Day: October 9, 2017

It turns out I am staying a little north and west of Loveland, not far off the road I took to get to Rocky Mountain National Park a month and a half ago when I was staying up in Fort Collins.  I specifically picked Loveland because it is closer to the Park, although I’ll need to check their website to see what conditions are before going over.  I may wait until Wednesday and try to go over there before heading to my next destination.  I think tomorrow afternoon my car deserves a THOROUGH exterior cleaning – bugs off the front-facing surfaces, alloy wheels hand-cleaned and then to a car wash with brushes to clean the overall car.  I’ll then clean the windows inside and out and vacuum the driver’s side floor (the only piece of carpet I can see!).

I bought food for the evening and am in for the night.  It is supposed to get down into the mid 20’s overnight.  I was delighted to learn that I could actually put my car in the garage!  First come, first served and evidently I was the first one here.  This house is owned by someone in Atlanta and he doesn’t live here.  Someone lives in the basement and evidently changes the beds and keeps the rooms and common areas clean for guests.

It is a beautiful home in a new subdivision.  It is out in the boonies and should be very quiet.  The owner has quite a system: Everything has combination codes (digital deadbolts).  One code for entry to the house itself, another for each specific guest room, and one for the garage.

After I unloaded my stuff and put my car in the garage I walked a few blocks back behind Ponderosa Elementary School (which was just getting out for the day) and took this picture of the mountains looking west.  As you can see, any snow that fell on open areas that aren’t shaded pretty much melted on contact because the ground temperature is still warm.  It has been in the 70’s here if you aren’t up at high elevation, and will be again by the end of the week.   The Weather Channel said this morning that Denver was getting it’s first “significant” snow of the season about a month earlier than normal, and I think this system delivered less than was predicted.  The event which dropped 15 inches of snow on Dillon a week ago today was only a rain event in Denver.

As I was going back to take it I noticed that some kids up the street had made a little snowman:

And as I was walking back I saw, much to my dismay, that some people I had just said hello to who were walking their dog had apparently let him pee on it!!  What is the world coming to??

#DontEatYellowSnow

Safely near tonight’s destination. “Winter Storm Aiden,” as The Weather Channel dubbed it, was no big deal for me. I left Colorado Springs earlier than planned because traffic cameras on I-25 all looked good and it was supposed to improve up here and deteriorate down there.

North of Denver now and 60’s/70’s the rest of the week.

This was taken as I was waiting to get on I-25 at 1000am local time.

These were all taken the morning I entered the Grand Canyon from the east entrance and are from a slightly different angle than the pictures posted earlier.  These were all taken with the digital camera.

These were all taken the morning I entered the Grand Canyon from the east entrance and are from a slightly different angle than the pictures posted earlier.  These were all taken with the digital camera.