Fun with New Friends

Now that I am back in Denver I am looking towards the future.  My bus radiator fan has yet to be fixed.  After taking the fan and pulley system off the bus I found, with the help of a local machine shop, that my bearings are good.  It is the shaft that is jacked up.  The previous fix was shoddy.  The bearings wore grooves into the shaft, which caused undesired movement, which in turn, caused my belts to keep falling off.  So now my bus has no radiator fan and finding the replacement part for a 1972 bus is next to impossible.  Fabricating a new part looks to be my best route and it seems like an expensive one at that.
In the meantime, I have been doing some work for Dan.   I am parked in the RV storage lot (or as I like to refer to it - the private gated community).  I have had the opportunity to enjoy some of what Denver has to offer.  I reunited with a small group that I had briefly hung out with before leaving for Eastern Colorado.  They have been a blast and enjoy doing the types of things I do.  Over the past week some of us had a get together to celebrate Amanda taking her board exams for medical school.  It was a great time visiting.  It is amazing that each time this group meets I am introduced to wonderful new people.  It reminds me of the theory of Six degrees of Separation (Google it).
Here are some pics from Daniel's rooftop.

Another fun event was going to Film on the Rocks.  This was actually a pretty big deal for me.  My favorite band, U2, performed a very famous concert that was taped here in the 80's.  The venue is Red Rocks Amphitheatre on the outskirts of Denver.  The place was more awesome than I expected.  It is large but intimate.  It is far and away the best amphitheater I have ever seen.  The best seating is actually higher up.  This will give you the dual benefit of enjoying the show and seeing the Denver landscape for miles.  Words fail to accurately capture the moment.  It is one of those things that must be experienced to understand.  The film presented was Edward Scissorhands.  The movie was enhanced by a sort of audience participation, not the distracting type that detracted from the film.  Cheers when Johnny Depp's character is first introduced and so on.  The people I went with are great.  Clearly they have good taste, (not just for inviting me), but for choosing such a fun event to attend.   The show on July 5 is Top Gun.  Maybe I can convince a few people to go.
Here is a glimpse of Film on the Rocks

 The parking lot

Film on the Rocks crowd or as I call it Going to the movies with the beautiful people.

Right now I am gearing up for a fourth of July weekend camping expedition.  Really looking forward to this as well.  I will be tent camping as my bus sits crippled in Denver.  I will be bringing my dog and I think I have someone to watch after my cat.  Going to be doing a little primitive camping, my favorite variety.  I might even be able to break out the giant inner tubes I have be hauling around with me waiting for a river to beckon them.  Pictures will be posted shortly after my return.  I love this.  I don't know what my camera will capture but I already know it will be good.  And that folks is the story of my life.

Music Video Montage for Eastern Colorado Trip

This is are an assortment of clips from my time out in Idalia with one of my favorite songs from U2 playing as the soundtrack.    Enjoy.

Random Pics from Idalia

I am trying to wrap up the post regarding Idalia before it becomes ancient history.  I am more about living in the present and sometimes even in the future than I am the past.  I have one more video compilation after this post.

My time in Idalia was an experience in solitude.  I classify it as a worthwhile endeavor that I will not soon be repeating.  I do not believe people are meant to be totally alone for long periods of time.  In fact, on more than one occasion, I felt like I was on house arrest with the extra penalty of solitary confinement.  The only reasons those feelings cropped up was because I knew my bus was dangerously near a major catastrophe if I drove it and I was totally dependent on someone bringing me groceries every two weeks.
I believe that a month would have been plenty long enough.  That it last two and a half months was pushing the limits.  I don't see how inmates keep their sanity.  I am betting it is because they at least have social interaction with each other.

I don't want to give the wrong impression.  I consider my time in Idalia as a mostly wonderful series of events.  I saw weather that I have never seen before.  An abundance of wildlife that kept me wondering what the new day would bring.  The freedom to dress or undress as I pleased.  I had a second to none work environment for the bus.  The upgrades to the interior of the bus have made a world of difference in style and function.  Although I am worried that fixing up the interior while the motor is having such issues might be akin to putting lipstick on a pig.   I had unlimited electricity, running water and hot showers.  Things that have become a scarcity for me.  But I found myself taking them for granted within a few short weeks.  Now that I am back I appreciate again how good it was to not have to worry for 2 and a half months about those things.

Here are a few more pics for you.

Cat Nap in the basement

One morning I got crazy with breakfast. 4 Scrambled eggs with cheese, Pancakes, fried potato slices, generic Mt Dew,  coffee (made into mocha coffee by the addition of the chocolate syrup), a banana, a whole orange of orange wedges.  (you won't find this kitchen table in any IKEA)

Building in some new cabinets

The difference a little Danish oil makes

I removed the rails from inside and brushed them with some gloss white

 This was my dishwasher.  Actually I was the dishwasher, this was my sink.  Which also doubled as my washing machine.

That is a handsome girl

She has great poise, even with chocolate twizzler nugget on her nose

I got a kick out of the rabbits, they would freeze if I got close, as if I didn't see them.  I didn't see them often though because my wandering dog liked to chase them.

I became more aware of animal trails.  This is the one I suspect the 'bobcat in the yard' used to get up to the house.  My shadow in the picture is intentional.  The placement of the water bottle was not.

This made me think long and hard about flip flops being my preferred footwear.

A couple of Turkey Vultures on the barn

My foyer, prior to new floor installation.

Adding a little class to the front of the bus

And also to the steps

And here is one of the windiest days while I was out there.  Quite a dust storm.

Typical Storm Chasing Day

Here is a glimpse of me storm chasing...on foot.  The audio could be better but I think you will get an accurate sense of my environment.  The scenes where I spot a funnel cloud beginning to drop are difficult to see due to the poor zoom of my camera.  Also the wind was so strong it was difficult to steady the camera.  In the second clip I am hugging a telephone pole while holding the camera in order to even out the shot.   The real purpose of this video is to give you the sense of what it was like to do what I was doing.
Here is a little Geography lesson to illustrate the lay of the land...aerial map courtesy of Google.

Hail storm and Tornado Warning while on the bus

I have been expanding my online repertoire to now include YouTube.  It will make sharing videos easier.  Also I am hoping it will hold me accountable to start producing better quality, entertaining clips.  With that said, this video could stand a little more editing but I am having memory issues (lack of it) with my computer.

A little background on the following video...This video was taken during my jaunt out to the big city of Burlington in order for me to get online after over a month of wilderness time.  The weather chose this time to get interesting.  I get a chuckle watching myself when the hail starts getting bigger.  I was sure it was cracking my plastic air conditioning covers.  And the loud sound caused me to jump involuntarily.  There was a tornado warning for my area at the time which added to my apprehension.   Enjoy.

Weather in Eastern Colorado

One of the little things I would look forward to were weather events.  I really want to photograph a tornado before I die.  I had several promising storms pass through but nothing that produced a funnel cloud that reached the ground.  The only contact I had with the outside world was a radio with fuzzy reception that ironically got worse when I needed it the most.  Those times were when they issued severe weather bulletins.  I would here the emergency broadcast tone interrupt the classic rock station (it was the one that came in the clearest) and I would stop what I was doing and stand by the radio.  If the weather warning was good and dire I would go grab my yellow parka and head out about a mile into the highest point in the middle of a hill south of the property.  In hindsight this was not the best thinking I have had...for a multitude of reasons.  A mile is a long ways, especially through knee to waist high grass and brush.  Hail and lightening were two of my most realistic concerns but the off chance of a tornado forming on top of me would have been catastrophic.

Here are some of the better pictures that show some of what I saw.

Watching a textbook supercell form

I felt certain this wall cloud behind the barn was going to finish dropping.   No such luck.  Supercells are characterized by the the continuously rotating updraft.  They are most common in the Great Plains.

My foolish fearless storm tracking dog

Rainbow after my trip into Burlington and my first real experience with Colorado severe weather

 Sometimes the storm clouds would be freakishly low to the ground

These anvil clouds were known to reach as high as 75,000 feet into the atmosphere (although height of 20,000 ft are more common)  Impressive to behold.

Videos to follow in later posts.

Socializing again

After my overextended trip into no-man's land I had an opportunity to immerse myself into a highly charged social atmosphere.  While this may be normal behavior for the people I was with tonight, it has been something sorely missed by this ramblin' man.  Amanda swung by and picked me up from the hotel that I splurged on in order to get cleaned up and recharge my batteries (literally).  We drive to Phil's house where I have been to before for small group meetings.  This group turned out to be considerably larger than previous groups.  The excuse for this gathering was celebration of summer solstice.  The activities were kicked off with some ultimate frisbee.  For the uninitiated, it is a game played with a frisbee and non-stop sprinting.  My lungs cursed me and my heart threatened to leave through my rib cage.  It was incredible fun.
After that, we moved indoors for a group game called 'Signs', a covert game using subtle gestures to confound the person trying to guess who 'had the sign'.  It too was a good time on a more sedate level, thankfully.
These activities were peppered with social times where everyone mingled. Old friends caught up on current events and I saw the makings of several potential new friendships.  Everyone was great and the atmosphere was congenial.  It was punctuated by the diversity of personalities that kept things lively.

Here is Amanda with a mischievous looking Amy following

Daniel and Jared

Heading out to play Ultimate Frisbee

 Snapshot to preserve the moment

I will return to updating my trip to eastern Colorado soon.

Other Wildlife

Here are a few of the other wildlife sightings that I saw.  I will include video in a post in the near future.  Note: My camera only has 3x zoom so the below photos don't accurately represent all the wildlife I saw.  The video is only slightly better.

A little birdnest built on top of the light next to the front door of the house.

 Mama bird giving me the evil eye.

The day the eggs started hatching

Not sure what this was designed for but sitting on it was not the purpose.  My narrow butt broke the straps.

I am glad it didn't have a rattle.

A couple of deer foraging for breakfast.

Wild turkey wanders into the yard.  Maybe I should have put up a 'Beware of Bobcat' sign.

A group of wild turkeys in the field

My favorite wildlife spotting area

 A different view of my favorite wildlife spotting area.

My favorite wildlife area provided me with tons of video, mostly of deer.  I will edit that together and post shortly.