I am really sorry that I have not been able to post on the blog, but getting Internet access has been hit and miss. Mostly miss. Even getting cell service is pretty tough out here. In spite of all the craziness, day three today totally made up for it. I got up early and got a chance to visit with Steve and his wife Stephanie. Both are really great people. Steve is a total outdoorsmen. He loves hunting and rock collecting. Both of these interests decorate their home. Mount deer and really cool polished stones and all over their home. Stephanie was really nice lady that was easy to talk and a wonderful host. Evan finally got up about 7:30 and I gave him a hard time for sleeping in. I don’t think he knew what to say. Evan is the morning rooster usually. So we had breakfast and got on the road at about 8:00. The morning was perfect. It was a little cool but with a light jacket it felt good. We stop at Livermore and fueled up. Steve took off south up behind Fort Collins to get to Estes Park. On the hill above Fort Collins is a huge lake called Horse Tooth Lake. Yeah, lovely name isn’t it. Horse Tooth Lake is the drink water reservoir for the town of Fort Collins. Great trek to start the day. The sun is up and we are all three buzzing along the lake's edge with a view of the whole town of Fort Collins. We continued snaking around the country for about an hour until we reached a small town near the gates of the Estes State Park. According to Steve the movie “The Shining” was shot here. The building the movie was filmed in is a hotel now that is rumored to have ghosts. Evan and I weren’t interested in buying the t-shirt so we skipped that tourist trap and just headed for the park. Estes Park is really nice. It's single main road winds you up to the top of several snow and elk covered mountains. It was very cool in both ways. Scenery was nice and the vistas from the mountaintop were best viewed after putting on a second jacket.
Traffic wasn’t bad, however the roads were being repaved so we did have to stop three times for a flaggers to motion us through. The beetles are also hitting Estes Park really hard. We stopped at the peak of the highest mountain in the park, checked out the view and visited. Next we drove through the park and looped back around to Walden. Driving in the mountains is an exhausting rush of swishing curves. So at 3:00 we stopped at Granby to eat. Just about the time we got our food a rainstorm started. The storm lasted about a half an hour. From Granby we took 125 back toward Walden. The high plains outside of Walden were pretty but the food I ate really made me tired on the long stretches. I remember a trick my dad mentioned to help stay awake while driving was to chew gum. It really does work. Once in Walden we fueled up and headed out for the last 70 miles to Steve's home. It took us about an hour and a half to end the trip. A gentle rain started again as we came out the canyons. The last ten miles were a dirt road shortcut. It was a little exciting but totally safe. Dodging potholes on a bike is always fun. Once home we visited and looked at the day's photos on the computer. What can I say, a great 300 mile day in the Rocky Mountains.
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