Author: amazingmrd

Didn’t get to the insides of the windows today but it will be even warmer tomorrow.

When I went out to get coffee this morning (yes, friends, I fell off the “I’m not drinking any more coffee” wagon about halfway through this trip) I saw this mountain off to my right.  It is Longs Peak, the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park (the east entrance of which isn’t that far away from where I’m staying) and it tops out at 14,259 feet.  I couldn’t see it when I arrived yesterday. In fact, I couldn’t see much of anything most of the day yesterday.  Visibility until I got up here was probably no more than a mile in any direction at any time, and often less than that.

I took this about an hour ago.

I’ve also looked at the RMNP website and discovered they have several webcams throughout the park.  This is the view from the Alpine Visitor Center which, at 11,796 feet, is the highest Visitor Center in the entire National Park System.  It is one of two points in the Park I hope to get to early afternoon tomorrow on my way to my next Airbnb stop.  I have two pieces of unfinished business in RMNP and something I hope to see at this place is one of them.

(Photo credit: nps.gov  Webcam)

I should also mention that to see lots of great National Park photos from more vantage points than I’ll ever get to, and also many live webcams, you should go to the National Park Service website for the Park of your choice.

Gee, you may not need me any more…..

I’ve also been thinking about what Monday’s snow event brought to Pikes Peak, which didn’t have any snow on it the day before.  I checked a few webcams online and here’s what I found:

From on top of the mountain itself, looking down towards Colorado Springs:

(Photo credit: cograilway.com  Webcam)

And looking at the Visitor Center on top of the mountain:

(Photo credit: coloradosprings.gov  Webcam)

And from down on Highway 24, looking at the mountain:

(Photo credit: utepasscams.com  Webcam)

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Oh, and I should mention that I was NOT required to buy chains for my car.  The rule out here is that passenger cars must have qualified snow tires with a certain amount of tread depth, or All-Season tires which have an “M+S” rating (for Mud and Snow), or a Snowflake symbol, on the sidewall to travel on interstates or over various mountain “passes” under certain weather conditions.  My new tires do have the M+S designation and are only about two weeks old, so tread depth wasn’t an issue.

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Still only 43 degrees here at noon local time.  It was very foggy early this morning at the housing development where I’m staying but the sun is out and all that has burned off.  It is supposed to get up in to the mid 60’s and I’ll wait until mid-afternoon to clean the car.

CORRECTION – Now they’re saying only mid-50’s today.

 

 

I mentioned in another post that the winter storm here in Colorado is causing a major one-day drop in temperatures.

At 6pm local time it was just above freezing here in Loveland, which is at around 5,000 feet elevation.  When I started gathering information for this post at around 130am local time (yes, Matilda, call me crazy but I generally post my blog in the middle of the night…) it was 25 degrees.

Over in Breckenridge (at around 9,600 feet) it was 24 degrees at 6pm and is currently 17 degrees.

Back in Durham, NC (which is only at around 400 feet) it is currently 75 degrees (at the RDU airport, actually) at 330am Eastern time.  It’s not even that warm INSIDE the house I’m staying in out here!

In Albuquerque, New Mexico (see next post) it is currently 43 degrees (they are on Mountain Daylight time, as is Colorado).  ABQ is at around 5,300 feet elevation.

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Other than altitude, the distance from the equator is also a factor in temperature.

Albuquerque is about the equivalent of Charlotte on the east coast.

Breckenridge is about the equivalent of Baltimore, Maryland.

Loveland is about the equivalent of Hagerstown, Maryland.

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I’m getting back in my nice warm bed now….

I’ll post some more “close-ups” from earlier in this trip in the morning as I wait for it to get warm enough outside to clean my car.   Goodnight.

 

The 10-day Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is underway and will wrap up this coming weekend down in New Mexico.  As usual, they are having great weather for it.

When I added bonus time to this road trip I gave serious consideration to being in town for it but decided against it.  I have a friend who lives in Corona, NM and he told me things get really crazy in Albuquerque for Fiesta and there is gridlock on the roads daily.  These days I much prefer the laid back pace of my scenic roads and I don’t like gridlock (and ABQ is doing road work on a major artery in town and there was already gridlock three weeks ago).

At times Fiesta is gridlock in the air.  Some years they have as many as 500 participants! One of the reasons they hold this event there each year is something called the “Albuquerque Box” which is a repeating atmospheric condition of predictable wind currents which allow the balloon pilots to stay in the same basic area close to town by simply changing altitude.

While I was in Albuquerque a few weeks ago I did go to Fiesta HQ (near the Ballooning Museum which I went to a few years ago) and bought some nice notecards containing photographs of prior festivals.  I guess since I paid for them I can do whatever I want to with them so I took pictures of the pictures and they appear below.

Photo credit: These were all originally taken by photographer Sandra Layne

To see other Fiesta pictures taken by various photographers go to the Fiesta website at balloonfiesta.com (I especially like the Yoda balloon!)

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.

(No picture)

I am posting this Sunday morning in Colorado Springs – Looks like it’s going to be another beautiful day here, although tomorrow will be very different.  Winter weather is going to swoop in overnight and tomorrow’s high won’t even reach the 40’s.  Snow and perhaps ice, is predicted, although temperatures will rebound to higher levels and it will be clear sailing the rest of the week.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to drive about 2 1/2 hours north on Interstate 25 to Loveland, Colorado, about an hour north of Denver.  I now plan to leave here late morning and arrive in Loveland by mid-afternoon.  I’ll hunker down there for the remainder of the day.  Tuesday I was planning to go back to Rocky Mountain National Park, which is due west of Loveland, to finish some unfinished business there but I’ll have to monitor their situation as they are at higher altitude and will likely have more snow and ice that the interstate.  My guess is it will be a no-go.

And snow isn’t the only thing I need to keep an eye on….  Friday there was a tornado on the ground just southwest of Salina, Kansas, where I plan to stay a week from tomorrow as I start working my way east.  Friday a funnel cloud was also spotted briefly east of Denver, where I’ll be staying for my final three nights in Colorado.

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Yesterday I spoke with my friend Shawn and she asked how many miles I’ve put on the car so far this trip.  As of when I got back to the house last night I’ve logged 30,509 miles since I left Durham on July 5.  I bought my current car (a 2014 Nissan Altima) back in early December and I’ve put over 48,000 miles on it since then (I made a 6-week trip to the south-central US back in May and early June).

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Surprisingly, when I arrived here in Colorado Springs Thursday night there was hardly any snow atop Pikes Peak, which is well over 14,000 feet.  Yesterday’s temperature here in town was almost 80 and today (Sunday) is supposed to be in the mid-70’s.

Thursday night and Friday here were overcast and cooler.  My Airbnb (I’m staying at the same place I did when I was here a month and a half ago) is only about two miles from the base of Cheyenne Mountain.  Friday morning I could only see the houses at the very bottom of the mountain and if I didn’t know otherwise I would have had no idea there was such a big mountain there.  Those clouds moved out Friday night and the weekend has been clear, dry and warm.  Monday looks like just a weather hiccup and hopefully I can visit family and friends in the northeast US before getting back to Durham in time for Halloween.

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Just as a heads-up, when I get to my youngest brother’s house near Cleveland, Ohio in a little less than two weeks I will suspend posts on the blog until I get back to North Carolina (unless any amusing JohnBoy stories develop during that time).  In early November, after I’ve had a chance to unload my car and get back on a normal schedule, I’ll resume posting with some loose ends from this trip and some highlights of some of the trips I’ve taken prior to this one.

Also, after I leave my one-night stopover in Kansas my little contest which I started a while back will end.  For those of who are new to the blog, I threw out a challenge back on September 2 (a post titled “Let’s play a little game…”).  It’s not too late for you to get in on the action, although the likelihood of the challenge-event happening is dwindling.  You won’t be able to post entries as a comment to that post but you can send them to me via the “Contact” function on the Home page of the blog.  Not to worry – the contest will return next year!

Next year I plan to travel to California, the coasts of Oregon and Washington and put my car on a ferry to take it to Alaska.  I was hoping to drive back east across southern Canada but I doubt I’ll have time.  One big lesson I learned on this trip is to plan MORE TIME at many of the places I plan to visit.

So 2019 will be southern Canada, perhaps more in depth that I originally thought.

2020 will be loose ends in the lower 48, and many National Monuments which I’m learning have as much to offer as the National Parks I’ve been visiting do.  They don’t get as much attention but some that I’ve learned about have been amazing.  I have lots of homework to do over the winter.

2021 I may actually be able to stay home, read books on my porch and binge-watch TV shows I’ve been told I should see.  I also need to get back to my hobby of flying radio-controlled helicopters which is VERY time consuming.

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Looks like they’re getting ready to start the NASCAR race from Charlotte so I plan to watch it until the remnants of Hurricane Nate get there, although they are starting an hour earlier than they planned to so maybe they’ll be able to get it all in.  I then hope to zip into town and visit the US Olympic Training facility before it closes at 5pm local time.  I thought I would do that Monday morning before driving up to Loveland but the weather forecast changed that.

 

Saturday I drove about an hour northeast of Colorado Springs to the little town of Calhan.  Here I found the Paint Mines Interpretive Park, a series of natural clay formations out in the desert.

This wasn’t originally on my list of things to do.  Back in July, not long in to this trip, I met a guy named Erich while waiting for a venue near Bend, Oregon to open for the day.  He later told me that he was inspired by my blog to start one of his own.  He now posts pictures on Instagram and I commented online about some he had taken in Oregon at a place which wasn’t on my radar when I had been there.  He responded that there was a site like it outside Colorado Springs so I added it to my list of places to be sure to get to on my return visit to Springs.

Paint Mines Park has about 4 miles of walking paths which meander through the massive clay formations and there are several parking areas out near the dirt road which leads in 1 1/2 miles from Highway 24.

To give you some concept of how big these formations are, the “wall” on the left in the photo below is maybe 9 feet tall:

The “spire” in the photo below is about 7 feet tall.