May 29: THE VAN IS BACK! We are mobile.

Del Norte, CO. 7650 ft, 75 deg., sunny and dry

Hello friends. Let me offer you a bouquet of apologies for not blogging in so many days. We’ve been stranded in the greater Denver area on bikes while a local Aamco fiddled about with the Van. After much frustration and waiting, we got the Van back yesterday (Friday). The schmohawk had had it since Tuesday---of the previous week. Son of a bitch took his sweet time!

On the plus side, our homelessness allowed us to make another new friend and visit old ones. We couchsurfed with a girl from Richmond who had relocated to Golden, CO. Golden gave us a great reprieve—almost a vacation—from our Denver vagabonding. How do the homeless do it? Visiting parks and biking around the city had gotten old to us. Golden, known for being the Coors HQ, reminded me of Lexington. A hilly little town, surrounded by mountains that each have giant letters marking them. The Colorado Mining College sits on a hill just up from downtown, and there seemed to be a student presence. We found Golden’s second-largest brewery (a little kitchen and garage brewery), where locals sat at tables in the yard with their dogs. Since we had a lot of time on our hands we ended up spending quite a few hours there.

We met with Claire, our Golden host for the evening, at the brewery. She’s an ex-East Coast resident who moved to Golden for a job in alt-energy research. Had a spacious house with nice views of the mountains around the town. Clear Creek ran through the center of the town, providing a natural recreation area for kayaking, walking, and lounging. Plus, someone had the excellent idea of providing a trail along the creek, connecting Golden to Denver in about 7.5 miles. So it was an easy and scenic bike ride to/from Golden.

Before that time we spent a night in Denver with my old friend Tom Hunt and his wife Margaret. They let us join them in their home for dinner, some of his home-brewed beer, and the evening. Prior to the Colorado Springs weekend, we were treated to an evening hanging out with Angela Young and Amy Karwan at a restaurant near Amy’s house. Amy generously let us spend the night at her apartment that evening. On three nights during this period we got motel rooms too. Not what we wanted but Aamco had our hands tied.

The people here have been very friendly, the towns and cities are clean and attractive, and the land beyond developed areas is breathtaking. I’m pleased to see that besides the ubiquitous suburban sprawl, tourists and residents haven’t trashed the land yet. Another great part of life in CO is that its roads are filled with antique cars. VW Beetles, Vans, American muscle cars, campers, trucks, old Lincolns and Cadillacs are everywhere. They must hold up better in the dryer climate. Lots of fun looking at those.

Coming up: An afternoon on Colorado’s Sand Dunes, pictures, and more.