late night before departure...

At the historic Noble in Lander Wyoming, amongst fellow NOLS instructors, people who speak the same languge, vaguely out of place in what would otherwise likely be another Wyoming cow town.

Met the students today, nothing remarkable yet, one way or another, but of course time will tell.

Hit the trail tommorrow, high spring snowfall and melt has the rivers running high and us all a bit nervous. Should be a good route, a bit over 100 miles through the Wind Rivers, over the Divide, and cross several rivers. 28 days in the field.

See on the other side...

Thank You Douglas County Public Library!

Thank goodness for public librarys. Like a climate controled oasis for the traveler offering internet access and copy machines, a place to kill time between the setting of the sun and coyote camping in the back of a truck in the parking lot of some big hotel. Or maybe a forest or park somewhere, if they have such things this far east of the front range.

Been working my way north from Flag, visited Melissa the Taller at Mesa Verde where she showed me her park and I got to follow her around for a morning watching her do what park rangers do: answer stupid questions.

Then it was off to Alamosa and a desolate patch of juniper weeds with no water rights that I foolishly purchased some years back. This I discovered on visting the property and then the county offices to secure my rights after some bozo quit paying on the contract for deed we had. I can only assume he went and visited it for himself as well and descided to cut his loses. No matter, I am about even on the deal and own several acres of aformentioned juniper weed free and clear.

Then north to Leadville in pursuit of a state highpoint and more Jimmy Buffett lyrics. ("...tell me where do I go from here, think I'll ride into Leadville and have a few beers...") Nabbed Mt. Elbert, at 14,4?? the highest point in Colorado and the entire Rocky Mountains.

Now I'm in Castle Rock, I belive it is, waiting until the job fair with Raytheon tomorrow. Solved the problem of resume copies (thanks again to public library computer facilities), and sleeping arrangments should be little problem, the only thing left of concern is how to bathe before the big show at 11am. At this point I smell a bit like a billy goat that hasn't been rained on in some time, which I think could hurt my chances of landing the job, however I haven't yet had a look at the bathroom of this fine library yet...

In between time

Not long enough to settle in, begin new projects, or even exume old ones.

More than enough time to settle bills, say hello and goodbye to a few friends, make a mess in the kitchen, and take a nap on the couch.

Too long to continue living out of a backpack and carboard box, waiting for the tide to take you back on the road.

Tommorrow I am off, this time to Wyoming for that long awaited NOLS backpacking course. Via Colorado and Mesa Verde National Park and catching up with an old friend. I reckon I'll be be back in Flag sometime round the middle or end of August or early september. Hard to say really, depends on any number of things. Better to take a few extra supplies in the old truck, clothes and gear for all seasons when you don't really know when you'll be back or what route you may take to get there.

Cooked a Sr Lankan feast the other night and had some friends over to eat, rice, a buunch of differant curries, dahl, pampadom, string hoppers (those didn't turn out well), papaya, bannana, pineapple, tea, arrack, coconut sweets, and a watermelon spiked with vodka the day before. A good time was had by all.

Now off to see the Pine Country Rodeo on my last night in town, tommorow got alot of miles to cover.

Bluegrass, Belgian Beer, and Home

Things I have been looking forward to for some time:

Hiking the peaks, seeing the world spread out below and the rocky slopes above while manuvering around snow fields above tree line.

Drinking sweet Belgian beer while listening to my favorite bluegrass band at the Wine Loft downtown.

Standing around the kitchen with the roomates discussing the problems of the day and how to brew and distill a good strawberry brandy.

Real Mexican food.

Jimmy Buffett music.

Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers.

And more. I am home and glad to be there, for however long it lasts. Actually I already kbow how long it lasts, 1 week more to be exact. Then I am off to Wyoming to lead a NOLS course in the Wind River Mountains for a month, first stopping of in Colorado on the way to visit an old friend, do some buisness, and attend a job fair for Raytheon Polar Services division. Yep, they are the concessionaires who service the science colony in Antarctica and I fancy working for 'em. Janitor, fry cook, bus boy, recreation coordinator, whatever they let me do that gets me to the big ice.

Mean time I am enjoying all that Flagstaff in the summer has to offer; tommorrow is the folk music festival and yesterday I went for a hike in the mountains. Nick finally got a third roomate, though it took him 3 months to do it. That just means that I am sleeping on the couch in my own house, but it only makes sence as I am here for so little time. When I first got back though, it did seem strange; I felt as if I was going in every direction at once and it took a day or two to settle here and not feel like I should keep my bag half packed to leave again. So I look forward to getting home in August and staying put for awhile.

Till then, I continue not gathering any moss.