Tuesday, August 3, 2010

DAY 33: Rain, Rain Go Away.....Come Again When We Get Back Home...

DAY 33:  Estes Park, CO - August 2, 2010
Rain, Rain, Go Away......
Come Again Another Day (at least until we leave!) 
Each day here starts out beautiful, sunny, cool without a cloud in the sky........but by around 2:00 pm, here come the clouds over the mountains heading right towards us.  
Today was no different.
We started today by saying goodbye to our new friends, Jug and Donna.  They live down near Houston and just happened to be our next door neighbors here in Estes Park.  It’s amazing how many Texans are here.......we are everywhere.  But Jug and Donna are so much like Chuck and I in so many ways, we got along as if we’d known each other for years.  I feel sure we’ll be spending more time with them in the future!

We took off for the Rock Mountains cause Liz heard of a super cool one-way "dirt" road to the 12,000' peak that just HAD to try out......And we weren't disappointed!  Lots of hairpin turns on old rutted, dirt roads; beautiful waterfalls along the side of the road and gorgeous scenery.  Part of that scenery was low ominous clouds that were following us everywhere we went.....(this is a good time to remind any of you who are currently in a drought stricken area that Chuck and I are for hire.....we will definitely bring you rain!)
We made it to the Information Center at the peak, had just enough time to spend $8 on two cookies, a soda and a coffee before the weather caught up with us.  We loaded up and headed back down the mountain on blacktop roads.  That’s when the clouds, looking like a scene from the movie “The Fog”, started closing in around us.  We could barely see two feet in front of us, are 12,000’ up on this mountain with no guardrails, on a motorcycle, in the rain and clouds........and oh, did I mention they were also doing construction??  Yep, we were sitting still in the rain for no less than 15 minutes waiting on the construction.  The temperature on the bike said it was 50 degrees outside when it started hailing on us.....and yes, I see a pattern here!!  It seems to hail on us every time we ride.
We FINALLY made it back to Estes Park, soaked to the bone, and flipped a coin to see who could get the warm shower first.  I WON!!  The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to get the Wifi to work, which consisted of me walking around holding my Verizon Wifi card high in the air trying to get one signal bar to no avail.  I have only found one spot in Estes Park that I can get a Verizon signal and it is several miles up the road, perched at the edge of a creek with my left leg off the ground and my body aimed perfectly at this old mule plow.  I finally was able to talk to my Mom the other day by locating this spot.  
Hopefully tomorrow the campground will get their Wifi fixed and we’ll be back in business.  I have bills to pay and Blogs to write!!!  

G'night....


6 comments:

Ant Ellie said...

I'd worry more about hail than wifi.....even if I wait for your blog every
day....hail is so much more dangerous...was it enough to slip and slide
on the bike? I guess you did get to the cool weather!
Love you both and take care.
ant ellie

Barry said...

Please being it with you and temps below 100
Barry Crow
Roberts and Crow, Inc.

Jacquetta said...

Hi - you are seeing some fantastic sights!!! The pictures are so beautiful - love the name of the guy from Houston: Jug!!!
love, jjp

Glenda Anderson said...

Okay, this is a "feel good" reply!! Yesterday - officially - Dallas was 104 degrees..BUT Plano was 106 degrees!!!!!!! Today Plano was 105!!!!!! This was NOT heat index..this was TEMPERATURE!!!!

So enjoy that cool mountain air and that wet rain that falls up there!!!!!!

Love y'all!!!
Glenda -
Your friend who is sooo sorry she left Steamboat Springs!!!!!!

Glenda Anderson said...

"He" and I lived in southern California for several years,
in a beach community, and I loved the 75 degree temps, but I really missed the 'seasons''.
Colorado was heaven!! I do admit the winters are tough and take some getting use to but I got to where I even LOVED the cold weather. (and I still have some gorgeous jackets and coats!!) It was always so beautiful!!!
Enjoy the trip!! Keep blogging so I can "travel" with y'all!!!
Love you!!!

Doylene said...

Enjoying your “Travel” blog. So we need to realize WiFi isn’t foolproof, huh? We are planning to go to Colorado (we Hope) in September now. Our son in Denver has our camping area picked out so we may not have WiFi power either. We were without satellite at our “campsite” in Still Meadows (Mt. Vernon) during Rangers season which was so hard but we were able to listen to it on our computer except for the time the Spanish station took over, right in the middle of the game. Arlen & I wanted to find us one our Hispanic friends to come listen with us. It is a different lifestyle but we have found it cozy and “hot”. Since we’re still working, we only stay here at night and go to Frisco on the weekends to stay with our daughter…they are in Colorado and Wyoming for 2 weeks so we have the whole house to ourselves, seems like a mansion! I even take our laundry there so that’s a saving of quarters for us.

So glad all’s well after all your adventures…just don’t get beat to death by hail. But the cooooooool sounds wonderful. Have fun and be careful.

doy