July 16-18, 2025
Combined Log of 3 days:
July 16 (Wednesday)
It’s Wednesday evening, 9:30 local time. This is hump day for me workwise – tomorrow is my last day of work. I’ll be back at the Silverthorne library, which is just an ideal setup. But right now I’m laying in the tent and there’s a somewhat overwhelming sensation of “grittiness.” You see – all day long the wind blows a lot of this fine volcanic dirt around. It gets airborne and lifts into the tent. I’ll do a cleanout of the tent tomorrow for this.
The other sensation though is of sound. A very pleasant one of gentle rain that’s growing in intensity. It started out with just a few “patters” but is building to a pretty steady stream. Thirty minutes ago there were high winds. I think this might be a pattern for this part of the country. I’m normally so insulated from such things in my home. It’s a treat to be this close to the earth tonight.
Today has been a good day. I’ve settled into a rhythm. Was able to get a fair amount of work done, though not without some challenges in the library. There’s an individual who comes in who must be working on his doctoral thesis or some sort of religious tract he’s writing, and for him to be productive he needs to state what he’s reading out loud. It must help reinforce it in his mind, and simultaneously distract everyone else in the room. But apart from that I met Alan and Stephen, both of whom have been there a couple of days this week along with me. I had my staffing with my supervisor this morning and the library opens after the staffing time. So I set up on the front deck of the library and hooked into the Wi-Fi and proceeded with the call. It’s all rather fun to make this work.
I was able to spend a little bit of time working on the blog and posted the first full day of travel with photos. As an experiment I tried using this old Olympus DS-40 dictation device that I’ve had for 10-15 years alongside the voice transcriber on my tablet. The combination does a surprisingly good job of translating voice to text. So I’ve got a bit of a workflow going with all portable tools.
July 17 (Thursday)
Recording again around 9 PM in the tent after a fine day. I’m officially on vacation for 2+ weeks. I got a fair bit of work done – was able to mark a couple of things off to earn my keep, though I did miss the department-wide staffing this morning by 30 minutes. Next time I will wear my wrist watch. You can travel too light.
I stopped by Ace Hardware to pick up a metric bolt that my gas tank deserves. It seems I was a bit too hurried in my reassembly of the bike back in Georgia. From that same store I purchased a combination lock to put on the bear containers in the campsite. I’ve never had anything lifted from my campsite, but still it feels good to be able to lock a few key items up in those steel containers. Speaking of gear – it’s going to be a challenge getting all of this loaded up on Sunday when we start heading to Yellowstone.
A rather impulsive meal purchase today: I was going to go to Subway but it was adjacent to a Chinese restaurant with lots of traffic in and out. On entry, I realized it was a buffet. It must be at least 6-8 years since I’ve indulged that way. I am truly catching up on my eating here in Colorado. On a healthier note – I did make a big batch of oatmeal and coffee for breakfast this morning. Evening ended with a short ride up Ute Pass. Lovely random road in Colorado, watching the day come to a pretty orange/red color oriented west.
Aaron flies into Denver tomorrow at 9 AM. To retrieve him will entail leaving this site around 6:30 AM.
July 18 (Friday)
Time of logging is around 8 PM local time. I’m sitting on a rock at MacDonald Flats looking due west at the tail end of the day. The Blue River is to my right and if you could hear, you’d know there are some trucks in the background running up Route 9. Aaron is at the picnic table behind me doing some reading. We reunited at the airport about 9:15 – it took about two hours to get there. It’s always fun to have a reunion with one of your kids and that’s the second time I’ve done that with Aaron in the Denver airport. We also have a history in that airport going to Philmont. We reminisced around the security checkpoint about our time at Philmont.
We loaded up the bike and promptly had a problem getting out of the short-term parking. The ticket checkout didn’t like our credit card. It’s sort of a protracted deal when you’re all loaded up on the bike and have to back out over the toll gate. It was pretty warm (in the 90s) and traffic was really heavy getting out of Denver.
On the way in, I noticed on Route 70 that the westbound part of the highway was under construction and traffic was backed up over 10 miles with traffic moving at a 5-7 mph rate. Aaron and I looked at the map and identified a bypass that might be more scenic and potentially quicker. The bypass went right through Golden, Colorado, which is a place I’d heard of but never been to. So we set about looking on Yelp to find a good Asian restaurant in that vicinity. We had a wonderful lunch and with our bellies full, we got on the Clear Creek Canyon Pass (Butler map rated) to hopefully short-circuit that bad stretch of interstate.
We soon concluded that there were a lot of other people with that same idea. This turned into probably 90 minutes of first and second gear stop and start. Quite tedious stuff on a heavy street bike loaded with two large adults. But soon we got back on the interstate and made a stop for Aaron to get an energy drink. He was still recuperating from a long day in Atlanta with friends at the rock climbing venue.
An exhilarating ride from that point – through the Eisenhower Tunnel and into Silverthorne. We went over the dam road and then into Frisco for me to do laundry and for Aaron to check out the bookshop across from the laundromat. Aaron’s verdict on Frisco: Not so many good books, lots of real estate offices.
This was one of those no-pride moments where you take all your clothes off including your socks and your shirt, you put on your rain jacket in order to get as many of your clothes in the washer as you can. I’ll spare you the photo sent to family members. With 4 pairs of socks, underwear and shirts – clean clothes are a precious commodity.
We then went to the Silverthorne rec center for showers and fill-up of the 6-liter Ortlieb water bag. I got to show Aaron where I’ve been working at the library. We then made the trip back to MacDonald Flats (the first time he’s seen the spot.) We saw some lovely transitions of the sun shifting behind the clouds, with big shadows getting thrown up against the mountains. A truly divine sight and just like I hoped it might be for Aaron’s first experience in this part of Colorado.
We have identified some things that we will ship back to Nana’s house tomorrow morning (Saturday). But the rest of the day will be dedicated to reading and exploring, which sounds pretty ideal to both of us.
