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July 4 & Becky’s Visit

July 19, 2012 / Steve

Becky visited us during the Pinetown Boys’ High School winter break in late June and the first part of July. The weather in South Africa was cold and wet, so we provided her with true contrast: record, scorching, crispy heat and no rain, at least until the end of her trip. The temperature was over 100F/40C degrees almost every day, and forest fires near Grand Junction, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs burned hundreds of homes and thousands of acres.

Her flight from Durban to Denver was unpleasant, and the trip back was a either an adventure or a nightmare, but I’ll let her tell that story if she wants to. She’s back home now, though, even though her luggage is MIA.

Here are some highlights of her visit.

Becky rented a bicycle from Sunlight Sports and we took the Rio Grande Trail, a converted railroad grade, partway to Carbondale. I was very happy when my knees didn’t hurt. When it cools off, I may see if there are any nearby roads sans oilfield trucks to try again.
We took Katy, Emily and Josh to a street fair in Glenwood Springs where we were mystified by a (remarkably good) high school magician, watched a juggler, and the kids had their faces painted.
I took Becky on an abbreviated motorcycle ride to Meeker. I don’t know who was more surprised at how much she enjoyed it – me or Georgia! Our trip was shortened, though, because of road construction on the way up. A sign read “Motorcycles Use Extreme Caution,” and I remembered how all of my friends who had crashed their cycles had done so in road construction … so we turned around and came home.
Becky, Terry, and Emily, Katie and Josh, went on a camping excursion not far from Grand Junction. The next day I heard from the grandchildren that they had been eaten alive by mosquitoes (despite a liberal application of mosquito repellent) and had seen a young bear across the Colorado River.

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And the best part was that Jackie took a couple of days off of work and joined us, so for the first time in a couple of years, we were all together again. Jackie, Becky, Georgia and I went to the miniature golf attraction in Glenwood Springs; the owner remembered the time Becky worked for her while she was in college. Remember Skee Ball?

Thanks, Becky and Jackie, for visiting us. Suggestion: Next time make sure that Greg comes too!

Glade Park

May 15, 2012 / Steve

The Colorado National Monument is spectacular, but if you take another route up and back, you can find some really interesting scenery in a place called Glade Park. It’s a favorite of Terry’s, who discovered the place when he was working as a surveyor for Drexel Barell. He has hidden several Geocaches in the vicinity, and given the quality of cell service, should be able to deploy a Munzee or two.

Stu and I rode there today. Click on any picture to enlarge it; click again and it will shrink back to its original size.

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The Glade Park Store has been in the same crossroads location for 100 years; it’s the real thing, with soft drinks, snacks, and everything the neighbors might need.

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Craig 50 Years Later

April 23, 2012 / Steve

I was a 16 year old junior at Boulder High School during Spring Break, 1962. This is me, Cathy and our dogs:

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There were a few other railroad geeks in high school that year; three of us decided to take one of the last trips on the Rio Grande Railroad’s Yampa Valley a three car train that ran from Denver to Craig every day. As you look at the timetable, remember that this was back when railroads welcomed passengers… [singlepic id=66 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The train waiting to depart at Union Station in Denver: [singlepic id=62 w=320 h=240 float=center] This particular locomotive, which was built in 1947, was retired and scrapped in 1967.

The Yampa Valley took all day to reach Craig, and stopped every few miles to pick up passengers (a very few) and large metal milk cans left by the tracks by the farmers to transport to the dairy. It also transported mail, and was known as the Yampa Valley Mail; but lost the mail contract in the early 1960’s.

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The train, the conductor, and the three passengers arrived in Craig late in the day [singlepic id=59 w=320 h=240 float=center]

The Craig train station was pretty imposing for a small town; it was the end of the line for David Moffat’s dream of a standard gauge railroad from Denver to Salt Lake City, which went bankrupt when it reached Craig.

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We stayed a local motel and enjoyed the sights. Questions:

How many motels would rent a room to three high school kids these days?
How many of today’s overprotective helicopter parents would let their kids take such a trip?
How did we handle it without a cell phone?

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The West Theater is at the same location in Craig, and the marquee hasn’t changed a bit, but instead of Elvis Presley, they were showing “Mirror Mirror.” You won’t find Standard Oil or Texaco filling stations, either.

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Flash forward 50 years

Friends Stu Mall, Jeff McNulty and I took a motorcycle trip on April 22, just about 50 years to the day after my excursion on the Yampa Valley Mail. My goal was to deploy Munzees (a hide and seek game using smartphones) in Northwest Colorado. We managed to cover over 300 miles.

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My moto in the front, Jeff and Stu in back, in Meeker.

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The old depot was hidden behind a string of coal cars, near an old gas station. Anybody else remember this oil company, which later became Enco / Esso / Exxon?

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Walking along the tracks:

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The formerly imposing depot is now a crumbling wreck, one of many forgotten structures in Union Pacific’s vast property inventory:

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That’s me holding up the roof. I’ve aged a bit too.

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… and that’s the end of the ride report. We had lunch and left heading west for Rangely, then Jeff peeled off at Douglas Pass to head back to his home in Grand Junction, and Stu and I meandered slowly back home via the Piceance Creek road, which us normally filled with industrial traffic for the many oil, gas and other extractive mineral ventures located there, but which was empty and beautiful on a Sunday afternoon.

Thanks, guys. The trip was a lot of fun. The memories: priceless.

Dick Cheney

March 29, 2012 / Steve

Somebody told me today that I bore a strong resemblance to Dick Cheney. Kill me now.

Santa Fe and Los Alamos

March 26, 2012 / Steve

After spending a day marveling at the galleries and enjoying the mellow ambiance of Santa Fe, I wanted something different, so we decided to visit nearby Bandelier National Monument and Los Alamos. The National Monument has a huge number of Native American sites, but it was also the site of a devastating fire last year which closed most of the visitor’s areas. When we got there, a sign at the entrance station warned that there would be at least a 20 minute wait for parking. We drove down to the bottom of the canyon and they were right – so we came back. Now if I’d been riding my moto, there would have been ample parking. Oh well.
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Santa Fe, Day 2

March 16, 2012 / Steve

There is a genre of motorcycle travel reports which appear on various blogs and websites which are known as ride reports. They’re very entertaining and some are well written, and I have very thoroughly enjoyed reading them. Most of the really good ones are written by riders who go into a town, spend a day or two exploring and taking pictures, and spend a whole lot of time editing the pictures and creating the travelogues. I now can see why it takes so long! I’m using WordPress, which is a wonderful piece of software, that makes editing easy and almost fun.

To best enjoy our pictures, and to read the description, click on the first image in the gallery to see a larger version, and then use the arrow keys, or click on the arrows at the bottom to advance to the next one. Click on the enlarged picture to hide it and return to the gallery.

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Steve & Georgia Carter