Back West

8/27/00
I departed Fairfield at 7:20 am, since everyone else has to leave early to catch a plane in Evansville. I didn't sleep well last night, because of thunderstorms that came through, for which I switched from upper to lower bunks in the middle of the night. After a long day of driving, I arrive at Manhattan, KS, and stayed at the same park where I stayed ten days ago. It's very hot in Kansas, 110 degrees or so. They're predicting overnight lows of 75 to 80. At least the humidity is only 30 percent or so, but still....

It's too hot to cook, so I go into Manhattan to eat at a sandwich place near campus. Pepper and I take a tour of the campus. It's a pretty place.

I go to sleep early, to try and make up for the previous night of interrupted sleep. But it's very hot for sleeping here.

8/28/00
It cooled to 70 degrees this morning at sunrise. I take a quick shower and hit the road. This is a very long driving day. I'm crossing Kansas in record high temperatures of over 100 degrees all day long. I make up my mind to get to the mountains tonight, to avoid another hot night. The plains just east of the front range have some impressive thunderstorms with spectactular lightning displays. Driving through thunderstorms is a good way to clean the Kansas accumulation of bugs off the windshield. I drive through Denver and get to Georgetown, about 50 miles west of Denver on highway 70. I remember coming here as a child, and staying at a campground up on a mountain southwest of town. I don't stop in Georgetown, but start driving straight up the mountain. I arrive at Clear Lake campground at around sunset, in a rain. The campground is tiny and primitive. However, sometime in the past 30 years, it appears they've installed a hydroelectric plant and power distribution station right next to the campground in the nearby canyon, so there's a distinct and sometimes downright loud 60Hz hum audible around here.

It's 50 degrees at sunset, and it drops further overnight, with light rain and some distant lightning. MUCH more pleasant weather than last night.

8/29/00
Overnight, I thought I might have heard a mouse in the food pantry. I wasn't sure whether that was really what it was or not, but I didn't want to deal with it at 3:00 am, so I just opened the cabinet door a little bit and slammed it loudly several times, hoping to scare away any mouse that might be there. Sure enough, when I get up in the morning, I clean out the pantry and find evidence of chewing on some food packages, and some mouse droppings. I hope he entered and exited last night, and isn't hitching a ride. It seems he must have gotten into the van via the holes that are drilled for the propane tank lines.

I resolve to make today a more relaxed day than my past two days of rushing across the plains. I drive back toward Georgetown and snap this picture along the way.

I drive from Georgetown toward Leadville. It rains on and off all day. I stop in Leadville to look at antiques, but don't buy any. Pepper and I wade through some beaver ponds on the east side of Independence Pass to take some pictures. The water is very cold!

We proceed to Aspen, and find it pretty well trashed, due to too many condo developers. We drive straight through and head north of town to the Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed mountain peaks in all of Colorado.

Near my campsite, I do some more wading to get pictures of Maroon Creek. The water is ice cold, and my legs are numb when I'm done.

8/30/00
I get up at 6:00am today, a half hour before sunrise, so that I can go to take an early morning picture of the Maroon Bells view. Unfortunately, when I arrive, it's all socked in with clouds and rain, and the mountains aren't visible at all. I stay until 7:45 or so, waiting and watching the sun illuminate the mountains through the clouds. There are three other photographers accompanying me, all four of us with our tripods. We watch the beaver busily work on the dam that makes this lake, and also watch ducks scavenging in the water. Both the beaver and ducks seem unafraid of us, and come fairly close, but I left my long telephoto lens in the car and didn't get a picture of them. Finally, the clouds break a little, and I get this picture of the early morning light hitting the mountains, still partially shrouded by clouds.

But as I'm watching the cliche postcard view in front of me, the sunrise directly behind me is almost more interesting, with fog coming up the valley. I turn around and snap this shot.

I leave Aspen at around the morning rush hour. I didn't realize a place like Aspen would have a rush hour, but it certainly does! It also has carpool lanes, busses, and all the other trappings of a big city commute. As I head southward toward Basalt, there's about a five mile long line of cars backed up to get into Aspen. I'm glad I'm heading the oppopsite way!

I stop in Glenwood Springs for laundry. I note the laundromat has signs on it saying "Absolutely No Horse Blankets or Coal Miner's Clothes!".

I inspect the pantry cabinet, and find absolutely no evidence of the mouse from the other night, so I presume (and hope) he left in Georgetown.

I drive through heavy thunderstorms in southern Utah, near the San Rafael Swell on I-70. I continue to Mystic Hot Springs in Monroe, Utah, where I stayed on my trip to Dinosaur National Monument a month ago. I ran into some deadheads whose engine had siezed. They left their car and hitchiked down here. They're from Arcata, CA, and headed toward a concert in Salt Lake. They're short on food, so I give them some of my extra stuff to make dinner with. They're friendly and nice people, but without too much ambition.

8/31/00
I'm gonna head toward Spencer Hot Springs today. I hit the road before the deadheads wake up.

I ran into some ferocious thunderstorms just east of Great Basin National Park, and couldn't see much of the park because of them. It was near whiteout conditions.

Stopped at Ely for groceries. Decided to have pizza tonight.

Made it to Spencer hot springs and had the place to myself. Watched the sun set, and then watched the crescent moon follow it down. Made a good pizza dinner as my last evening meal on the road.

9/1/00
As I'm getting up, a man drives up to the springs for a soak. He soaks for awhile, and then knocks on my van door and asks if I'll take a picture of him with his camera. I oblige. He explains that he's a caretaker at a commercial hot spring in Ouray, CO, and he wants to show his co-workers what a real remote spring looks like.

I join him in the pool, and he starts talking. He explains that his wife just passed away from cancer a little more than a week ago. He's obviously and understandably distraught, although he's had time to prepare for her death, and he's comfortable that she's in a better place. He's headed to California to visit relatives, and he's trying to figure out what he wants to for the next chapter of his life. He's considering moving into his RV to travel full-time, but says he'd miss having his library of books and encylopedias with him.

He tells the story of a friend who told him of a near-death experience after a motorcycle accident, and he takes comfort in the man's account of how peaceful it was. He believes his wife went through something similar. It strikes home to me, because during the past year, I've lost two good friends, one to cancer, and one to a motorcycle accident. I think the conversation did us both some good.

I pack up and prepare for a day of driving, hoping to make it home on this friday of Labor Day weekend. I follow highway 50 all the way to Sacramento. At Lake Tahoe, it gets crowded, of course. But just beyond, in the Sierra, all the traffic is going east, while I have the westbound side mostly to myself. It's very cold and rainy in Lake Tahoe, and they're predicting that the snow level will drop to 7000 feet tonight. I don't see snow, just cold blustery rain. Descending the western face of the Sierra, it seems like a typical November or December heavy rainstorm. I can't help smugly laughing at the crowds lined up in traffic for hours to get to Lake Tahoe, where it'll be too cold and rainy to comfortably be outdoors, but without enough snow to ski. I guess the casinos will have a profitable weekend.

I arrive home before sunset, finding everything in order. I spend the weekend unpacking, getting film developed, doing laundry, and preparing for a return to work.