I LIKE THIS PIC ALSO
I LIKE THIS PIC
CONSTRUCTION EVERYWHERE
13 ON THIS CREW...I NEVER GOT HELP (REFUSED MY 1/2 GALLON CHOCOLATE MILK)
NICE PLACE TO VISIT
LARGE TRACTS OF LAND ARE "DONATED" FOR OPEN SPACES
US-287 NEAR LONGMONT, COLORADOTo keep the record straight...I like Denver. I have been in Denver many times. I have, without exception, had a good time, enjoyed Denver folks, and always looked forward to returning.
Today, I see things a bit slower, a bit up closer, a bit different walking instead of being "one of them".
The Rocky Mountains are behind me.
The Grassland of America's Prairie is waiting.
The big Cities lie ahead...in actual fact, I have already tasted my first big city, Denver suburbs,
I walked another 22 miles yesterday. US 287 was impossible...not so physically - the highway is beautiful - but from the intensity of the high volume and reappearance of "me first" syndrome I have seen rising in and around population centers. So, I drove away from US 287 SOUTH into the countryside - got away from the PIPELINE COPRRIDOR. Real people are still out there tilling the soil, painting fences and waving "first" to that single walker.
Drove into a number of "exploding" towns, to take a motel. Visited Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, and Bromfield. Stopped at numerous businesses asking directions to a motel...any motel. Met with curious stares and real disinterest. Bottom line, sent on a few wild goose chases with .." think there is one somewhere off 195th.." but, after at least two hours, did not find a single motel...was told that somewhere close to I-70 there was a Best Western HOTEL and at some I-70 exits were motels.
I then returned to US-287 to drive SOUTH into Denver. The traffic congestion was impossible
to negotiate. Walk that CORRIDOR...forget it...Suicide to try.
Drove back into the countryside onto County Line North, which I walked earlier in the day up by Longmont to Broughton and into Erie. Closer to Denver, I came upon section after section of new homes and condos. Like splotches in former farmer fields and on hillsides are dozens of recent (appears recent) communities...where the same look-alike structure is repeated row after row after row...wonder how anyone knows which house is his.
And not a motel, 7-11, or corner grocery store to be found.
Massive building is in progress on roads and new communities. Here and there plunked out in the boonies is a Super Mall...but never a motel.
So, I am back in Longmont, in the same motel - one of 4 in town (2 wee ones and 2 mega ones), in my same room as 2 nights ago.
I returned, pleased with my countryside walk...the cows staring, the horses running over to get a closer look, and waves from EVERY vehicle passing by and bubbling brooks passing under small bridges. A train even went by not 200 feet away & I got a wave from the Engineer.
A mile away was US-287...the CORRIDORE, where life or death seemed incidental to "getting there first".
I was also frustrated and angry when I walked back into my motel room.
I realized there is no way I can walk through the Denver Metropolitan area. Google found the right road...but the missing element "me first" and be damned the other guy prevents me from walking down Google's road.
So, today, NO walking. I poured over my maps last evening. Today I will drive EAST. beyond Denver and beyond the new Denver International Airport. Out there the map shows small "section line" roads (roads built to follow country Sections of land - not in a straight line from one town to the next). There are not many towns to get supplies (ice, foe example). Perhaps that is where my walk should take me...away from towns and back to the people living way-out-thar
because they don't mind standing in line letting the other guy go first...but mainly. because
THEY LIKE THEMSELVES
why else would folks choose to live five miles from their nearest neighbor, where they have dirt under their fingernails, where they see no need to get there "first".
Think I'll go check them out.
Today, I see things a bit slower, a bit up closer, a bit different walking instead of being "one of them".
The Rocky Mountains are behind me.
The Grassland of America's Prairie is waiting.
The big Cities lie ahead...in actual fact, I have already tasted my first big city, Denver suburbs,
I walked another 22 miles yesterday. US 287 was impossible...not so physically - the highway is beautiful - but from the intensity of the high volume and reappearance of "me first" syndrome I have seen rising in and around population centers. So, I drove away from US 287 SOUTH into the countryside - got away from the PIPELINE COPRRIDOR. Real people are still out there tilling the soil, painting fences and waving "first" to that single walker.
Drove into a number of "exploding" towns, to take a motel. Visited Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, and Bromfield. Stopped at numerous businesses asking directions to a motel...any motel. Met with curious stares and real disinterest. Bottom line, sent on a few wild goose chases with .." think there is one somewhere off 195th.." but, after at least two hours, did not find a single motel...was told that somewhere close to I-70 there was a Best Western HOTEL and at some I-70 exits were motels.
I then returned to US-287 to drive SOUTH into Denver. The traffic congestion was impossible
to negotiate. Walk that CORRIDOR...forget it...Suicide to try.
Drove back into the countryside onto County Line North, which I walked earlier in the day up by Longmont to Broughton and into Erie. Closer to Denver, I came upon section after section of new homes and condos. Like splotches in former farmer fields and on hillsides are dozens of recent (appears recent) communities...where the same look-alike structure is repeated row after row after row...wonder how anyone knows which house is his.
And not a motel, 7-11, or corner grocery store to be found.
Massive building is in progress on roads and new communities. Here and there plunked out in the boonies is a Super Mall...but never a motel.
So, I am back in Longmont, in the same motel - one of 4 in town (2 wee ones and 2 mega ones), in my same room as 2 nights ago.
I returned, pleased with my countryside walk...the cows staring, the horses running over to get a closer look, and waves from EVERY vehicle passing by and bubbling brooks passing under small bridges. A train even went by not 200 feet away & I got a wave from the Engineer.
A mile away was US-287...the CORRIDORE, where life or death seemed incidental to "getting there first".
I was also frustrated and angry when I walked back into my motel room.
I realized there is no way I can walk through the Denver Metropolitan area. Google found the right road...but the missing element "me first" and be damned the other guy prevents me from walking down Google's road.
So, today, NO walking. I poured over my maps last evening. Today I will drive EAST. beyond Denver and beyond the new Denver International Airport. Out there the map shows small "section line" roads (roads built to follow country Sections of land - not in a straight line from one town to the next). There are not many towns to get supplies (ice, foe example). Perhaps that is where my walk should take me...away from towns and back to the people living way-out-thar
because they don't mind standing in line letting the other guy go first...but mainly. because
THEY LIKE THEMSELVES
why else would folks choose to live five miles from their nearest neighbor, where they have dirt under their fingernails, where they see no need to get there "first".
Think I'll go check them out.
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