C.O.D.

Blogging in the elements at the
KOA in Rock Springs, WY

Having been retired for a couple of years now, there are very few things that will prompt me to wake up at the Crack of Dawn (C.O.D.). But here I am, having raised my droopy eyelids at the definitely C.O.D. time of 4 a.m. to hit the road yet again. This time bound for an old favorite - Jackson Hole - where we’ll spend a week or two at the Gros Ventre (pronounced “grow vont”) campground where we hope to visit once again with the resident moose and bear population. It was there last year that I opened the door of the men’s restroom late one afternoon and almost bonked my head on the nose of one very big moose. I’m sure I was more startled than he (yes, it was a Bull moose proudly displaying his magnificent new rack) as this was after all his home territory and I but a passing visitor, albeit one of several thousand who flock to the area each summer. We agreed that I would retreat post haste and leave said moose to continue munching on the apparently delicious foliage adjacent to the aforementioned restroom facilities. 

There was also mention among the campers of the resident bears purportedly making their way around the campground at the C.O.D. as well as in the twilight hours but we never did see Ursus  Arctos or their smaller cousin Ursus Americanus. Neither did we see hide nor hair of Jackson Hole’s most famous resident, Bear 399, and her cubs though we certainly had our eyes peeled on the lookout. Perhaps this year we’ll catch a glimpse of Ursus OfAnyKindness which would be fine by me. I know my wife was disappointed to not see any bruins on our visit to the Hole last year. Since COVID erupted we’ve seen more bears at home in Colorado - 2 at Chatfield State Park in Denver (I say “in” because it is now almost completely surrounded by suburbs) and one just a week or so ago in Aspen as we rode the Silver Queen Gondola to the top of the mountain. Perhaps the bears in the great State of Wyoming know the hunters are watching for them and are keeping a low profile as would I if I was in the sights of a high-powered rifle.

Speaking of endangered species, on our drive today (Denver to Rock Springs) I saw a sign in support of Cheney 2022 which I’ll assume was endorsing Liz and not her former Vice Presidential father Dick. Listening to the radio after crossing the Wyoming line, the airwaves were full of fairly nasty (o.k., really nasty) ads degrading Liz and supporting her opponent. Now, I’m not a Republican (or Democrat either for that matter), but history has a way of eventually recognizing the efforts of those not in favor among the masses and Liz Cheney is certainly not likely to be voted Most Popular among her own party, or at least the Republican Party that preceded Mr. Trump. But Liz, if you’re ever in my neck of the woods I’d love to take you to lunch and say Thank You for standing up for the country when its own citizens were seemingly intent on destroying it. 

Rock Springs is a good stopping place between Denver and Jackson Hole and seems to be doing quite nicely as a town. Lots of retail you’d recognize, new homes going up all over the place. Mining, Oil and Gas extraction is the main industry here followed closely by Health Care and Social Services. The population doesn’t appear to be growing very much according to the internet but does seem to be holding its own which is something compared to some other Wyoming towns that would appear to be going the way of the tumbling tumbleweeds. 

Well, the afternoon T-storms are starting to spit at me so I guess I’ll sign off for now. The raindrops feel nice on what’s been a very hot day, and even the hurricane winds that Wyoming is so famous for have a bit of a cool feel to them though it makes it difficult to hold the keyboard on the outdoor table. So unlike Liz, I’m going to duck and run for cover. Until tomorrow, stay dry my friends, stay dry. 

Where the billionaires roam

 "Oh, give me a home... where the billionaires roam... and the skies are not cloudy all day"

Isn't that the way the song goes?

Now, just to be clear, I don't get to spend a lot of time in Aspen, Colorado. At least not since, according to the local lore, the billionaires pushed out the lowly millionaires. I guess that's not so hard to understand. Heck, in my neighborhood homes that were bought for $100k years ago now command seven figure asking prices. Seems like a million just doesn't go as far as it used to.

Still, make no mistake, Aspen is a fun place to visit. If you like great scenery, both of the natural and people-watching kind, this is your place especially on a beautiful summer day. When I was a kid (a long, long, l o n g time ago) I had a chance to ski Aspen with my parents. We were up there for a hockey tournament and my folks had some friends who had a condo in Snowmass and let us stay for a day or two. Haven't skied there since but have had the chance to get there several more times during the warmer months and you sure don't have to twist my arm for any chance at a return visit. 

The Love of My Life and I set out early from the Leadville side (where some of the displaced millionaires are now setting up shop) and made our way up and over Independence Pass. Its nice to see they've made the narrowest sections on the west side alternating one-way controlled by stop lights, so no more peering around the corners to see if a car is coming your way that won't be able to squeeze by. Its a wonderful drive, though not for the faint of heart, and we passed several out-of-state cars with drivers white-knuckling their way up to the top (from the west side its the uphill-headed drivers that get the cliffside views). But what's a little gain without some pain?

We took our jaunt on a Monday planning to avoid the crowds. No such luck. Road and town were both crowded even on a weekday. Looming recessions and pandemic aftermath have done nothing to stop folks from flocking to this hub of the mega-rich to take a gander and poke their noses into store fronts featuring Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton. I remember when Aspen had both a Hard Rock Cafe and a Planet Hollywood (I know, ancient history) and I once had aspirations of seeing Sylvester, Bruce, Demi, and Arnold (that's Stallone, Willis, Moore, and Schwarzenegger for those not versed in 1990's culinary fads) casually having a bite to eat at their own establishment. Sadly that never happened and both eateries are long gone. Oh well.

This trip there were a lot more young people, families with children, thirty-somethings, etc. than I remembered from past trips. Never pictured Aspen as a family-oriented destination but you had to watch your step to not trip over aspiring billionaires not too long out of diapers. The rugby field in town was full of tiny tots but not so much scrums. Trembling tykes and big burly men tossing Gilbert around do not mix, so instead the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Company had arranged a more child-friendly performance on the green by SWAY'S Bloom that kept the crowds captivated as they "swayed" back and forth atop 15-foot tall poles. It really was something to see and if you get the chance to see one of their performances in person its worth a white-knuckle drive over a pass. 

Not remembering what the top of Aspen Mountain looks like from my hockey trip back in the '70's, my wife and I thought why not take a ride up the gondola to see what the world looks like from 11,000+ feet (I know - Independence Pass is higher at 12,095 feet but I was like, you know, watching the road). At only $33/person for a ride up the Silver Queen that's quite the deal given that the walk-up ticket price in the Winter for an Aspen ski ticket is around $200 so I couldn't complain especially after filling my gas tank for a measly $100 just to get there.

Special bonus - on the way up my wife, who loves all things bruins, watched from the gondola as a bear peeked out from the foliage and then followed us up the hill. For my wife that was one of the highlights of the day and I wasn't about to disagree. Can't report as to what the bear thought.

Once at the top the view truly is magnificent and the summit chalet (the "Sundeck" operated by Aspen’s only five-star, five-diamond hotel, The Little Nell)  features really good food and beverages. I opted for the Mushroom Veggie Burger featuring a Shitake, Quinoa, and Garbanzo bean burger which by itself was worth the ride up. Oh, and the chocolate chip cookie for dessert wasn't half bad either. And the prettiest flowers we saw in Aspen just happened to be at the top of the mountain. 

I also got to discover what all those skiers do while waiting for the flakes of Winter to make their comeback appearance. The seating options at the Sundeck really are conducive to midsummer naps.

Once back down in town it was time for some serious people watching and there's no better place to indulge than from the corner where, coincidentally, the Paradise Bakery is found. Heck, just watching the people in the long line trying to get into the bakery was entertaining. And the brownie gave the mountain-top cookie a serious run for its money. 

And lest I forget, parking in Aspen remains as fun as I remembered it to be. Ranging from $4-6/hour our 7 hour visit set me back $22 but I could easily pay that in Denver for a Rockies game. And they have made it easier to feed the meter than when I was last there - just insert your credit card into the kiosk and close your eyes. 

So that was our quick one-day visit to the town of Aspen. We would have stayed at the Little Nell but the "from $679" price tag really would have put a crimp into an already stretched Aspen travel budget. I am though already saving my pennies (yeah, right) in anticipation of the next visit. And for the cyclists out there, make sure to stop in to the Prada store. Who knew that's what fashionably dressed bikers were wearing these days. 

For some more views of our day in Aspen here's a short video:

Safely Home

 

I’m a little remiss (late, truth be told) in getting this post out but I’ve been putting together the video for our MUP 2022 ride which you can watch below. When last we talked we had made the trek from Munising to Manistique (why do so many Michigan towns start with the letter “T”? - Marquette, Munising, Manistique, Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island?) where we had been greeted by the beautiful East Breakwater Lighthouse completed in 1916. The next morning we rolled on out toward the small (very, very small) community of Chatham some 60+ miles away. Chatham was our only stop away from the shore and was also the only town (hamlet?) that didn’t offer weary cyclists showers after completing their rides in the sometimes sweltering humidity that makes up a wonderful summer day in the Michigan sun. Although, according to one of the signs in Chatham, one business could wash both your laundry and your car at

the same location, but for folks looking for a long-awaited scrub-a-dub there was none to be found. What to do when that luxurious stream of hot water is missing from the hygiene equation? Well, American Ingenuity to the rescue of course with a novel product called - I kid you not - a Crud Cloth - that  purports to actually provide a waterless shower… and actually delivers on that promise.

Apart from shower woes Chatham is actually a lovely little town (hamlet?) that still manages to have one of the best ice cream shops in the UNIVERSE. Granted, ANY ice cream would taste wonderful after turning the pedals for some 4 hours, but still, Kudos to Mama Cow’s to opening on a day they normally would be closed (not a lot of traffic in Chatham mid-week) to serve up scoops (One? Two? Three?) along with pulled pork sandwiches to fill the mouths of hungry cyclists. And yeah, its hard to bellyache about the lack of running water when said belly is satisfyingly full (stuffed) of such tasty treats.

Sadly, the next morning would be last of this year’s ride and would return us to our starting point in Marquette. Still, surprises awaited including a section of the route that turned to dirt and featured a little hike-a-bike which is something most road cyclists dread. For Colorado boys (and girls) like me hike-a-bike is nothing new. Heck, some of my mountain bike jaunts feature far more of the hike part than the bike part so trudging along on a dirt roadway pushing an expensive two-wheeled machine designed to take you anywhere is nothing new.

Soon cyclists found themselves back on the lakeshore path on which we had left Marquette just days earlier. They sun was shining, temps were in the 70’s, humidity was in the 90’s, and since all the Crud Cloths were used back in Chatham, we were all looking forward to the magnificence of the Superior Dome’s locker rooms and shower facilities awaiting us at the finish. The Superior Dome is the indoor stadium of Northern Michigan University (I had never heard of N.M.U. before doing the ride) and the folks of Michigan didn’t spare any expense in making sure the students of the far North got the very best facilities money could buy. So thank you Michigan taxpayers, your efforts were much appreciated nby some very hot, sweaty, and stinky cyclists rolling back into town.

A special Thank You is also due to our Tour Director Neal without whom we literally would have been lost, the fewer than normal but still wonderful volunteers who took immaculate care of us at every turn, the League of Michigan Bicyclists for doing rides like this in the first place, and last but certainly not least the host communities of Marquette, Munising, Manistique, and Chatham for putting up with us during our stays with you. Many of the folks up this way seem to still be trying to wrap their heads around why anyone would voluntarily climb aboard a tiny saddle and pedal hundreds of miles up hill and over dale in the heat of summer. The answer is simple - we may be willing to hike-a-bike in the middle of July but I for one am not coming back to do it again (lovely as it may be) in the middle of January. 

Here’s the video of our two-wheeled travels. May it give you some sense of what MUP 2022 was like. It may not get you off the couch, but if it does anything it will make you appreciate hot, steamy water all the more. Now, where’s that ice cream scoop?

Challenging Times on two wheels

Manistique's
East Breakwater
Lighthouse

The road to Manistique, Michigan is for the most part a serene stretch of backcountry roads. There's the requisite climb out of Munising but we had already conquered that on prior days forays so it wasn't much of a wake-up call even at the crack of dawn when most of the bike tribe set out from camp for the 65 mile jaunt from Lake Superior to the shores of Lake Michigan. After the first climb the route profile showed a mostly downhill grade most of the way which was music to our ears. Downhill grades and tailwinds are two things you won't hear cyclists complain about. 

Sandy, rocky, gravely road surface on the other hand is the kind of stuff that haunts bicyclists dreams and on this day there was some of that and it caught up with a couple of folks who felt the effects of gravity and poor traction. Couple of trips to the hospital, some stitches, some broken (collar) bones, some of that famous road rash (cyclist or not, you haven't lived until you have experienced the joy of road rash) and you have a tour director's worst nightmare. Tour Directors spend an inordinate amount of time planning routes and trying their best to keep us safe but still accidents happen. The good news was that no one was hurt too seriously and all the riders who were injured continued on the ride though their view of the rest of the trip was from inside a SAG vehicle (SAG vehicles drive along the course and help stranded cyclists to the next town if they can't continue). One of those injured was a study in courage named Fran. Fran is 75 years young and up until the trip to Manistique was doing quite fine, thank you, making her way on down the highways of Northern Michigan. So a tumble off the rocky shoulder of a road was not going to knock Fran out of the Tour. And neither were 12 stitches to her chin, a large hematoma on her arm, and a goodly dose of miscellaneous road rash to boot. She's quite a character even when not injured (as are many of the folks who bike tour which is part of the fun of doing these rides) and her mishap didn't cause her to miss a step. Of course, when we heard about her crash and ambulance trip to the E.R. the real question was how was her bike - skin and bones generally heal, but not so much a bent and cracked two-wheeled steed. Fortunately, apart from some road rash of it's own, her bike survived and will be ready and waiting for Fran to start riding again once her doctor gives her the all clear. 

The crack of dawn means the Tour Director
has already been up for hours

 A Tour Director's job during the actual Tour involves thousands of details, long hours, sleepless nights, and as mentioned above the nagging worry that someone under their care for the week will get hurt. This being the first Tour since the start of the pandemic, COVID was also lurking in the background. Four vaccinations were required of all participants, and according to Neal (our T.D. for this ride) only one rider ended up getting tested during the ride, and the test turned up negative. That's a good thing because there were very few masks being worn. This Tour was Neal's first foray into the Directing side and he did a remarkable job having to overcome all sorts of hurdles leading up to the ride and then some more during it. He'll also be directing the Michigander and Shoreline West tours (also put on by the League of Michigan Bicyclists) in the next month or so so his work is really just ramping up. 

Marking the route every day
is just one of the things
volunteers do

Volunteers for the MUP Ride were a little scarce but the ones there were did an admirable job from route marking, luggage truck duties, SAG support and all the other behind the scenes work that takes place to make a successful tour. We've got two more legs to go - one from Manistique to the little town of Chatham, and then from Chatham back to Marquette completing our loop through the U.P. (Upper Peninsula). Hopefully the accidents that did happen will serve as a reminder to all of us to be careful out on the roadways. The generally quiet roads of Michigan certainly don't need the sound of sirens and the whirl of flashing lights disturbing the quiet tranquility of peaceful summer days spent turning the pedals.

By this time in a Tour everyone's getting a little tired as well as a little hungrier by the time dinner rolls around at 5:30. The same caterer who was used pre-COVID is back for this ride and she and her crew know how to set a table full of good eats and lots of treats. Pro tip when cycle touring: don't be late or you'll have one empty plate as the food doesn't last for long against the onslaught of a couple of hundred ravenous riders. All the meat and potato options are there but vegetarians aren't left out either. Once all that

Working hard at not working -
post-ride/pre-dinner

wonderful sustenance has been partaken of, most evenings there is a Ride Meeting where the Tour Director gives updates on everything from the weather to road conditions. Then for most of us it's a slow mosey back to our tents to relax before hitting the sack and dream of tomorrow's adventure. 

The average age of bike tourer's is sadly getting older with each passing year and the two-year COVID hiatus didn't help. Unfortunately, the younger generation doesn't seem inclined to fill the ranks as older cyclists bow out of active touring. Who knows if bike touring will survive into the future. Maybe the kids and grandkids of our children will rediscover the joy that comes with wheeling down the road of a summer's day. To them we'll bequeath the still undiscovered backroads and less traveled lanes of America. But best not wait too long. Nothing lasts forever.

Lake Superior lives up to it's name

After leaving Marquette, Michigan the cycling tribe meandered its way to the lovely town of Munising nestled into a beautiful harbor along Lake Superior. Lake Superior, the largest of America's Great Lakes, is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume and the largest by surface area. It also holds 10%m of all the world's surface fresh water which to a sun-soaked boy from the drought stricken State of Colorado is pretty impressive. 

Dome Sweet Dome

Its also extremely cold. The water a tad bit more than the air. O.K., I'm teasing (sorta) about the air, but the water temps are in the high forty degree range which means if you nip in you'll likely nip right back out. Not a lot of surface contact sports up this way. I almost had brought the SUP's (stand-up paddleboards) along on this trip thinking mistakenly what a pleasure it would be to paddle serenely along the calm shores while basking in the summer sun. Not so much. The cold of the lake has a cooling effect on the air temps and along with the higher humidity 60-70 degrees can feel downright cold. Most everybody is wearing a jacket or sweatshirt when near the water. Oh, and throw in a stiff breeze as we've had occasionally (makes the cycling really fun!) and its almost time to break out the gloves and tokes (that's Canadian for stocking cap since we're only about 150 miles away from the Great White North).

Grand Island Lighthouse

So what do people do for fun when the water is more suitable for cooling a beverage than cooling you? Boating! Kayaking! Taking scenic lake cruises. We partook of the latter not just once but twice while we were here. One afternoon after riding we took a jet boat tour around Grand Island which is sitting about two miles offshore in front of me as I write this. Said jet boats are really fast and capable of all sorts of hair-raising but exhilarating maneuvers designed to wow the unsuspecting passengers as well as soak them from head to toe in the aforementioned frigid waters of Lake Superior. The next day, after finally drying out, we decided on something a little more sedate. Pictured Rocks National Shoreline Park is just a couple of miles away via tour boat and treats the visitor to miles and miles of scenic cliffs colored in a myriad of shades due to minerals seeping through the rocks. Along the way you'll see formations such as Miners Castle and Battleship Row along with hundreds of kayaks bobbing in the swells on what passes for a calm day up here. If we had more time we'd have done the kayak thing as well but today we're off to the Town of Manistique known for an almost two mile-long boardwalk, the nearby Kitch-Iti-Kipi Big Springs featuring yet more ice-cold water, and for cycling fans the Haywire Grade Trail which was Michigan's first Rails-to-Trails conversion when the old railroad line shut down more than 50 years ago.

Speaking of cycling, we've had some rain and inclement weather. The day of the century ride we woke to drizzle and cloudy skies but still 60 intrepid riders braved the elements and rode the out and back 100 mile course from Munising to Grand Marais. My beloved and I opted for something somewhat shorter in length but rest assured it gave us an ample sampling of the liquid sunshine. 

some idiot out having fun

Bike tours are fun because, uh, cyclists are out having fun. Pretty simple stuff really. Give us two wheels and somewhere pleasant to ride to and we're a pretty happy bunch. Now, between point A and point B there may be some small amount of grumbling ("Who put this hill here?", "When's the sun going to come out?", "Where's the next rest stop?", "How far is the next town anyway?") but that all evaporates just past the top of the hill when you can stop pedaling and yell "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" all the way to the bottom before starting up the inevitable next climb where the grumbling starts anew. Give and Take, Yin and Yang, Hot and Cold, Dry and Wet. Words to live by atop a bicycle saddle. 

See you on down the road.

The road that beckons...

The road that beckons is a tad hot and sweaty given the 90 degree heat and almost corresponding level of humidity. This Colorado boy can deal with one but not both of those things so I'm sitting in the Superior Dome at Northern Michigan University in beautiful Marquette, Michigan which is the first host town of the MUP (Michigan Upper Peninsula) bicycle ride. This morning we rode out toward Big Bay on an out and back course of rolling hills, frolicking winds, minimal traffic (at least on the way out) and a course that took us around Presque Island before meandering along the lakeshore toward our turn-around point.

We arrived yesterday around noontime and stopped at Subway to sample their new menu (what was really wrong with the old one?) before checking in at the aforementioned Superior Dome. There are about 250 riders on this cycling extravaganza put on by the League of Michigan Bicyclists which is somewhat similar to Bicycle Colorado back home in terms of advocating for safer places to ride our two-wheeled contraptions.

We all assembled in the cool air-conditioned Dome last evening for the prerequisite rider meeting where they cover all the necessary minutiae that goes along with events such as this. I mentioned in my last blog that we had originally signed up to do this ride in 2020 but it was cancelled not once, but twice, due to COVID. We had done their Shoreline West ride and had so much fun we decided to try this one which takes place in - you guessed it - Michigan's northern Upper Peninsula which apparently is as uncrowded and wild as Michigan gets. 

Last night we had an unexpected treat before hitting the pillow. Right outside the Superior Dome there was an evening concert featuring the Marquette Symphony Orchestra. They were remarkably good and it was great to see all the locals out supporting the local arts.

There's a new event manager for the MUP this year. He's a young guy who's probably half the age of the demographic of the riders who I'd hazard a guess all have a Medicare card in their wallet or purse. Apparently he was hired in part to bring the ride organization into the 21st century and God love him he's giving it his best shot. In the two years since the last running of bike events such as this a lot has changed which caught me a little by surprise. Technology has reared its big ugly head and we no longer get things like paper maps for the routes. Instead we've all loaded an app called Ride With GPS which has the routes available to view on our handy-dandy phones. Heck, it even provides turn-by-turn audio directions. Now, I geek out on tech with the best of them (I even brought my drone with me to shoot some aerial shots) but I come on rides like this to specifically get away from my phone for a week, not to be glued to it in case I miss a turn. Thankfully they still mark the route with orange paint telling us which way to go but I fear even those days are numbered. And hey, I didn't get lost once today (I know - it was out and back so its rather hard to lose your way but if anyone can do it...)

Another change is the number of E-bikes (motorcycles in my pea brain) on the ride. At the rider meeting there was considerable discussion about whether there would be recharging stations for the E-bike batteries out on the course. And the answer was yes! So just like at home I can be working my butt off climbing some of the challenging hills, thinking I'm rockin' it a la Tour De France, when up from behind comes one of those Medicare card wielding folks as cool as a cucumber, smiling an waving as they fly by leaving me in their E-bike dust. 

Something else that I've never seen on a ride is in the camping amenities. For years now you've been able to hire a company to put up your tent, blow up your inflatable mattress, and even place a comfy folding chair to fit your screaming backside post-ride, all without you lifting a finger. Granted it will cost you a pretty penny because these companies aren't doing this out of the goodness of their heart but still, for those so inclined it does represent bike glamping at its finest. What's new is that there are special areas set aside for those using CPAP machines to help them breath while sleeping. Hopefully you don't know this, but these machines can be a little loud and tend to keep one's sleeping partner (let alone the entire rest of the campground) from getting the requisite zzzz's ahead of the next day's ride. I think this is great and kudos to folks needing these devices for simply being able and willing to do bicycle tours and we all deserve a good night's sleep which is what I'm looking forward to right after dinner which starts in just a couple of minutes. So I guess I'd better sign off for now. Sleep tight!

Travelin' On...

Well here I am typing this blog as I sit in a La Quinta hotel room in Appleton, Wisconsin. What's a Colorado boy doing in the not-so-wilds of Wisconsin? Why, heading to a bike ride of course. The Michigan Upper Peninsula (MUP Ride for short) ride put on by the League of Michigan Bicyclists. We had signed up for this ride in 2020 but thanks to a pesky certain bug called COVID it was postponed for two years so here we are. 

Traveling has sure changed to my way of thinking. Spontaneity is out the window and my lovely wife has proven her point - if you haven't made reservations months ahead of time you can just about fuhgeddaboudit as everything from rooms to activities seems  to be full up. America has the No Vacancy sign hung up in more ways than one.

Traffic has rebounded that's for sure. Omaha, Nebraska, Des Moines, Iowa, Madison, Wisconsin have all gone big city in terms of crowded highways even in the middle of the day. And that's despite record-high gas prices. We left Denver after filling up at $4.59/gallon, tanked up again in Kearney, Nebraska at $4.64, then again in West Omaha this morning at $4.39. God help us when $4.39 a gallon seems like a bargain.

The last two days have most prominently featured the weather as in precipitation, as in rain falling from the sky in such prodigious quantities that its almost biblical. My vehicle has those newfangled wipers that sense when it starts to rain and then automatically adjust the pace according to how hard the liquid sunshine is falling. Yesterday and today we had periods where the wipers were going so fast I expected they'd fly off the windshield. Didn't know they could go so fast to appear as just a blur. I mean, it was raining so hard people were actually SLOWING down and turning their flashers on. When does that ever happen?

We had spent the 4th of July up in Leadville and I admit to being a little biased. Nothing like a little out of state travel to make one appreciate what a wonderful place Colorado is. Even though it was a tad bit soggy up in the mountains over the long holiday weekend it was nothing compared to the scuba lessons I've been taking in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Got a chance on the 4th to get up early enough to mosey into town and see what was shaking in Leadville festivity-wise. Got there right at the tail end of the 5k run which saved me from having to make up an excuse for not donning my running shoes and joining in. Actually, not owning running shoes is probably the only excuse I needed but it was great to cheer on the several hundred intrepid souls who braved the early start and high altitude to literally strut their stuff in as pretty a setting as one could wish for for a brisk jog. 

After the assorted runners, walkers, canine companions, and even a burro or two sprinted down the main drag it was time for the real fun to start. What's the 4th of July without a small town Parade? From local businesses (Cannabis and Liquor featured prominently) to folks running for political office, it was a slice of Americana tucked into a piece of High Country Heaven wrapped up in the space of about an hour. You can see the highlights in the short video below:

Wasn't until after the fact that we realized as we stood and cheered the Parade participants on this glorious sunny Summer day in Colorado that a thousand miles eastward other fellow Americans were running for their lives to escape the bullets hurtling down upon them unleashed by a twenty-one year old sniper reigning terror on another small town Parade from his rooftop perch. Seven weren't fortunate enough to escape with their lives. 

Back at the Leadville Parade the last participants walked by. They held signs protesting the recent overturning of Roe. I guess losing one's rights does not a great Independence Day make but in hindsight its perhaps better than being shot at.