A Climatic Hike To My Comfort Zone: "Excuse Me While I Kiss The Sky"

This, is where I belong.

This never fails to inspire, spark awe and wonder. This replenishes my leaky soul.

Nearer My God To Thee

Life is a lot like raising kids, you keep thinking the next stage is going to be easier. Ha, that light I thought was the end of the "tunnel?" I'm beginning to wonder if it's a train. 


I tried to explain to my teenage looking foot doc the other day that guy's like me dutifully mount treadmills for the better part of our lives only because of a dream that dangles at the end of our sticks. For him to change the rules just when I'm about to wrap my long-suffering, grubby little fingers around that "golden years" fantasy life, well, it kinda sucks.

"Keep On Churnin' Till The Cows Come Home"

My Mountain Gal and Lizard Head,  Rocky Mountain Highs in Colorado

On this date in nineteen hundred and eighty six... back in those golden olden days before Al Gore invented the internet, when phones looked like phones because they hadn't changed in fifty years... Bobbie and I climbed into a flimsy wicker basket that dangled at the ends of stings attached to a hot air balloon. Joining us was an inexperienced pilot and an acrophobic Justice of the Peace; we ascended, clutching our chests and wicker, into a Colorado Blue Sky (patent pending).

House Arrest: "So You Had A Bad Day"

A tempestuous weekend at work, combined with a fitful night, leaves me sitting in a haze on this Monday morn—in desperate need of a quiet place where I can curl up and hide away from people. I couldn't blog my way out of a wet paper bag right now due to what I can only describe as mind-fog... a veil so dense I lose sight of the ends of simple sentences before I get there. To worsen my matters, I can't get to my people-less hide-away because of a two week sentence to "bread and water;" a doctor's orders ban on anything resembling climbing/hiking/straining. 

RV Lifestyle Overtones and Philosophical Parallels Garnered From "Jitterbug Perfume," Of All Places

"Itchy Hitch:" THe compulsion... addiction... to know what lies around the next bend or rise in "The Road"

And I thought Elmore Leonard was crazy... till I began surfing the rapids of Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume. His off-the-wall pen leaks inconceivable whacko metaphors, bizarre characters and a storyline that feels like something hatched from the locked-down wing of a Coo Coos Nest, blurring the razor thin line between brilliance and insanity, freedom and straight jackets, war and peace. 

Sore Eyes, Into the Wind, and A "Beautiful" Rant: Plus, Life Lessons From The Summit Of The Orange Dragon

The Vernon Mine, up Grey Copper Gulch

Grey Copper Gulch has to be one of the most... Ok, pause it here please; there is no worthy word... and I refuse to use "beautiful" one more freaking time. It's soooo diluted by overuse that it means absolutely nothing! Even if "Everything is Beautiful" in its own way, which is simply a lie, people need to find another word or words to express beauty; be more specific! Beautiful has lost its punch... Webster and Oxford should either dilute their definitions or remove the word entirely. Beautiful is becoming a noun, for crying out loud.


Look, Ja Lo is beautiful; Steven Tyler is not (why are teen girls still screaming over him?), nor is Rosie O'Donnell or Marty Feldman. Marilyn was beautiful; Marilyn Manson, not so much. Michael Jackson was beautiful, then he started messing with his nose. I'm beautiful, but it's on the inside where no one can see it. Now you know how "beautiful" became lame. 


So, "one of the most" is all I got. Desperate, I checked my New Oxford Writing Thesaurus under "Beautiful" and there were no synonyms up to the task of describing Grey Copper Gulch. It seems it will take three words to do the job. I give you, "drop dead gorgeous." Alas, DDG only describes one forth of what I feel when there. It takes more words; I'll do my best to find them. Photos will help... and video, I made a little video. Maybe between all three you will understand why I hate "Beautiful." Now let's start again...

Another Take On RVing: A Guest Post By "Pen Pal" Claudia Duske

By Claudia Duske of ItchyHitch
I liked all the points made in the past few posts regarding the RV Lifestyle, and the readers responses, too. It really is like any other lifestyle—just what one makes of it and how they choose to live it. I also agree that it has a natural lifespan for most people, and I think one of the major reasons is the inherent austerity of life within the confines of an RV and RV parks. Eventually, people begin to yearn for things they gave up in order to full-time, things like gardens, tools, community, social networks, church, room to store “stuff,” maybe even close-by friends or relatives, especially grandchildren. Overall, of course, is the factor of health. Without that one important thing, RV lifestyles can be meaningless.

Thoughts Along The Trail To Hayden Peak

The Pinnacles on the way to Hayden Peak.

I'm not particularly fond of "Energizer Bunny" windbag posts, so apologies are in order for Part II of The RV Paradox; "It just kept going and going..." Your comments are informational fodder for newbies and wannabes. Thank you for sharing your insights and viewpoints!!!  

Today, in consolation and/or remorse for "windbag post," I offer up a "sacrifice" of what I do better, which is keeping my mouth clenched and showing off majestic mountains surrounding Lovely Ouray. You are welcome to come along as Bobbie and I take on the eastern most peak of a nothing-short-of sprawling, four summit, Hayden Mountain. 

Part II of The "Perfect Rig—Perfect Life" Paradox

Grateful... a good way to begin a blog post, not to mention each and every day. I am grateful to readers for sharing their RV insights, philosophies and personal stories; they add perspective and color to my near and far-sighted dreams. I'll wager that if your comments soothe my outlook, they also help a few others who bide treadmill time... contemplating the pros and cons of becoming road vagabonds, particularly those with diminutive budgets who will  be boondocking out of force of circumstance as much as for the natural ambiance. 


I would like to add that I am inspired by all the single RV'ers, especially women, those who chose to adventure on... who did not let "loss" nor fear nor finances snuff out their travel dreams. You are modern day RV "Amelia Earharts," and my hat is off.

RV Evolution: The "Perfect Rig—Perfect LIfe" Paradox

A friend dies at 49. "Life is Short" ricochets about the confused confines of your itty bitty brain. It's now or never, fool. 

"You'll end up a Walmart Greeter!" whispers the Imp. 

"I don't care!" bellows your voice, loud enough to be heard by colleagues at a mind numbing conference on "Organics: Precursors Of Trihalomethane Formation In Drinking Water." 

"You don't care about what, Mr Johnson?" asks the somewhat perturbed presenter. 

The Near and Far, and Highs and Lows, of "Love"

Bobbie tightens her shoelaces in preparation for the "toe jam" descent back to Lovely Ouray

It's as peculiar and subtle as "love," how a quad curdling, anaerobic, toe jamming hike goes from "I'll never do that again" to "a favorite." Twin Peaks looms two thousand vertiginous feet above Lovely Ouray, and watches over our little Swiss Village like a primordial goddess. This seductive Siamese sentinel belched forth from molten goo some ten miles underfoot... a mere thirty million years ago.