A Man, A Jeep, No Real Plan

Amazing Stories and Adventures

Mountians

We climbed a mountain and lost the nuggets. Our Stumble home.

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Hello folks! Sorry for this update taking so long, life came at us 1000 miles an hour last week and I am just now catching my breath.

Or last adventure in Mineral County was to take the 4 wheel drive trails up to the top of Mt. Bristol Head. Instead of cramming all of us into Jackson, Mom and Dad rented a friend for Jackson to play with.

The drive up was beautiful! We wove through the high meadows and the spruce groves. Granted the groves were littered with dead spruces that were killed by beetles years ago, but it was nice to be in an area untouched by the fires.

We stopped just shy of the tree-line for a picnic. Caitlyn spent most of it taking pictures. Grant spent most of the time playing in the soft, sand-like dirt. I fed my face like a fat kid. We all did exactly what we wanted.

As you can see, the top was absolutely breathtaking. Both Pretty Lady and I got some amazing photos!

I’d like to take a moment to talk about this one in particular. While Caitlyn and I were taking photos, my mom kept an eye on Grant. I absolutely love the above photo. They were standing close to the edge and they were talking about everything from birds flying to why the mountains looked so small. When we get the shop up and running I am calling this photo “Grandma Why?”

The Drive down was just as beautiful as the drive up. I drove most of it and Caitlyn kept having me stop so she could take photos. We also may have sent Grant ahead in the other jeep… There were just too many artistic opinions in the vehicle on the way up…

At the end of the trip, we stopped and took turns driving across the river. I am pretty sure this is another one that we’ll end up with in the shop. I just love the way that the water is interacting with the tires, the open sky with enticing clouds, and a very happy woman enjoying feeling like a badass who can’t be stopped. I think I’m going to call this one “Try and Stop Me”

Last weekend we finally started our stumble home. Our first stop was the Great Sand Dune National Park. It is exactly what it sounds like, they are massive piles of sand. When I say massive… I’d like you to note that the photo of the dunes above is taken from about a half mile from their base and they are blocking the mountains behind them… They are big.

Our first night was camping in Colorado Springs. We also had a lovely evening doing a socially distanced visit with my friend Hannah, her husband Zach, and their daughter Ari. It was great! We hung out in their back yard, had dinner, caught up, and watched the kids fail to social distance. That being said, it was an amazing time and Hannah has set the bar high on being a gracious host.

Next stop was in Kansas City. On our way to Kansas City, Grant could not keep ahold of his chicken nuggets to save his life. We tried twice and both times he got 1 bite, and then lost all of them on the floor. The first time I notified Caitlyn that the nuggets were down. I have to tell you, if you have never driven 1300 miles with a 3 year old, it truly turns everyone’s brain to mush and the phrase “nugget down” will make all parties involved laugh hysterically.

Once we arrived in Kansas City, We stayed at KOA (against my better judgement). We had breakfast the next morning with my friend Amanda, her Husband Jake, and their Daughter Liz. Once again it was a pleasure the Adults talked and the kids destroyed Amanda’s living room. Breakfast was great and the added bonus was that it wore Grant out so he slept a bit more on the drive than we would have expected.

Speaking of Grant sleeping in the car. How the hell does he get comfortable in some of these positions? I mean I understand that young children are more flexible than us adults, but it’s not fair that I wake up hurting if I spend too much time asleep with my arm under my head, but he can sleep slumped over with both of his feet above his head and a blanket covering his entire body. It’s just not fair.

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Fishing, Golfing, Hiking, and a Drive Through the Mountians.

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Hello all! Sorry I have been radio silent for a few days, but it is really hard to generate content when you spend 5 hours trying to stay awake and not catching any fish. To be fair, we hit our bag limits on trout by hour 7, but prior to that the only thing I caught was a sun burn.

The following day I went golfing with my father. To be more specific, he golfed and I stuck to what I’m good at: drinking, driving (golf cart only), and heckling. I must admit, I only had one beer, but I was as aggressive with that golf cart as one dares to be when the course is literally built on the side of a mountain. I was certainly not as aggressive with my heckling though… I mean yes I did have to comment when he donated golf balls to the Rio Grande, but when he mulliganed four balls off the side of the mountain in a row… I just didn’t have the heart… or was it that I couldn’t stop laughing… Regardless a good time was had by all!

July 3rd was my mom’s Birthday. I am unsure (probably by design) of her age, but she has celebrated her birthday in Creede, CO pretty much every year of my life. She always celebrates her birthday with a meal at a particular establishment. Covid-19 made this a challenge this year, but I am happy to say that the tradition was continued and once again, a good time was had by all!

Post birthday celebrations, Caitlyn, The Little Man and I went on our own adventures. We started at the Mining Museum, which we all failed to get any pictures of. That being said, the Mining Museum is awesome! They literally drilled and blasted out tunnels in the mountain to build the mining museum. The guided tour is led by an old timer who used to work in the local mines before they closed. The exhibits start with the old school hammer and hand drill method of drilling holes for dynamite to modern day techniques. I highly recommend it!

After the museum we went on a drive and found the Upper Clear Creek Falls. they were beautiful!

They also were the location of alot of the photos Caitlyn posted in her last update.

Dad and I decided to take the little man on a hike this past Sunday and let Mom and Caitlyn go shopping. We selected one of the few trails that Dad has not done in this area before. The average hiker covers about 2.5 miles an hour. We managed to get Grant about 3/4 of a mile in an hour and half. The Tiny Terrorist was more interested in looking at every ant hill, chipmunk hole, and oddly shapes rock than walking. Eventually Dad and I gave up and we just stopped for lunch and then headed back.

Grant was even less cooperative on the return trip to the car. So Dad and I took turns carrying him back. Once we got back to the car we strapped him in and he was out cold as soon as the car was rolling.

At this point Dad and I decided to drive into the mountains and find the other side of the trail. This was the begining of us formulating a plan for the next day.

The plan was simple, we talked our wonderful partners into taking us into the mountains and dumping us on the up hill side of the trail. They and Grant walked with us for the first mile and then we were on our own. I want to go on record stating that I firmly believe the ladies are witches, because witchcraft is the only possible explanation for how they got Grant to hike further than Dad and I did. They didn’t even have to carry him… (Or have to carry his pack. He lead the way the whole time. -Caitlyn)

At any rate, for Dad and I, it was a 9 mile downhill stumble that we did in about 3.5 hours and dear god am I out of shape. I mean we didn’t really stop other than short pee breaks, and long enough to drink some water. It was a strenuous hike, but dear god did I hurt the next morning.

Yesterday we drove over to Lake City. The drive was amazing, the city not so much. I won’t blast individual businesses, but they were openly hostile to the concept of mask wearing, to the point that one business asked me to remove mine. I declined and then was hurried out the door. There was also a business with a confederate flag with the message, “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone” printed on it… yeah, I have spent my last dollar in Lake City.

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