Trip Report Day 1: Evergreen to Pinedale
The day started just a bit sad. Well, maybe more than a bit.
It’s fun going places. AND, I’m going to get Kenedy! But the drive is so, so far and I don’t even have a dog to talk to. All these miles and all that thinking. All by myself. Two and a half more days of thinking! Blah! I'm so tired of thinking.
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| Evergreen to Pinedale: The Back Way (and I mean waaaayyy back) |
It is incredibly, shockingly dry in central Colorado. The trees are having a hard time leafing out. Green Mountain Reservoir might revert back to a river by the end of the summer. I was thinking about college "friends" jumping in that lake driving through here. Not enough water to do that, really at all - not just this year.
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| Green Mountain Reservoir (and some spots on my lens) |
Closer to Steamboat things are greener and the Yampa looks slightly better than the Blue. Snow is holding on the North side mountain tops and a hopeful rain/snow is forecast for Sunday.
Books and Maps:
A paper map would have been useful today. The Rivian wanted to take a new way to Pinedale which was very beautiful, much more beautiful than the Craig to I-80 through Baggs way. But this new way included a 76 mile drive up and over a butte on a dirt road. That would have added much more time than the Rivian anticipated (with me driving). Fortunately human critical thinking prevailed and so did pavement, minus 8 miles on a gravel road and across one very sketchy bridge made for fracking oil and gas trucks (pun intended).
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| Near the Gates of Lodore (there is a very tiny tiered waterfall in the center of the photo). |
Books
Tomorrow the drive skirts Teton and Yellowstone so I'm checking out The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges, lodges in those two parks. There are nearly 40 pages!
Observation and Documenting the Trip:
Voice dictation really did not work today. The phone recorded some indiscernible notes about long boots and bright dogs. I don’t remember what I was trying to remember.
Coffee:
I am staying at the Log Cabin Motel in Pinedale. These are historic, rustic cabins with modern conveniences like a very nice and new shower and fresh coffee ready to brew in a real coffee maker - no pods, no individually packaged Folgers. Just good coffee in a cozy cabin.
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| A cozy cabin with coffee. |
I appreciate that things fit where they fit: a bed in the kitchen, two doors to the bathroom, etc.
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| Thoughtful, rustic, everything you need. |
Music:
I was thinking about Boulder in the 90s all day. It started with college "friends" jumping off a rock into Green Mountain Reservoir. This thinking grew into a thinking-about college-monster- too much thinking about that. But the music was good: The Samples, Dawes, Bodeans, Eddie Vedder, Ray LaMontagne.
And she thinks most people don't talk enough about how lucky they are
Most people don't know what it takes for me to get through the day
Most people don't talk enough about the love in their hearts
But she doesn't know most people feel that same way
-Most People by Dawes
Camera:
Oh the photos we can campture while stopped on the road for construction. Reminds me of The Richardson Highway.
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| Yampa Yes! (Note-to-self: clean lens tomorrow.) |
Snacks:
Look at all the color in the cooler!
Pasta salad with arugula, roasted tomatoes and basil-cilantro-mint-dill pesto dressing = lunch.
Breaks
I got a late start, like 10:30ish, so no breaks though I really, really wanted to touch the Green River and take a solitary walk through Brown's Park. Kris arrived home from Chicago at about 1AM and we had to decide whether or not to bring the bike before I left. That takes hours - what to do, what to do...I ended up bringing my bike.Next up: Pinedale to Missoula. It's cold and snowing!
