[at-l] Earthworm Report

[Jan Lite]

Is this stuff getting out here?
I'm envious...

Day 1 - Mon. May 18
Drove from Tallahassee, FL to New Orleans, LA (aka NOLA).  Got a late start
from home, but crossed into the Central Time Zone, which made up an hour and
got me to New Orleans in time for dinner.  The very first awesome view of
the trip was my first view of Lake Ponchartrain.  It’s so huge I swear it’s
not a lake, it’s an ocean!  Stayed with Sandpiper and Yakpack (Amy and
Treacy Stone) in their gorgeous home.  Their house is long and narrow, with
rooms arranged down a ‘shotgun’ hallway.  They have done a really marvelous
job of decorating their home, and I’m awed by their various artistic skills.
 We went to ‘Squeals’ for dinner.  I had BBQ ribs, cole slaw and potato
salad.  Sounds mundane, but it was the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten.
 Food for the gods, it was.

Day 2  - Tue. May 19
Amy and I had breakfast at P.J.’s coffee house before I packed up and said
goodbye.  Then I went off to explore New Orleans, starting with the Maple
Street Bookstore.  This was a hangout of my friend Waterfall (Nina Baxley)
during her college days in New Orleans.  It no longer has the owners it had
in her time, but I suspect it looks pretty much the same.  The people
working there were very friendly and gave me a free postcard of the shop to
give to Nina.  After that I went to St. Charles St. and parked my car near
the end of the St. Charles trolley line and hopped on the next trolley
headed for downtown.  Enjoyed the lovely large homes along St. Charles in
the Garden District.  When I got to Canal Street, I turned off onto Royal
Street and walked to Jackson Square.  There I took the obligatory photo of
the Cathedral, watched a mime and an accordion player, walked along the row
of horse-drawn carriages waiting for customers, and then turned onto Decatur
Street and went to Central Grocery where I ate a quarter of a muffuletta
sandwich (they’re huge!) and bought a take-home jar of the sandwich’s
topping, called ‘olive salad.’  Treacy Stone met me there for lunch and he
ate the other three quarters of the muffuletta.  Then we strolled over to
Café du Monde where I bought some beignets before Treacy drove me to the
trolley stop for my return trip down St. Charles Street.  Back at my car, I
regretfully left good friends and heavenly food and headed north to
Batesville, Mississipi where I spent the night in a motel.

Day 3 - Wed. May 20
Drove from Batesville, Miss. to Overland Park, Kansas (suburb of Kansas
City).  Pretty uneventful drive west through Missouri to Kansas City and to
Overland Park, southwest of the city.  Modnadnock Dee and Walkabout (Dee and
Ken Landau) graciously took me out to eat Greek food (!) and then they went
off to their son Jordan’s high school graduation while I caught up on email
and downloaded photos.  When they got home we watched the finale of American
Idol and shed a tear when Adam didn’t win.  Off to bed for some deep sleep.

Day 4 - Thur. May 21
Took a ‘zero’ day at Dee and Ken’s.  In the evening they gave me a tour of
the city, its fountains, and restored Union Station.  We ate at a very good
vegetarian restaurant in downtown Kansas City--Eden Alley Café.  Had another
great  night’s sleep.

Day 5 - Fri. May 22
Said goodbye to Dee and Ken and headed for Colorado.  A friend who used to
live in the west said to me that she’d rather remove her appendix with her
teeth than drive through Kansas again, but since this was my first time
driving it, I found it interesting because it was all new to me.  And it’s
not exactly perfectly flat--there are some little hills and gullies to look
at. :-)  And I saw my very first wind turbines in western Kansas.  Entered a
new time zone--Mountain Time--just before getting to Colorado.  I got so
wound up in looking at all the new territory that I forgot to look at my gas
gauge, and was running on empty for no telling how long before I finally
found a gas station.  Then when I got out to pump gas I was startled by the
strong, cold wind.  Inside the car, I hadn’t noticed the change in elevation
and temperature.  As I went on, the Rockies finally appeared on the horizon,
and they were immense and exciting.  They had been hidden behind storm
clouds and rain as I approached Denver.  Then the clouds lifted and there
they were!  I immediately decided that all the work to prepare for this trip
had been very much worth the effort.  Got to the perimeter road and circled
south of Denver and down to Castle Rock and out into the countryside to the
home of an old friend, Mikel Schoelen.  Mike was the leader of a group of
five on my first-ever (and laughingly disastrous) backpacking trip, when
everything went wrong for me but I loved it nonetheless.  Mike has just
bought his first home, on seven acres with chickens in a pen and lilac
bushes (and their heavenly scent) everywhere.


Day 6 - Sat. May 23
Rocky Mountain National Park.  This should be one of the seven wonders of
the natural world.  What a jaw-dropping experience.  I drove north through
Boulder and then through St. Vrain Canyon (gorgeous rock formations) to
Estes Park, former home of Kinnickinic (Sawnie Robertson).  The entrance to
the Park is just to the west.  The Trail Ridge Road was open (yes!) for the
season (barring further snowfall), so I got to see the best of the Park.
 Well…most of the best.  The highest part was in the clouds, and I drove for
miles with visibility ranging from 25 to 100 feet.  The snow was still deep
in much of the upper reaches of the Park, and the snowbanks along the road
were way over my head in places.  I got out and put on my boots and high
gaiters and plunged around in the snow in places.  Even threw a snowball at
someone taking my picture--missing on purpose.  Went over Milner Pass
(10,758 ft.) on the Continental Divide, and over the highest point on Trail
Ridge Rd. at 12,183 feet.  Coming down the western side of the Park, I
stopped and got out at a point near the Colorado River.  I walked across a
tawny-grassed meadow between two groups of elk, and dipped my hand into the
Colorado.  The river was about 10 feet across in that area and was winding
in meanders through the meadow, with mountains in the background.  Truly
lovely.  On the way back to Mike’s, on the south side of the Park, I drove
through Berthoud Pass at 11,307 ft.

Day 7 - Sun. May 24
A ‘zero’ day at Mike’s.  Did laundry and made trip plans for the next few
days.  We went to Applebee’s in Castle Rock and had steak dinners.  Yum!
 Used the library’s wi-fi for some computer chores.  Another great night’s
sleep with temperature in the 40’s.

Day 8 - Mon. May 25
55 degrees in the morning.  Said goodbye to Mike and left his paradise,
headed for western Colorado.  After passing through Colorado Springs, I
turned west.  At Canon City I made a detour through Royal Gorge park and
drove over the world’s highest suspension bridge--1,053 feet above the
Arkansas River.  Not a place for those terrified of heights, for sure.
 After driving over, I walked back with the rest of the tourists (it was
Memorial Day) and took pictures looking down into the gorge.  Made my knees
a little weak.  Further on, past the gorge, I drove over Monarch Pass at
11,312 feet.  There was snow all around, and it was 41 degrees and very
windy.  After 8 hours of driving, I arrived at Montrose, CO and checked into
a motel.  My room was on the back of the building with nothing much beyond,
so I took advantage of a window that actually opened.  Slept great.

Day 9 - Tue. May 26
San Juan Skyway.  Today I drove this 236-mile loop in a counterclockwise
direction around the San Juan National Forest, passing through Ridgway,
Placerville, Rico, Dolores, Cortez, Mancos, Durango, Hermosa, Silverton,
Ouray, and back to Ridgway.  A lot of it was white-knuckle driving around
one ten-mile-per-hour hairpin curve after another, with drops of thousands
of feet just beside my car.  But a very small price to pay for mile after
mile of gorgeous views.
Thankfully, the clouds were mostly above the snow-covered peaks, so they
were visible today.   Some of the high passes (with snow!): Lizard Head
(10,222 ft.), Coal Bank (10,640), Molas (10,910) and Red Mountain (11,075).
 I think one of the prettiest sights were the vivid red-colored peaks of
un-prettily-named Red Mountain No. 1, No.2, and No. 3.  Silverton,
approaching it from above, reminded me of a tiny Swiss village nestled in
the Alps.  The absolute highlight of the day was finding out that hiker Ke
Kaahawe (Mike Henderson, also known as Cake and K.K.Harvey) is Chief
Financial Officer at Osprey Packs in Cortez.  We met for a brief lunch at
Once Upon a Sandwich before he had to rush off to a meeting.  I tarried over
an ice cream cone (mocha almond fudge) before getting back on the road.
 Tonight, I’m back at the Comfort Inn in Montrose.

-- 
"The Ordinary Adventurer"
A new backpacking adventure book
http://www.FunFreedom.com
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