Monday, April 11
Woke to cold (37o)
and light snow. Last night was
pleasantly in the high 50s when we checked into the hotel. This turn of events
is unexpected and unwelcome.
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We are in the
state of legalized marijuana and our hotel last night in Trinidad was near a
couple of dispensaries. We both woke up
this morning wondering if out-of-staters travel to Colorado for a long weekend
and hole up in a hotel near a ‘farmacy’ enjoying what they can buy openly and
legally. After all this is the land of
opportunity.
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So Kim was up
and out of the hotel at 8 a.m. to see if the Ford dealership could help us with
our coolant issue. When he got back to
the room, he said ‘dealership’ was a bit of a stretch and that no, they
couldn’t help us anytime soon. So we got
on the road, armed with anti-freeze to continue doing what we’ve been
doing. We’ll get it checked out when we
get home.
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We retraced part
of our route from The Final Four bike trip last fall. We had several route options coming out of
Trinidad….we chose to stay on Hwy 160. During
The Final Four, we rode from Trinidad to the state line on Hwy 160. It was on this
route that we stopped at the bar in Kim, CO, to meet the bar owners and tell
them that ‘Charlie said Hi’. I wrote ‘Charlie
sent us’ on a dollar bill and stapled it on the wall, adding it to the roughly
1,000 other dollar bills stapled around the bar. It was also along this route that Kim’s bike
broke down near the town of Walsh, CO; Earl Hopper, a local, put the bike up on
one of his trailers to get it to Dodge City, KS, about 130 miles away. I followed on my bike. A couple of very memorable days in another
adventure. J
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I chose to take
this part of Hwy 160 because I remembered it to be a road made for riding through
some flat yet interesting landscape. Kim
remembered it as a bumpy road…he was right!
I wanted to be able to do more
gawking than I could while on the bike. However, snow mixed with rain along with
windshield wipers made for some tough looking out the windshield. Fortunately, the door window was staying
mostly dry, so I cranked myself around to do my gazing out that window. Saw herds of pronghorn and a lot of hawks, some just sitting and watching and some flying.
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One thing I
noticed was that pronghorn blend with the landscape out here…a tan to dark
brown hide in a world of tan. However, the
one thing that makes a pronghorn noticeable in a situation like that is the
white butt. Gives ‘em away every time! Kim was wondering about the horns…he always
assumed that both male and female had horns but looking at the pictures we took
yesterday, he was unsure. Seems like a
job for Google! Azantelope.org
put his mind to rest: The name "pronghorn" is derived from a forward projection
or prong on each horn. Pronghorn have true horns, in that the horn sheath is
composed of fused hairs which cover a bone core. The horn sheath is shed each
year in October-November. In comparison, deer and elk have antlers which are
composed entirely of bone and shed completely each year. Both sexes of
pronghorn have horns, but those of the female are much smaller (4 inches),
seldom exceeding the length of the ear. Horns on males reach their maximum length,
12-20 inches, by the beginning of breeding season, July or August.
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As the snow gave
way to rain, I noticed a weird thing happening out in the fields. Since it was in the 60s yesterday and the
ground is warming up some, there were columns of what I assume was steam rising
up in the air. Sort of like a dust devil
but made of steam…actually looked a bit ghostly. The clouds were low hanging so in places it
looked like the column was extending from the cloud to the ground. Just a bizarre phenomenon that played games
with my eyes. I wish my camera could
capture what I was seeing.
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Crossed into
Kansas and apparently changed time zones again.
One hour behind Michigan now…my
eyes can read the numbers on the clock but my mind and body just aren't going along with it.
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Along Hwy 160, Colorado
is a consistent color this time of year.
Washed out brown or tan, with the occasional dark rock in the background…today
it was cloudy and there was some ground cover snow. Kansas was a pleasant departure from the
muted color and drab skies and that surprised me; I thought the fields would be
that winter blah color, waiting for the spring plowing/planting and that it
would be cloudy with rain all across southwestern Kansas. The weather map showed a lot of rain in the
direction we were heading. However, there
are fields of lush green already; there were cows grazing in some of those
green fields, so I think maybe it’s grass. There are golden fields, either a
scrub grass or leftover sorghum or corn stalks.
There was also darker, plowed up fields. Add the blue sky and white
clouds and the color of Kansas was a welcome sight.
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Driving along the
wide open plains of Kansas and we see a ‘Scenic View’ sign. Both of us are very curious as to what
constitutes a scenic view on the open plains with miles of fields and wind
turbines. Turns out the wind turbines
are the scenic view. Who knew?! Then I thought, Hey, let’s see if there’s a
geocache nearby. There was…it was a
virtual cache and turns out it was the wind turbines again. Can’t say that I understand the virtual cache
idea, so I looked it up. This is what geocaching.com has to
say about it: A Virtual Cache is
about discovering a location rather than a container. The requirements for
logging a Virtual Cache vary—you may be required to answer a question about the
location, take a picture, complete a task, etc... In any case, you must visit
the coordinates before you can post your log. Although many locations are
interesting, a Virtual Cache should be out of the ordinary enough to warrant
logging a visit. So, the wind turbines served double duty…triple
duty if you count the energy production. J
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 |
| Miles of parked train cars in Kansas |
Both Colorado and Kansas seem to
use train tracks for train car storage. Arizona
has a very active rail system; however, all we saw on CO and KS tracks were miles
of parked train cars. No engine…no caboose…just cars. There would be a gap in the line if there was
a driveway or road, otherwise they were hooked together, waiting. Saw tankers and box cars. Mostly these are
single tracks along the highway, so the tracks are effectively rendered unusable
until the cars are moved. We were both very curious about this subject, so I
googled it. Didn’t out much about it
except that rail traffic is driven by the economy and when it’s cheaper to move
goods in another manner, the unneeded cars are parked along unused tracks. Some rail companies ‘rent’ their tracks for
storage. It’s a win-win for the
companies; not so sure for the people who have to look at the inert cars on a
daily basis. While I didn’t find an
abundance of information on the subject, I did come across a site that put
forth an interesting theory…terrorism. I don’t know enough to scoff at that
notion, but I do question some of what I read on the site thecommonsenseshow.com:
 |
| Miles of parked train cars in Colorado |
The story involves the “discovery” of
several Chinese manufactured railroad cars which are designed to transport
deadly chlorine gas. The cars are abandoned along a defunct set of railroad
tracks. The line is no longer in use, yet, about a year ago, these chlorine
railroad cars suspiciously began to appear on this inactive railroad. Ed was told that these
mysterious rail cars just showed up out of thin air. A short time ago, these cars
moved approximately one mile and blocked Highway 54. Law enforcement had
to shut down the highway for the better part of the day. Both law enforcement
agencies have asked the locals to remain vigilant. DHS and the FBI have asked
local law enforcement to do the same.
The obvious implication is that law
enforcement feels that they are dealing with a potential terror event. The
train cars should not have been able to move because the abandoned tracks are
in such a state of disrepair that nothing could barely move on the tracks.
Further, if the trains were to start moving, the air brakes would immediately
kick in and stop the train cars. Nobody in law enforcement knows how the train
cars made it onto a defunct railroad line. And certainly, nobody knows how
these cars moved into position to block a local highway.
I’m sorry but I just don’t know how these large train cars “just showed
up out of thin air.” They are big and
they are noisy. Someone would have noticed! Even if a helicopter was used to
lower one down onto the tracks…it would be noisy and someone would have
noticed. And I don’t know why asking
locals to remain vigilant implies that law enforcement feels that they’re
dealing with a potential terror event.
My mind just doesn’t make those leaps…but it made for some interesting
and entertaining reading.
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I started out the day in shorts
and stayed with that decision, despite the cold. However, I did put on a pair of my knee high riding
socks when I got in the truck. I find shorts
to be more comfortable when riding for hours in the truck and I have a blanket
that I throw over my legs if I get chilled.
Day warmed up nicely and except for the initial walk to the truck this
morning, I did not regret my decision.
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