Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Colorado June 07


I made a three day trip to Colorado this past weekend. Saturday morning I took Mary to Jenea's so she could travel with Jenea, Elaine & Dalton to Philadelphia and Delaware. I pick her up at the airport in KC on Wednesday and she will arrive with Elaine & Dalton. Since she was going to be gone I decided to head West.

I left about 8 AM and headed north through St Mary's to Seneca then took US 36 west. I hadn't been this way in quite some time. I saw the much needed improvement in Marysville to 36 highway that goes over the rerouted Union Pacific tracks. As I headed west around Phillipsburg there was an area that had been hailed out. It seemed to cover 20 or 30 miles and I have never seen such a large area of hail. Usually it only covers a small area. I heard later it came a week before I went through and came from the west down US 36.
I went on west , then northwest into Colorado through Ft Morgan, Greeley (pu large feedlot) and stayed overnight in Loveland. It was hot in western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. Sunday morning I ate at an excellent restaurant, Widow McCoy, then headed for Estes Park arriving just in time for 8AM Mass. After the hour and 20 minute service I headed up Trail Ridge Road. Since I am now an old poop with a Golden Age Passport it did not cost me to drive through. They cost $10 and are good for lifetime which I hope is a long time. It was rather cold in the higher elevations and especially when the wind blew. I have heated grips on the BMW and used them. There was still lots of snow. I came out the west side at Grand Lake and from Granby to Winter Park many of the pines are dying and the slopes are brown. It must be the pine beetle killing them. I went up Berthoud Pass and stopped on top for some rest and snacks. I visited with a guy from Michigan that was also riding a BMW. After leaving there went up Mt. Evans again using my Golden Age Passport. I really enjoyed the ride up there and saw sheep and goats. The goats at the top were there for the salt in the snow which was put there to melt the snow around the restrooms. The ranger said they had a rough winter with lots of snow. This was a mother with three babies. I also took a picture of the reddish mountain marmot.
A guy on a Harley took the above picture and I took one of him. After leaving there I rode down through Evergreen. This was where I spent some time and money a few years ago when I had a flat tire on the Yamaha. There were lots of motorcycles here and they must have had some type of event. I went on south to Fairplay where I spent the night. This was where I tried out my new pack stove that is very small. It worked really well and warmed the stew in about two minutes. It went well with the Jack Daniel's. I had a new bag for clothes and sleeping bag that straps on the seat right behind me and makes a great backrest. The air mattress and tent strap on the rack behind. Even through I did not use them this time I like to have them along if a good camping spot can be found when I need it. I really like the setup I have now and it will work good if I go back to Alaska next year.
Monday morning it was 40 degrees in Fairplay. I ate breakfast at a nice cafe called the Brown Burro. I like to eat at local places if I can and try to avoid chain restaurants. I headed towards Colorado Springs and came to Eleven Mile Reservoir. I rode down to it which was 10 miles of flat county through a pasture. Mary and I had visited there when we lived in Colorado Springs. Not much there. I came back out the way I went in and later found could have come a more scenic route through the county. I had not been up Pike's Peak and decided to try that. I had to pay $10 to go up that and later decided they should have paid me instead. It is not nearly as nice as Mt Evans and about half is gravel and is rough. They were working on the road about 14 miles up and there was one way traffic and loose gravel. It reminded me of Alaska. I made it to the top without incident and passed one slow motorcycle on the way up. While I was in the visitor center on the top they announced they needed a Ranger to go to mile 14 as they had a panicked motorcyclist that became too scared to go up and was afraid to go back down. Must have been the one I passed. I never did see him so he must have went back down.
I ate some snacks on the way down and then decided to start for home with intentions of stopping overnight some where to make the next day a shorter ride. I left the east side of Colorado Springs after fueling on 94 highway at 1:10 PM. 94 heads straight east and is a very desolate area without services for 90 miles. Good place to fudge on the speed limit and I topped out once at 95 according to the GPS. I came out on hi way 40 and headed southeast to Kit Carson where 40 heads due east. I came to I-70 at Oakley and it was about 4:30. Looks like I just as well sleep in my own bed tonight so I kept going and arrived home at 9 PM, tired and with a sore butt. I saw all the flooded whaet around Salina and east. Many acres were ruined. It is raining this morning so maybe it was a wise thing anyway. There are more pictures posted on the side.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

2nd trip to Greensburg


May 29th Leighton Broxterman, Jerry Holthaus, Marcia Riggs, Rita Barnett, LaVonne Birney and me headed to Greensburg and returned June 5th. We worked three canteen trucks, one being stationary and two mobile. Things have improved since my first tour but there is still much to do. Most of the Army, KDOT and volunteer haulers have left and now there are paid contractors hauling material to the dumps.
There are signs of recovery with building of homes, shingling and leaves on trees. You can now see several blocks away since the rubble has been removed. Most of the pictures I took this time show improvement and building.
As we did the first time, we again stayed in Dodge City and drove back and forth making our day begin at 6:15 AM and end about 8:15 PM.
There are still about 75 Americore young adults there. They are in their early 20's and are very good workers. Most have completed college and are doing this before starting a career. They do a large variety of work including helping residents cleanup or move items, cut trees, clear lots by hand and with Bobcats, and assist the Salvation Army. There are large groups of high school age kids that come with church groups or schools to gather trash from yards. They rake, pickup, scoop, and haul in wheelbarrows to the curb so loaders can pick it up and haul it away.