Today’s Mileage: 195 miles
Total Trip Mileage so far: 6331 miles
I am listening to: Nothing – Traffic and wind.
Bucket Road Route 6 is easy to find – it is the main road through Dillon. I follow it out of town and up the mountain, a little traffic at the edge of town but then no traffic the rest of the way. It is cold this morning and blustery – hard to fathom when it has been so hot and is still so at lower elevations. Route 6 is as advertised, a twisty ascent toward the clouds. Lots of good “ear-holing” (an archaic British term) all the way to the summit where I stop for the standard sign photos. I also meet a bunch of hardy bicyclists huffing their way up as well. They are all members of a group and we take turns having our photo taken – I take theirs and they take mine. And then I head down the other side and back to I-70.
I look for the back roads off I-70 that will lead me to Erie. Everything is under construction and after getting off several times to find the roads closed, I finally decide to just take the freeway, otherwise it will be mid-afternoon before I get to Erie. At this point, preserving the time for our visiting is the primary goal as I still have to get down to Colorado Springs for the evening.
By taking the freeway I am at Chantel’s house in less than an hour. Chantel is my daughter’s best friend from high school and we rarely get to see her since she lives in Colorado…and we don’t. For me, Chantel is forever stored in my memory banks at age 17 or 18, even though her children are older than that now. It is an interesting comparison to chat with her daughter, Anjela, who is not too much older than that now.
The last time I visited Chantel was during RideAbout2010 – when I stopped by they had just gotten the new puppy Jamie. Today when I arrive there is yet another new puppy, Archer! A pattern seems to be developing – for the Sargent family to acquire a new puppy I must come for a visit, or, is it that each time I visit they get a new puppy….whatever. Archer is cute as puppies tend to be and Jamie is infinitely patient with him and his puppy behavior.
Much puppy play later, a snack, and hugs all around, it is time to go, our visit too short as always and this time I missed getting to visit with the men.
I am off to Colorado Springs to visit my old friend from high school (class of 65), Fred Neudecker. We last visited when he lived in Seattle. He has since moved to Colorado Springs so that his son can pursue his ice skating career. This is the place where you come for the best training and coaches in the ice skating business. Fred and his wife Tammie have also opened up their home as a sort of skater’s boarding house. Skaters whose families cannot relocate here make use of this generous service. It is not just renting out a room and preparing meals, Fred and Tammie can’t help but get involved with these young skater’s lives and help them along. Currently they have four girls ranging in age from 16 to 20 living with them. I suspect Fred and son Danny feel a bit outnumbered at times. Fred is retired from the FAA but he has a busy consulting practice providing technical support for aircraft instrument landing systems. A lot of travel is required to service these systems often located in far flung places like the North Slope of Alaska.
Fred and I meet for dinner and begin the process of hanging out for a few days.
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- Bucket Road Route 6
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- Jamie and new pup Archer
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- Tom & Archer – Puppies are fun!
View from Loveland Pass Summit
