Turnaround

March 26, 2008

In airplane jargon, the flight comes in from X, several crews clean (sorta)fuel and restock and as quickly as possible, then the gate folks allow us to be shuffled into the airplane and the flight is off to the next destination.

Mrs had her first day off on Good Friday, but both of us ended up working most of the day since our good friend had his flight delayed. About the time he was leaving Detroit we headed north into Colorado and got into our condo about 11pm, lit a fire and waited to see if he would show.

It didn't happen till Saturday morning, and we opted for a lazy day rather than hit the slopes.

Sunday was magnificent and we attended the chapel of the outdoors. I knew I was going to ski into trouble but I did it anyway.

The skiing was magnificent, the snow was perfect, the sky was blue and my knee lasted about three and a half hours on some of the steepest black diamond runs I've ever been on.

Finally the knee called time out and I couldn't do one more run. I hobbled off the slope and told my friend that it was going to be bad the next day and that he should plan on skiing without me. I knew from my earlier experiences this season that something was wrong inside there, but even after 3 days of limping around, I'm still saying it was worth it all.

Tuesday morning we headed south and my friend headed east on another big bird. I stopped for a quick shot of Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado, something I tried to climb once, and finally succeeded on my second attempt, about 20 years ago.

While the mountains grace the horizon on the right and the left, the plain in the middle of Colorado is about as exciting as it gets. I thought about writing about how the road became the sky, but then I figured why not just take a photo while I was driving, and you can see for yourselves.

The Mrs dozed and I sped.

"No officer, I had no idea how fast I was going."

"84 in a 65. License, registration and proof of insurance please."

**&$_%

I think it's the first one in about 30 years so I guess I'm long overdue. In NM one hardly ever sees a cop, especially not on the back roads like this one.

"Mail it in and the points drop to 2."

The fine was only $115, which I think is light compared to some I've heard about.

An hour later we were basking in the hot springs at Ojo Caliente and thoughts of the ticket were bubbled away in the hot water.

As a graduation present from the Mrs. I'm now going here...

on this....

And just to make sure we get there on time, a day will be spent on South Beach.

photos will probably follow.