If I tracked every single hour of my day, no doubt the majority of then would be right here:
Plugging away at my desk. But in between sprints of working on Raceday and Digital Opera, I managed to get out, find some new hiking places, and visit a lot of my Colorado favorites.
Starting with St. Mary’s Glacier. JD is working down here as well, and he has been busy with a large-scale project, Raceday, and getting his family of five (plus two dogs) moved to Colorado. So JD and I hit St. Mary’s again. It’s a hike I’ve done three or four times, and I think this was JD’s second trip.
After lunch, we decided to keep going and drove up to the top of Mount Evans – a scary, thin mountain road that takes you above 14,000 feet. On the top, we even saw the much-photographed Mt. Evans Mountain Goat.
Later in the month, I got to visit with Kevin Shanks. I’ve known Kevin for years since he had the mate to my Todd Elmer 1979 RXL – Kevin’s is the first 1979 RXL, driven by Frans Rosenquist. Kevin has an enormous collection, mostly of Thunderjets. He’s also got Twisters, drag sleds, and a host of exciting Western racers. But it was the 79 RXL I went to see, and I was not disappointed! It’s in excellent condition and looks like you could go for a ride today!
On June 18th, I tried my first new hike since coming back to Colorado. It was supposed to be about 2.5 miles out and 2.5 miles back and listed as “moderate” for difficulty. As I started, my heel and left leg started to hurt, but I decided to power through it. The hike was moderate in spots, but a lot of it, I would consider “Advanced,” as I found myself scaling rocks and having to look where I walked at all times to avoid twisting that left foot.
Then I got lost and like two and a half hours lost. When I finally found the trail again, I decided to keep going, thinking I was close to the summit. Nope. A couple of hours later, I could no longer feel my legs south of my knees and decided that was enough. I hobbled back down – that took a couple more hours – and was never so happy to see my Jeep.
When I got home, I looked up some other websites, and sure enough.. .the hike was not 2.5 miles out and back; it was ten miles out and back. I was too tired to get many photographs, so I think this is the only one:
For surviving that ordeal, I went to revisit my favorite sushi pad: The Sushi Den. All I ordered was four pieces of this fantastic seared tuna. And Saki. Life is good!
On June 25th, I took a random trip to Vail to be a tourist. I had never been but wanted to check it out. It gorgeous place with gorgeous buildings, and they happened to be having an art and food festival on the streets, so a double win for me.
Then the fun part of this period: I had to move, again. The project JD is working on requires him to be here in Colorado for most of his time. But in late July, he and his family decided to stay in Minnesota rather than move to Colorado. I wanted a more significant place, and JD needed a place to stay at least part of the time, so I talked about the complex I am in to upgrade into one of the much larger units.
Having to move once again, after having just moved twice in under a year is not my idea of fun, and prompted me to change my #1 Now listing to be deciding where I want to live, once and for all. There are too many choices, and all this moving is just making it harder. But the whole process of deciding where to live in another post I will do later. For now, the new place is much more to my liking, although lacking a great view.
Another favorite was me and my friend Stacy going to the Colorado Renaissance Festival. Yeah, I know it has nothing to do with the renaissance. But they are just good people watching; I get to eat Steak on Stake, get a pleasant walk in, and I found a couple more Damascus steel knives.
On July 16th, I did a long hike near Colorado Springs. It took me most of the day but was not all that hard – just long.
Somewhere during this time, I made a trip to Frisco, Colorado as well. I would live here instantly, but there is not much for real estate that is even for sale here.
On July 22nd, my friend Heather and I made the trip to Colorado Springs and went up the incline. Her first trip, I believe it was my 5th. Heather made it up in 2.5 hours. It took 2.75 hours, which I think is my personal best.
Early in August, JD’s family visited while they waited for their new house in Minnesota to close. So, of course, the pad was filled with a dog, JD &, Nerissa, and three awesome minions named Noah, Ethan, and Eli. Lots of video games, dog walks, dog wrestling, and treats. Ethan even spent an entire day in the garage is an impressive help as I worked on Jerry Bunke’s 78 440 sleds. On August 5th, Joe Markwardt (who has been a big help on Raceday), JD, Nerissa, and the boys and I all headed up Echo lake and spent the day hiking there.
That’s all from here – headed out now to go hiking again!
