November 1, 2005 at 6:16 pm · Filed under Places to go
Wow! I-70 is a wild ride, especially with a 30 foot trailer in tow! We pointed our rig west around noon and pulled in here just after 6 pm. In between: steep climbs, dizzying descents, tunnels, winding canyons, and scenery I just can’t begin to describe. It’s incredible.
I was impressed with the handling of the rig. On steep uphills, we had no trouble maintaining reasonable speeds. We blew past a lot of trucks struggling in the right lane. On 8% downhill grades, I could keep it at 53 MPH in second gear and not have to touch the brakes at all.
We couldn’t stop at Loveland Pass (11,013 feet) because there’s no place to pull off, but we did stop a bit later past Dillon for a few photos. What a perfect day! Snow-capped mountains (but none on the road), blue skies, great views! I was sorry to see the sunset.
Since it was dark when we arrived I can’t say much about the campground but I bet it will be gorgeous in the morning. We’re situated in a canyon, next to a river. I’ll take photos tomorrow, and we’ll also stop in at Colorado National Monument, just a few miles down the road.
November 1, 2005 at 8:55 am · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve been running around so much it’s hard to keep up with the blog. Sunday we drove down to Colorado Springs on I-25, past hundred-car coal trains and the rugged foothills to our right. Eleanor’s brother hosted us for a terrific Italian lunch of proscuitto, sopresada (sp?), four different cheeses, two different breads, spiced oil, canteloupe & grapes, etc. Fantastic!
Emma stayed overnight with her cousin Hannah (4 yrs old) and we retired to Denver for an evening of Rich & Eleanor, rather than “Mom & Dad” … a valued moment indeed.
I wanted to take Monday off but it was impossible. Phone ringing all morning, dozens of emails, paperwork to catch up on. I finally broke free at 1:30 and we took the scenic route down to Colorado Springs, this time up into the foothills along CR-67.
It was a worthwhile detour. First the road winds up through a valley, and before you know it you are up around 6500 feet looking over a precipice from a dirt road with snow scattered in the shadows.
Then you re-join the pavement alongside the Platte River, a flat shimmering stream of water in a north-south valley. The pavement is pink from the local granite crushed into it. Quiet little towns pass by, with proud signs “Elevation 6635, Population 36”. And then the towering bulk of Pike’s Peak, white with snow, looms into view, and the road winds down again, into Colorado Springs.
Halloween was fantastic. Emma The Ghost joined her cousins on a typically chilly Colorado night, avidly collecting goodies despite the mid-30’s temperature. An entire neighborhood was terrified by the sight of the pint-sized ghost. (Her costume was made by Eleanor, in the Airstream, without a sewing machine.) We joined a neighborhood pizza party and got a chance to chat with the residents, some of whom were fascinated by our Tour of America.
Today we are pulling out. I’m finalizing some work because we may be out of touch for a few days. We’ll be heading to Grand Junction CO tonight, and hopefully Dead Horse State Park (near Moab, UT) tomorrow. I’ll update the blog when we can get online, and add more pictures.
October 29, 2005 at 11:42 pm · Filed under Places to go
I have been struggling between the obligations of work and the attractions of Denver. On Friday, I weakened and took most of the day off to join Eleanor and Emma at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They had an exhibit called “Grossology” that Emma desperately wanted to see. As you can imagine, it was all about snot, burping, farting, and other fun stuff. Here I am standing explaining the function of intestines, by a sign that says, “Why does my body make pee?” Gee, why didn’t they have this sort of fun when I was a kid?
The Museum has much more to offer, and we found ourselves entranced by terrific exhibits of Coloradoan wildlife, as well as creatures from other parts of the world, a Native American exhibit, a gemstone exhibit, and a space exhibit. Well worth the visit!
Unfortunately taking the day off meant working all evening, and again this morning in a desperate effort to get ahead before we take off next week for more travel. We’ll be in Utah and Nevada most of the week and I won’t be taking a lot of time to work. My next catch-up period will be when we arrive at Velocity7 in Nevada City, CA (see the Schedule page for details).
Forrest McClure dropped by this morning to deliver an article and pictures for the Winter magazine, and then it was time to head out to pick up Fred Coldwell and head over to Boulder. Our first stop was the Celestial Seasonings factory for their tour. That was a HUGE hit with Eleanor. Fred, Emma, and I all enjoyed the free samples in their entrance area. You haven’t lived until you’ve visited the notorious MINT ROOM. Another recommended place to visit, and free!
Then we headed to Patti Raimondo’s house in Boulder CO for a party the local Airstreamers had organized in our honor. Shari & Rob Davis were there, and another couple — all vintage trailer owners from the local WBCCI unit in Denver. That went until 10 pm (lots of laughs!)
…and so here we are at midnight catching up on blogging.
I’m really glad we came to Denver. It’s a great area to visit, we have lots of good Airstreaming friends here, and the weather and scenery have been spectacular. Our departure on Tuesday is coming all too fast, but we’ve got other places to go…
October 28, 2005 at 9:44 am · Filed under Eleanor's posts
The best laid plans”¦ We have been trying to go to the Denver Zoo for a week and it looks like we just won’t make it. The first time I intended to take Emma to the zoo, traffic was so awful, we would not have been able to arrive at the zoo with enough time to see much of anything. I bagged the idea of going to the zoo and opted for Hammond’s Candies factory tour instead. That was a mistake too. It took us 70 minutes to travel less than 15 miles. We missed the last tour by 10 minutes. However, we managed to spend an hour in the candy shop. 😉
Tuesday was slotted for the aquarium. We went and had a great time. We got to pet Sting Rays!! I’ll ask Emma to blog that one.
Wednesday seemed like a good day for the zoo, but we had car conflicts. Rich needed to use the car. We all went out with Rich. (Thursday had better weather in the forecast and I needed to catch up on things anyway.)
Thursday, Emma slept until 11AM ““ when I finally woke her up. She has been battling a bit of a cold and the sleep was well needed. However, the zoo closes at 4PM. Taking the time we need to get out the door and traffic conditions into consideration, once again, we wouldn’t have had much time to spend at the zoo.
Today, I promised to take her to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for the Grossology exhibit, and our weekend is already booked.
“que sera, sesa”
October 28, 2005 at 9:17 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Thursday was one of those off-schedule days where I end up working early in the morning and late at night to make up for doing other things all day. Fred Coldwell called to say the Fall 05 issues of Airstream Life had arrived FedEx at his house, and after we finally got Emma out of bed at about 11 (!) we headed over.
Fred is a collector of Jeep, Airstream and related memorabilia and historical items, so the tour of his house and garages took a couple of hours. He’s got an incredible collection of stuff, including a ’48 Wee Wind, a 62? Globetrotter, a ’51 Clipper, and several rare wartime Jeeps. He also collects a certain type of wool blanket with national park emblems on them. Meanwhile, Eleanor and Emma headed off to a nearby laundromat to catch up on that chore, and later Fred and I showed up with lunch. So we all had lunch at the laundromat to the background of 70’s disco blasting out of the loudspeakers.
With various other errands (post office, hardware store) we ended up getting back home around 6 pm, and that’s when my working day started again — until about 11 pm. It was one of those unconventional but full days that we seem to have frequently when on the road.
October 27, 2005 at 10:48 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Another mostly sunny day in dry Denver. The humidity continues to linger below 30%, sometimes as low as 17%, so we are sucking up water at a tremendous rate, despite the cool air. I went for a bike ride the other day (and was reminded about how the altitude makes little hills into big ones), and wiped out 16 oz of water in a short 10-mile ride around the Cherry Creek Dam.
My advance copies of the Airstream Life Fall 2005 issue have arrived, so yours should be in the mail now. I hope you like the new 80-page format and “perfect bound” spine! I’m heading over to Fred Coldwell’s house today to pick mine up. They came in FedEx and I couldn’t receive a FedEx shipment here at the campground.
Another bit of good news for vintage Airstream nuts: The VAP, Episode 4 is now available for download at www.thevap.com. I’m not on this episode but go ahead and listen to it anyway! 😉
Something’s up with Emma. She was clearing her throat all last night and she’s still sleeping now — 13 hours after she went to bed. I’m holding out hope that she’ll fight it off. But she might have picked up a bug at the Aquarium on Tuesday.
We’ve made our plans for the next week. Check the Schedule page to see where we are planning to be. If you live along our route, let me know so we can meet up. If you can meet us in Eugene OR that would be great, because we’ll have free stuff to give away there, including some cool Airstream stickers, free samples of Airstream Life magazine, and other goodies. Plus, Eleanor and I want to meet you!
October 26, 2005 at 9:00 am · Filed under Eleanor's posts
Home schooling doesn’t only happen on a schedule. It’s whenever you and your child are tuned in to each other and your surroundings. This morning Emma and I were sitting on her bed, playing tic-tac-toe on her white board. The markers were drying out and I suggested we make a list of the colors we needed to replace. I wrote the colors on the board and then asked Emma to sound out the letters to figure out the names of the colors: bl + ack, gr + een, br + ow + n, etc. (You get the idea.)
It’s been like this all along. Yesterday, I pointed out to Emma that being able to do the connect the dots in her coloring book meant that she was able to count consecutively up to 64 (the number of dots in that picture) and she was able to recognize the numbers when she saw them. (Now she doesn’t want to do the connect the dots anymore. Oh well.)
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