DAY 30: Driving Home.......Toto, we are in Kansas.

I will admit it, as odd as it sounds, I was even looking forward to the drive home. Of course the majestic mountains and enchanting deserts were now in my rear view mirror and etched in my memory, but this was still part of the journey. As i drove out of Colorado into western Kansas everything flattened.....and then flattened some more.

As evening fell around me I drove into the remnants of a summer storm. The Kansas wind was blowing against my jeep and like in a movie, dust off the plains welled up like clouds. Tumbleweeds tumbled by. I pulled my jeep up an exit ramp and stopped it at the top. No one was around me, just me and the howling wind. Stopping the car I got out and looked around. To my right was a rainbow. To my left a lightning storm. And behind me a beautiful sunset. I stood there just circling.

 Knowing how beautiful everything was but also knowing that it would be impossible to capture this moment with a camera or a video or anything like that. It was just a special moment alone with the outdoors.  What a wonderful blessing this moment was. Thanking the Lord for traveling mercies and with a grateful heart for this unique opportunity, I got back in and headed to the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow I would be with my daughter Emily and son in law Matt in Indiana.

Proceeding through Kansas and into Missouri it is just driving. I came upon a huge Wind Farm that seemed to stretch on for mile upon mile. Back home in Western Pennsylvania we have about eight wind turbines along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Here there must have been five hundred or more.

Stopped once more, this time by a Kansas State Trooper for not staying in my lane. Apologies all around and kind words garnered me another warning. However my luck finally caught up with me as I passed through St Louis. A well hidden speed trap nabbed me doing 74 in a 60.  And at this point I was actually okay with that.....though I really had no alternative but to be okay with it. lol.

Finally getting to Emily and Matt's in time for dinner with them and their friend Suzette. Matt's delicious taco dinner and Emily's creative Icebox Birthday Cake, along with good wine and better company made for a wonderful evening. How fun to catch up and share stories.  Tomorrow I would be home.

DAY 29: Rocky Mountain High.....Colorado

He was born in the summer of his 57th year.........Comin' home to a place he'd never been before
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again......You might say he found a key for every door

............with apologies to John Denver


If geography has royalty then the Rocky Mountains are America's Royalty, our kings and queens. How absolutely majestic the mountains are. I left Denver on Tuesday morning for the ride up through Boulder to Estes Park, which is the take off point for the Rockies. It was one thing to see the snow capped mountains off in the distance. Another thing altogether to see them up close. As I rounded the bend before me lay Lake Estes and the Rockies behind it.

I pulled up to the Park Rangers station and paid my $20.00 entry fee, received my map and a friendly "Good Morning" from the Ranger. I glanced down at my watch and wished that I had more time than just the bulk of the day. Having gotten here I really didn't wish to leave.

You don't realize just how big and how awesome the Rocky Mountains are. They are always before you....always around you. Reaching to the sky they seem so close and yet so far at the same time. I slowly meandered the jeep through the first couple turns stopping seemingly every three feet to take another picture. Not wishing to miss anything. Wanting this day and its accompanying scenery and sights to be forever etched in my mind.

I finally pulled myself over at the edge of a mountain meadow and looked the map over. Where to head to get a good hike in. I finally settled on the hike up to Deer Mountain......three miles up and three miles back down. At the summit the height is just over 10,000 feet.

This was going to be fun. Parking the jeep, I began to get ready. My now well worn hiking boots. My water pack. My hiking stick. A hat and sun glasses.  I went over to the trailhead and the posting sign where I met a bunch of folks who had just came down, mostly twenty something girls. "How is the hike up?" I asked. And the replies ranged from "Not too bad" to "Challenging" to "Tough".  One young woman offered up "Make sure that you take a rock up to place at the top" and proceeded to tell me that it was habit or tradition to bring a rock up and place it on the pile as sign that you had finished, had made it. I thanked her for sharing that .....and then I was off. At first the path was wide and easy, but became increasingly steeper and rocky as I proceeded up the hill.

A far different hike from the one back at the beginning of my trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains on Skyline Drive. And it took a long time. Not due to difficulty but because of the many stops to take pictures. And pictures. And pictures. One view and vista prettier than the next.

 And finally at the top. At the summit. A pile of rocks greeted me there, brought up and piled by hikers who had made the summit.....and I added mine to the pile.

The Rockies are just beautiful. Making my way back down the path I passed several hikers heading up. Always a smile and a friendly hello. You are never really hiking alone. A great time to think which in part was what this whole trip was about.

Back in my jeep, I continued through the park driving past mountain meadows, rushing whitewater and incredible mountain views. Just a unique experience unlike anything else.....Before I even left I wanted to come back. But with my month now ending, it was time to head home....and a part of me was now looking forward to that.

DAY 25: Denver.....The Mile HIgh City

I didn't know quite what to think about Denver. I had heard both good and bad. I had passed through it once some thirty years ago on my way to the Rocky Mountains but never had spent any time in it. So with a sense of curiosity I pulled into town. I checked in at the Oxford Hotel, which was to be my home for the next four days. The Oxford is the oldest hotel in Denver, which sounds much grander than it is. For much of its history it was a flop house and brothel only being re-gentrified in the late 1980's with the re-birth of the "LoDo" or Lower Downtown section of Denver. But the hotel was lovely and had the charm that you would expect of a grand old hotel. My over sized suite was quite traditional though the view out the windows was lacking.

Denver was to begin my transition back to work as I was here for my trade association convention. I was looking forward to this part as my wheels were already turning towards work and  I thought that this would get me fired up for the return. It was a good call.

A friend of mine, Debbie Barber, happened to be in town at the same time. She has a daughter and son-in-law who live in Denver so Debbie was going to be a travel guide and companion for the day. We first headed up to Boulder, about thirty minutes north of Denver to hike in and take in the Flatiron Mountains, just to the west. Boulder is a lovely town, home of the University of Colorado. So lovely a town with so lovely a setting, it is beyond me that the U of C sport teams are as bad as they are. What a lure this town and area should be. One of the prettiest places that I have been.

We began with a walk up Pearl Street, a renewed area of shops and restaurants and street performers of all types. A heritage dance and music show was in progress.

After a stop for a bite to eat we headed up to the Flatirons.


The problem with a place like Boulder and the Flatirons is that every ten feet you want to stop to take another picture, so pretty is the area. I am sure that after a while you get use to it, but first trip through it is just spectacular. In our conversation, Deb and I figured out that the real transition with this area is changing from someone who just stands and stares, camera in hand, and goes "Wow!' to someone who is actively involved someway, either hiking or biking or climbing. But today was to be a pretty much "Wow Day" with a good meal or two thrown in.

At the direction of a friend and fraternity brother of mine, Steve Piper, who lives in Denver, we headed up to N-CAR, which stands for National Center for Atmospheric Research, and you could see why this place is in Boulder. On our route up the GPS led us through some neighborhood and residential streets. As we meandered and turned through the neighborhood, I found myself saying, "Boy, I wish that some child had a lemonade stand here" when around the next bend, almost immediately, there were two young girls sitting at a table selling lemonade and popcorn. Anyone who has been with me knows that I stop at all lemonade stands as a way of encouraging this entrepreneurial  spirit in kids. Always telling them how good it is, over tipping, and fluffing the kids pillow as to what a wonderful job they are doing. So I stopped the jeep almost in the middle of the road, hopped out with Debbie and approached the stand. "Two glasses of your lemonade" I said to the smiles of the two young girls behind the table. "Would you like some popcorn too?" asked the one little girl as she offered up an almost empty bowl of popcorn. Her mother approached with a full bowl of popcorn and joining the conversation said "The girls seem to be eating more popcorn then they are selling" to smiles and some laughter all around.

Eventually our conversation got us around to the "where are you from" question from the mom. "Well, Debbie is from Tuscon", I said. "And I am from Pittsburgh." The mom responded with a quizzical head turn and replied "I am from Tuscon.....and my husband is from Pittsburgh". Do do do do.....do do do do. It was truly a Twilight Zone moment. It was nice to meet the Rudman Family.

After some more conversation it was time to be off up to N-CAR, which as Steve had told us, did not disappoint.

Finally back in Denver and after a wonderful dinner at an Italian  restaurant called "Venice", Debbie and I set off on a little walk to burn off some dinner. Our meandering found us at one of the stops of the "Free 16th Street Mall Bus" where we stood just looking over the map as a bus pulled up to drop off and pick up the few passengers around.

As the doors were about to close I grabbed Debbie by the hand and pulled her onto the bus, startling both her and the bus driver. Now on the bus, we had no idea where we were going. Some lively bus banter with some other riders followed until it was time to get off or so we assumed. Now exiting the bus we had no clue as to where we were. As I stood with my I-phone out trying to make heads or tails of our location, along came a bicycle rickshaw. The driver stopped and asked if he could help us. Telling him where we were trying to get to, he replied "It has been a slow night and I would gladly take you down just for a tip." So, off we went in the bicycle rickshaw to both our delight and the driver's.

 Bennie, the driver, had been doing this for some time here, in New York and in Vancouver all the while trying to hone a career as a standup comedian. Perfect, as he bore a resemblance to Dave Coulier, from the old "Full House" television series. This was fun as he weaved us all over lower downtown. From the lights of Larimer Street to the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek, he weaved and bobbed and darted us through and around and against traffic, often on sidewalks, always with the perfect measure of where this bicycle rickshaw could go sharing history and insights to Denver that we would never have gathered. I never knew how fun this could be, but it certainly was, at one point my companion Debbie shouting "Woo hoo" as we headed down the ramp along the river. A wonderful nightcap to a wonderful day.

The next day began my work transition with meetings and seminars and exhibit halls. Well timed for me as it got me thinking of the days ahead back home with my business and gave me some food for thought as to things I might do and implement upon returning home.

 I was able to squeeze in a visit with my friend and fraternity brother Steve Piper and his companion Marsha, and it was nice to catch up and share some of those "whatever happened to" or "did  you hear about so and so" stories with him. Monday night I had an invitation to the US Motors Party on the 27th floor of the Hyatt overlooking the Rockies, complete with a Marilyn Monroe look alike, A Frank Sinatra sound alike and some great food and casino games.

I enjoyed Denver and will be back. This city and the surrounding area holds quite an attraction. I found it a fun vibrant city with good food and good people and the views around it can't be beat.