In Need of a Bit of Far Country...

Made a many times traveled before circle yesterday... wind through Poudre Canyon and over Cameron Pass...

 Take the back road cutoff near Gould over to Rand...

*North Park*

Run south after a quick visit with old friends at the Rand Store... Grab a fast bite and brew at a Deli in Grand Lake and climb back over the top through Rocky...

Breathe the pure mountain air that sustains hope...

This guy is still fortunate. He's not yet been "Saved" from the evil hunter.

Enjoy the Elk while you can... they're close to being "saved" by improving their lives with the imposition of  a gentle "eco-balance", that has NEVER existed before in all history. The artificially planted and UN-natural wolf variety that was planted up north is spreading like a carnivorous cancer...

Having already decimated the Montana and Idaho Elk Populations it is moving west and south... buuuuut then... being shredded by a pack of wolves, is sooooo much more humane and natural... than being taken by the alien human...

Even just a day in far country is a good treatment for what ails you... even if you have to occasionally dodge the clusters of aliens...

Brian

Rocky Mountain National Park for the Sick and the Restless

Thought I'd recovered enough to sit in the car for a run up into Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park... maybe even over the top. That and I've been here in this camp too much for too long and I'm needful of some windshield time.

Sitting in a car on a sunny drive in the mountains takes no effort... and mountain air is the best cure right?

Down at the mouth of the canyon they were, I believe, scaling the slopes above... knocking down loose boulders and rock... so we had to wait for a bit...

 The Big Thompson is running strong but nowhere near what the Poudre is carrying. I wonder why. More snow pack on that side of the mountain?

Or more rain caught that drainage in that couple weeks of rain we had? no idea... but I'm sure the folks living up this canyon aren't complaining.

All that rip wrap along the roadside of the bank is new. Repairs where much of this section of road was heavily damaged.

 It's gonna take a few years for all the scars of last years floods to heal.

That bare dirt... didn't used to be bare.

I wonder if anyone will rebuild on that ground the river scoured?

... or if they'll be allowed to?

 Farther up, near to the top the snow is still deep and heavy where it drifts and banks up through the winter.

The wind was blowin' so hard here I had trouble gettin' the car door open to get out and capture the photo...

...and as for that mountain air curing a fella... not this time.

Almost made it over the top. Almost... Made the mistake of feeling good enough to eat a light late breakfast back in Estes...big mistake... whatever this bug is... it don't like me consuming anything edible...

By the time we got to the top of Trail ridge that food had me so swole up I couldn't breathe... so rather than drop off the west side, just tucked my tail and ran for home...

Real slow days around here just now... nibble a bit and wait for the pain... seems if I nibble only tiny lil' bits... the bloating is sized to fit the groceries... Idea is to get my innards to get back to some sort of normal a bit at a time... so far... the only thing that's happening is time is passing.

Took three days to do two hours worth of mowing, making passes on rubber knees in between nibbles and groans... I'll tell you... I'm NOT good at this sick business...

Or this... being in one place... first time I've set in one camp for more than a couple weeks in four years! ~ I don't like it ~ I've been a gypsy nature my entire life. The past four years have shown me... that is where I've always belonged.

Goin' somewhere with my nose in the wind. Nowhere in particular... just goin' ... is where I belong.

Nursing my feeble self
Brian

Grandkids, High Country and Waiting on Paint to Dry

Got the saddlebags painted Saturday. Was thinking I'd spend the day Sunday getting them hung on the bike... Until I got reminded that this weren't HOUSE paint we put on! ;) It takes more than overnight for the stuff to cure... in fact... it's not fully done for a couple of months!

*Motorcycle Saddle Bag Paint Curing*

So... I decided that a "day off" was in order, and tagged along with the ladies and the Grandkids on a day up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

I'd taken a bit of time off from the bike work the other day too and accompanied them to a small water park down in Denver to kool off.

OK Ladies... relax... They failed to get me into anything like a speedo! :) I kept my long sleeves and boot cut jeans protecting my modesty ... and ensuring that I didn't cause anyone difficulty with Temptation! :)

There is still a temptation involved... This "Takin' time off" could get to be habit forming.

*Lil' Jasper ~ "JW" *

This kid might only be a mite over four months but he's 'bout the happiest lil' buster I've seen... and he watches ever'thing.

*edit; ok... senility is catchin' up quick and I can't read a calender. The lil' buster is seven months old! :) * 

He's gonna be a fun kid to see grow.

Not sure if he'll be a Saddle Bronc rider... That was the first thing I thought when I heard the name "Jasper".

But can't ya just hear that boomin' out over the P.A. system at "The Daddy" up in Cheyenne?...

..."Take a look folks, down in chute #3! That's J.W. Thompson himself climbing on a thousand pounds of bucking fury!!!" :)

His sister now... There is a complete different story! While her brother is a laid back, easy goin' bronc buster in waiting...

This lil' gal is a Holy Terror in the makin'.!

*Genuine Heart Breaker*

Don't get me wrong... she's a sweetheart... but...

She's got a wit as sharp as a razor... the brains to back it up... and the worst part is... at nigh on to only three years old... She Already knows it!

Lord have mercy on the poor boys that are gonna fall head over heels for this Heart Breaker!

We met 'em up in Estes park this morning. Heidi and I had the duty of watchin' 'em while her Photographer Momma did her picture takin' thing for a while... and then we ran on up into the park.

As soon as I broke my hand free from the lil' bronc busters grip anyhoo! I got a matched set now of these "Thumb buster" pics. One from his sister and now JW. ;)

After takin' a short pic nic lunch we made a run up Fall River Road through a lite storm... There's all sorts of lil' spots along there that it pays to stop and take a looksee...

*Along Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park*

Our stay on the Front Range has been long, but it's coming close to the end... We'll be hauling out... for what looks like a few weeks up into Wyoming... just as soon as I can get the bike finished and loaded back up.

If the paint will hurry up and cure 'nuff... I'll bolt 'em on sometime Tuesday.

Bikin', Grandkiddin' and Rocky Mountain Highin' in Colorado
Brian

Rocky, Rain, Writing and Repairs

With fall comin' on quick we took a run up into the Rockies, to our old haunt, Rock Mountain National Park... and yeah... considerin' the temp was less than 45 degrees up there, with a strong wind, we took the truck.

Just inside the South gate a short ways the road turns up to Sprague and Bear Lakes. Neither of us feeling real ambitious, late on Friday afternoon, we thought the 1/2 mile walk around Sprague would fit about right.

Well, it seems some several other folks had the same notion. :)

Tickled me to see the most of 'em, diddy bop on down the lil' trail... right past...

*A Trio of Trout in the inflow stream of Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park*

Hmmm... :) ... Chemical Accident from a Big Bang? ... or ... the work of a "Cook" ? :) gonna have to wait and see ain't we?

*Sprague Lake Trout in Rocky Mountain National Park*

Well, the folks that walked right on by without seein', can't even ask the question.

The question I was askin' most though was; "Dang it's cold! How come that trailer ain't repaired and I'm not moving south following the thermometer?!!!"

*Mix wind with a mountain lake... and you get BRRRRRRR!*

Hoping to see some color... which is getting scarcer and scarcer in parts of the west where the Aspen has been run out by the pines, which are now falling to the beetle... we turned back toward Horsehoe park...

*Near the Rocky Mountain National Park South Gate*

We'd been told the color was peaking... hmmm... almost as much green as gold... I think the colors may be coming a lil' more stretched out this year, rather than in one big rush... Aw, either way the place still carries a beauty all its own...

*Horseshoe Park in Rocky Mountain National Park*

The next day, a storm come a thumpin' in here... I'm guessin' this spot is carryin' some snow about now... We got a half inch of rain down lower where we're waitin' the welder. Ankle deep mud... mmmm... time for this twister to be movin' south!

Our welder brought home a special tool this weekend to take some measurements for a "Special" Piece he's gonna bend up at the shop he works in... a bracing plate I guess you could call it... So, this next week we'll be movin' forward on that repair.

As soon as that's done, we've only got a baby shower to wait on... and puttin' our john henry's on some tax papers... then color my tattered behind South Bound!

My newest book, A Pair of Second Chances, is at the "Reviewers" now... all four of 'em. Me, I'm sittin' here squirming and restless. As impatient, as a schoolboy, waiting on his report card... anxious to get mine.

I do a lil' torquing on the formatting for the distributor, while I wait, but that computer "Stuff" makes my eyes cross, so I can only do a lil' of it at a time.

Time to Do a Few More Chores
Brian

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