Sept 7th/08 - A beautiful world...

Sunday, Sept 7th/08

We left Cheyenne behind just before noon giving it a chance to warm up. By the time we crossed into Colorado to fuel it was in the mid 70’s (Yeah!!!) and Rod was riding in his shirt sleeves.

I have to give Rod the credit for the amazing photos I have been sharing with you. He most often rides with his camera around his neck allowing him to take “moving pictures”. As you have seen, he has taken a number of me on ‘Paladin’ as we’re riding along. Either he’s feeling a little left out of this process or just being a comic and I laugh out loud when I see him aiming the camera directly at himself today as we ride down the freeway at 75 MPH. At coffee when I bring it up, he laughingly tells me he didn’t get the shot as he’s too close for the camera to be able to focus. He tried it on macro but still wasn’t able to get it as the strap around his neck wouldn’t allow for further extension of his arm.




















We are following the Big Thompson River up to Estes Park. It is really moving and has a number of gated weirs that appear to be for flood control. Signs along the road caution “In case of flood climb to higher ground”. Well, we are already above 6000 ft in elevation – how much higher can you climb??? They say in Denver, you’re always part of the “Mile High” club.

We are climbing… a lot. My ears can attest to that as they go Pop! Pop! Pop!

The scenery is in a word – MAGNIFICENT!!! I know I’ve used a lot of adjectives to try to express what we have been experiencing and I have truly tried to not over-use them but… they really are no adequate words to describe the beauty. It is Sunday, and we are feeling truly blessed to be in the High Country where Rod particularly feels spiritual. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

High above us, a jet liner soars releasing a stream of white vapour trail to mark the deep blue of a near cloudless sky.

We stop at a neat spot in Nederland at the “New Moon Café and Espresso Bar” for a coffee and fruit bar. The elevation here is over 8200 feet. A picture perfect afternoon and we are able to enjoy sitting on the outside patio. Coming back into the dimness of the café after the brilliant outdoor sunshine, I am momentarily blinded and ask directions to the ladies room. The owner points me in the right direction and says “Don’t worry, they’re both heterosexual”. Getting a ‘look’ from one of the patrons she laughs and says “Oh yeah, I guess you don’t much like that word huh”? As I exit I whisper to her that a better choice might be androgynous.

We are both in awe of the scenery and what comes to me is the last line from the inspiration prose of “Desiderata”… “… For all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams – It is still a beautiful world”.