Last night Laura and I decided to check out the fireworks in Boulder (Ben was napping, well deserved) and drove within a mile of the CU Boulder (Colorado university) stadium and then waited for the bus. She had laryngitis and I had no idea where we were going so it was a lite comedy at the bus stop figuring out which bus, then which stop but everyone was very helpful and we followed a small group through their "shortcuts" and got to the stadium. Security said we could not take my tiny pocket knife and the umbrella, but somehow in the confusion they said never mind.
We thought we would be late but there was still a band playing and the stadium was 1/2 full, so good crowd. After the band stops some Boulder city mucky mucks talked briefly and the a an announcement was shown on the big screen along with voice that said, evacuate the stadium now due to an incoming storm. Everyone though that was pretty comical since it was a nice warn clear night, but I checked the weather radar and sure enough a nasty little cell was parked just south of the stadium with lightning and thunder and everything. So after 5 minutes, everybody calmly filed out. We waited around outside the stadium for 45 minutes and then the storm dissipated and everybody (minus about 1/4 of the crowd who left). And it was worth the wait with huge fireworks right over our heads.
After we found the bus stop and got a ride back to the car and back to Lara's place. It was late and between the fireworks and the all day kids event, everyone was beat.
This morning I packed up and Laura, Ben and I went down to the same place my brother and I met Laura last summer for breakfast. It was 10 by the time we said goodbye and I had the nice Google lady guide me through the busy Boulder - Fort Collins corridor. She took me up a bunch of not busy back streets and just before I hit the remote parts, I filled with gas. And it was remote all day. The temps dropped from 85 to 65 by the time I got too far out of town since there were nasty black clouds to the west of me all day. They kept the temps down, but it was like tickling the rain dragon's tail all day. It got really dark and lightning a thunder kicked up, and then it started to sprinkle so I cranked it up to 70 for 1/2 and hour and beat the storm.
I must have seen a couple dozen antelope today nibbling grass next to the road, but non got spooked and jumped out (thanks!). I also say a large wind turbine farm (about 100 turbines) in the middle of nowhere with a single power line running to it from the north. I also say 4 different NRG TallTowers out here, so I assume they are measuring the ind for even more turbines.
I had a tailwind for part of the day and a cross wind for the rest.
I pulled into Casper just as the ugly black clouds caught up and I ducked into the motel just as the storm hit. Rain tonight and clear tomorrow so good timing.
Also good luck was a pub with happy hour going on and some decent BBQ. A guy from Nebraska chatted me up about his travels 30 years ago across country with a 750 Honda. He was in town visiting his kids and grand kids.
Walk back to the hotel between raindrops.
Odometer tonight = 26918 miles
No comments:
Post a Comment