs.  I didn't bother setting an alarm and hoped I might sleep in for a while, but I woke up at 6:00 and couldn't go back to sleep.  So I might as well hit the road.

I was up, dressed, packed, and loaded by 6:25.

Last night I contemplated 3 possible routes.  First was back over Cottonwood pass (4 time over in 6 days).  Second was Monarch Pass to highway 50.  Third was South to Saguache and the San Louis valley, then over Poncha Pass to highway 50.

I finally chose Monarch pass because if I go highway 50 it was going to get hot and I wanted to get through it as early as possible.

I grabbed a drive through breakfast as McD's, then headed East up the highway.

Traffic was pretty light so I only had to pass 1 or 2 cars.  It was a chilly 60 at the bottom of the pass and only dropped to 52 at the top.

I've taken sooooooo many photos and videos that I figured I wouldn't take any today, and didn't even bother getting the cameras out.  But I couldn't resist yet another photo by the Monarch pass sign.

I was half way down highway 50 before I realized it was silly to deliberately avoid taking pictures, so I pulled into a picnic area and got the cameras out.  I also took a few pics by the Arkansas river and even changed my facebook profile pic.

With the cameras out, I got some video of the winding ride along the river.

Then as I got close to Cañon City I decided I should ride up Skyline Drive and even break out the drone and try some of the cool features that I've never had the nerve to try.

Using my helmet cam, I grabbed some of the ride, then on top I took a drone shots with the bike stationary.  Then it was time for the challenging stuff.  

I switched batteries so I'd have the maximum amount of time.  I launched the drone, positioned the drone back and up a ways, selected Active Track mode selected the motorcycle and hit GO.  Then I hopped on the bike and slowly drove up the road.

IT WAS WORKING!! The drone was following but very slowly.  I could see it in my rearview mirror and it was even adjusting it's altitude as I went past some trees and rocks.  So I rode a few minutes along the road and stopped the bike.  I brought the drone over and was just about to land it when I realized it wasn't recording.  In the quickshot modes it automatically records, but I guess Active Track doesn't.  DOH!!

I landed the drone and switched to my 3rd and last battery.  Launch, RECORD, position, active track, select, and go,  I started to drive off but the camera wasn't following.  It did seem to climb so it could keep me in view, but it was just hovering.  It was about this time that another motorcycle came up behind me so I couldn't fiddle with the drone.  I just kept driving as my drone fell farther and farther back.

Finally I found a wide spot to pull over and let the motorcycle pass.  I grabbed the drone remote and tried to bring it to me but it didn't seem to want to move.  I'm not sure what I'd done, but I saw a cancel button and hit it, then the drone would move and I brought it up to me.

Once again I positioned the drone, set active track, selected the bike and hit go.  This time the drone followed.  I drove to the end of the road, then landed the drone but somehow the drone stopped recording after just 30 seconds.  maybe I accidentally hit the record button as the remote bounced around on the end of the lanyard.  But I did get a few seconds of it following me.

I recorded the descent with the helmet cam and that was the end of the videos for the day.  Mostly because it was already over 90 degrees and I was ready to get home.

I stopped in Penrose for a cold drink in the shade.

The drive up highway 115 is very well known to me.  I spent 7 years as a prison service missionary for my church and drove down here 2 times a month.  But the road is still fun after all this time.

I was home and enjoying the air conditioning by 12:30

I spent the afternoon putting together a video using what I'd taken for the day.

I have many of these photos both alone and with others but I couldn't resist yet another

Stopped along the arkansas river

Another shot along the river

Pretty daisy's

The Arkansas River

Posing

New profile picture

On top of Skyline Drive

It's hard to capture the drop on both sides of the road with a side on photo

This shows it better

Higher is even better

One lane, narrow hogback road

Colorado Fun Ride August 2020 - Day 5

 

After yesterday's 4:00am wakeup, we decided to start today's ride half an hour later at 9:00am.

Even though we could sleep in, we still  woke up at 6:15, but we took our time getting ready.

Sean and I headed to get some breakfast from the Waffle Iron restaurant.  I thought they would have a selection of items for breakfast, but they just had variations on waffles.  So Sean got a breakfast sandwich which was eggs, cheese, and bacon between to waffles.  I got a single waffle and bacon.  The waffles were the heavy Belgian waffles with crystals of sugar throughout.  It was very heavy so I only ate half of mine, but I ate ALL the bacon.

We were packed and ready to leave shortly after 8:00 so we stood around the bikes and talked until everyone was ready at 9:00.

Honestly, 50% of what makes these rides so fun is the time spent gabbing with people who also enjoy riding motorcycles.  We shared stories both exciting and embarrassing.  Talked about today's ride and especially we talked about how cold it might be.  These were a bunch of people from Arizona.  I could tell them it was going to be 105 degrees and they wouldn't bat an eye.  But tell them it was going to be in the 60s and every piece of warm weather gear they own would come out of the saddle bags.

I used to be an Arizonan, but no longer.  Anything over 85 degrees is HOT, and 65  to 70 is a perfect riding temperature.

The air was still filled with smoke so I didn't take many pictures.  But we did stop next to a lake after 45 minutes so I broke out the drone and took a few videos.

After we played a while, we continued South to Kremmling, then turned onto highway 9 and Silverthorn.  We took a short break for gas and snacks, then on into town.  Rather than getting on the freeway for only 2 miles, we continued just under the freeway, then turned right on the Damn Road.  It runs across the top of the Dillon Reservoir Damn and dumped out onto highway 9 in Frisco.

I barely recognized Frisco with all the road construction.  Sean even called to ask if we were on the right road, but I had no clue.  So we just kept going and it turned out to be the right way to get to Breckenridge.

In Breckenridge we took the truck route around downtown which turned out to be a good idea since they had closed the main road through town.  It wasn't construction or anything, they'd closed off the road so that restaurants could put tables out in the middle of the street and people could eat and browse without dealing with cars.

I really liked it.

We parked in a parking lot and had a WHOLE nother experience.  There were computer terminals to pay your parking, or you could use a QR code to pay on a web page.  I was first in line, but figured I'd get out of everyone's way by using the QR code.  But everyone else saw what I was doing and started doing the same.  So we had 13 senior citizens trying to figure out how to use a QR code, then follow horrible instructions with question after question, including your license plate number and credit card number, just to pay a 50 cent parking fee.

It was bad, really bad.

But eventually we all paid, or at least made our selves feel good about trying to pay.

We walked around town a bit, but we all wound up in the same place for lunch.  They actually had indoor dining, but not for all of us at once.  8 people got one table, 4 of us at another, and one couple wound up by themselves.  They don't offer menus.  Instead they tell you the wifi password and a QR code to get an online menu.  The food was good.  Then it was time to pay.

They handed us a tablet which we could use to divide up your bill and pay individually.  Yet more modernization.  It wasn't too bad, but Sean was paying cash and it didn't tell us that cash should be the last to pay.  he couldn't back up to let me first, so I paid and he just left some cash on the table.  No robots followed us out so I guess it was ok.

Back at the bikes I heard a few complaints about being drug kicking and screaming into the internet age.

From Breckenridge we crossed over Hoosier pass.  We got a few raindrops crossing the pass and the weather ahead looked like more rain, so we stopped on the side of the road to put on rain gear.

Putting on rain gear is never a dignified experience.  Several people had to actually sit on the curb to pull rain pants over boots and pants.  I decided just to put on a FrogTogs rain coat.

We continued down the pass and out to Fiarplay where we stopped for a break.

Sean was leaving us here.  Mostly because his front tire was getting a bit bald and he didn't want to push his luck.  So he said his goodbyes and headed South toward Colorado Springs and home.  I thought about going with him, but tonight's hotel was prepaid and non-refundable.  So I stayed with the group.  Sean texted me once he had arrived home safely, although he was wet.  He found the rain storm that the rest of us missed.

Back on highway 285, we retraced some of day 2 and day 3's route.  We talked about taking Monarch pass instead of Cottonwood Pass, but there really isn't much comparison between the two when you consider motorcycling for entertainment.  Monarch is a highway meant to move masses of traffic.  Cottonwood is a shortcut to the back country around Taylor Park.  We chose Cottonwood.

This was my 3rd time over the pass in 5 days and I have no complaints.  In fact I'm going to do it again tomorrow when I head for home.

We stopped for gas just before we went over the pass and several people asked how cold it would be.  I figured it would be in the upper 60s or lower 70s.  By the time we got to the top it was 62.  That was perfect to me, but everyone else was cold.

We took a group photo, then quickly got back on the bikes and headed for warmer altitudes.

The ride up and back down was again, a blast.  The road is just so nice because it's only a year old.

I lead the ride to the top, but Greg led going down so everyone didn't have to slow down.  I'm not a speed enthusiast but I get where I'm going.

The ride out from Taylor to Gunnison was still fun and we arrived at the hotel without incident.  And this time the rooms were all ready, so no waiting in the lobby.

We made reservations at the Ol' Miner's Steak House for 6:00.  A few people decided to walk the 4 blocks, but last September I learned my lesson about long walks after a long day riding.  We'd walked to a restaurant and by the time we ate, I was so tired and achy that I really hated the walk back.  So this time I rode the bike, plus I needed to gas up anyway.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Crossing Rabbit Ears Pass

Clouds and smoke, it's hard to tell where one stops and the other starts

Still a nice day for riding

Riding along Green Mountain Reservoir

More along the reservoir

And more