Saturday, May 3, 2025
First post, and from 38,000 ft no less. This past week has been interesting as my teammates finished ensuring my obsolescence by completing transition of our work. I was honored by a lovely retirement party and some very thoughtful gifts and a wonderful cake. I was blown away by the amazing shadow box, and I know exactly where that will hang.
Friday I turned in my HHS equipment and left the office for the last time, and finally got a picture of me with the monster American flag in the background. I will miss the amazing people in ASPR as well as our amazing partners, but the timing is absolutely right.
Saturday was a rush of laundry, packing and cleaning my apartment for the 30 day absence before catching up with friends before heading out.
A restless night at the hotel wasn’t the best way to start the trip out – does anyone actually like down pillows??? – but I was able to get some Starbucks before boarding and actually have an empty middle seat, so things are looking up 😁
Hopefully the posts will get more interesting as the trip goes along, but I figured I should start building the habit.
More soon!
Sunday, May 4, 2025
So today was the big day! I slept terribly at the hotel by BWI – does anyone really like down pillows? They go flat in the middle and then when you try to sleep on your side they try and suffocate you! Anyway, rough morning, but got my Starbucks and boarded smoothly. I even managed to get an empty middle seat, so yay! Flight was smooth, but I was a bit shocked to be greeted by Darth Vader, a Tusken Raider and a few other Star Wars characters on the main concourse in the Denver airport. May the 4th be with you indeed!
Things went pretty smoothly with the walk-through of the RV, and before I knew it I was white knuckling it down I-70 while getting used to the monster. I took a few quick stops to get some Amazon packages, food and some bourbon and was back on the road. The RV actually handles pretty well all things considered. Quick drive to Golden Gate Canyon State Park to get settled in.
While setting up I started getting hit with some wet snowflakes, which was definitely not expected, but it was in the low 50’s so it didn’t last long and didn’t stick. As soon as I got that all sorted out I headed out for what was supposed to be quick hike to start getting used to the 9,000′ altitude. No more than a quarter mile into my hike I saw a pile of scat in the trail. While I was able to identify it as likely moose, none the less a gave a little shimmy to make sure my bear bell was doing its thing and headed on down the trail. Had some great views, but ended up doing a 4.25 mile loop, far longer than I had planned. I had to take frequent breaks and at times was what could only be described as trudging up the slopes. But I made it back and even managed to force myself to stretch before collapsing!
I fired up the water heater while I had some water and a small old fashioned while cooking my ground turkey breast for dinner. Altitude changes are serious, I thought the turkey packaging was going to explode! Anyway, dinner was ground turkey breast soft tacos with cheese and arugula. After dinner I took my first attempt at a shower in the RV. My Garmin watch notified me of an abnormal heartbeat due to my contortions, but one Navy shower later I was clean and ready to finish settling in and getting ready for bed.
That is all for today. While I am sitting here typing away my heart rate is still over 100, so I am drinking water and planning on sleeping for as long as I possibly can tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a light day in acknowledgement of my choices today, but I am sure it will still be awesome.
Monday, May 5, 2025
I was definitely suffering last night, tired from the poor sleep the night before and then from overdoing it on the hike. Then to top it off I couldn’t get the heat to run as the temps outside dropped to the mid 30s. Fortunately there were plenty of blankets, though I still ended up wearing sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt to bed when I finally gave up at about 8:00 PM. Unfortunately I had a pretty bad headache, my body was hurting and I just couldn’t sleep. Oh, and I got another 2 warnings about abnormal heart rate since it was still up over 100 for most of the night. So another kinda rough night. I finally crawled out of bed to make breakfast around 8:00 – scrambled eggs and oatmeal with blueberries (the usual) with a hot chocolate (did I mention I was cold?) and then filled the pan with water and put it back on the stove to heat up the RV a bit.
After breakfast I practiced piano for a bit, but this keyboard has REALLY skinny keys, so definitely a different feel. I also got in touch with the RV owner who helped get the heat going, but not fully, so he is sending out a mechanic out this afternoon to get it fully sorted out before I head up north to Yellowstone later tomorrow.
May 6, 2025 – Still no heat, Coors, and moose – meese?
The RV owner had a mechanic come out at noon, but he was told the wrong issue so he didn’t have the right part(s), so I still don’t have any heat unless I start up the truck and blast heat from the dashboard. Better than nothing, but going to be another long night. Anyway, the weather has been pretty sketchy all day with intermittent showers, cooler temps and even a solid sleet storm this evening. That, along with my overdoing yesterday led to my decision to go visit the Coors brewery in Golden, CO after the mechanic left. I couldn’t get a tour as they are apparently booked several months out, but I did get into the tasting room for a couple of tastes – Coors Banquet and Molson Canadian.
On the drive back I took a different road with a LOT of twists and turns. The scariest part was the school bus drive WITH KIDS who was tailgating the heck out of me, crossing the double line on turns and generally being a menace. Pulled off to let him go ahead. Absolutely insane driving.
Once I hit the dirt road back to the park I finally saw my first significant wildlife with a couple of moose on the side of the road. I got a video of the first drive-by and then a decent shot of the (maybe) juvenile on another pass. They are HUGE!!!!
As I was pulling in to the campground after my moose adventure I got slammed with sleet, which I thought was the leading edge of the winter storm, but that apparently won’t really hit until the morning. It didn’t last long, so I ended up just doing a walk around the campground to get a bit more activity before settling in for the evening.
Lunch was PB&J with trail mix and dinner was chicken breast on arugula with strawberries and balsamic glaze – another very common meal for us. The interesting twist for tonight was that everything was frozen pretty solid. Sigh. Oh well, putting the cooked chicken on the frozen arugula and strawberries thawed them out pretty quickly, but still not the most optimal outcome.
I am supposed to meet the mechanic tomorrow afternoon closer to Denver to get the heater fixed, and then I will head out for the first leg of my drive up to Yellowstone. I can only hope I sleep better tonight, though the lack of heat sure won’t help any.
Still no heat last night, but I figured out the blanket/clothes/ibuprofen ratio and actually had a pretty darn good night. I don’t have a good thermometer in here, but I couldn’t see my breath when I woke up, so it can be that cold, right?
Cold and rainy this morning, though the radar looks clearer back towards Golden, so I may head back down that way for a hike this morning. I do have a job interview/call at noon, so having good signal will probably be helpful…
Then this afternoon I am supposed to get the heater fixed before starting the trek up to Yellowstone. I also realized that my current elevation (9600’) is above Machu Picchu but not as high as Cusco – no, not Kuzco…
Well this doesn’t look good
Mechanic came back out today to work on the heater-
Trevor is definitely earning his money here, but all I really want is heat!!!
Rainy hike, heat, a blizzard and high wind warning
Today was another cold morning with rain and then snow falling at the campsite, so I headed down the mountain before the snow made the roads too sketchy. It was already super foggy, so made for an interesting drive to start the day.
I headed to Table Mountain North for a quick hike in the rain and wind to test out all of my rain gear. It was pretty darn chilly, but the gear worked well and the elevation didn’t completely wipe me out, so a win all around!
As noted in the earlier post, the mechanic made it back out to work on the heater. It took longer and more parts than expected, but I am sitting here basking in my functional heater this evening!
I also took a call with a potential employer, so I tried to clean myself up a little while enjoying some hot chocolate and extra layers of clothes.
I was supposed to drive up to Rock Spring, WY, this evening on my way up to Yellowstone. The drive started out by hitting my brakes to let two coyotes cross the road. The drive was supposed to be a bit over 5 hours, but I ran into a blizzard crossing into Wyoming, and then had to stop 80 minutes short due to I-80 being closed to light campers from high winds. So here I am in Rawlings, WY at a Walmart for the evening.
That climb out of the balcony house, along the cliff is a hell no for me! Good thing you went…
Eeeewww
I’m pretty sure that you felt a kinship with that raven in your story. LOL
That has crossed my mind. I also have plenty of wall space in my study, so I am considering an…
Travel with Sherpa 
As long as you don’t look down, look back, or think about it, it is totally fine 😜