Dialogues on The Long and Dusty Road: Letters from the Frontier

USFWS Mountain-Prairie, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis Curley, and Geoff Carter

Hey Bots,

Some recent experiences of mine. Really not sure if any of this is blog fodder.

I write from Boulder, Colorado, where Jean and I came to burn up some Southwest Air travel funds, and to see the environs, including Rocky Mountain National Park. Our trip has unfortunately been cut short by a nasty winter storm, really of historic proportions for so late in the year. They haven’t been dumped on with this much May snow since the ‘70s.

We did get two good hiking days in — one in RMNP, and one in El Dorado Canyon St Park near Boulder. And we had a great drive to & from RMNP through mountainous terrain.

An observation:

I learned something about water supply and distribution in CO. It turns out that 80% of precipitation falls on the western half of the state — that is, in the mountains. But 80% of the population lives EAST of the Rockies, in a line from Ft Collins to Boulder to Denver to Pueblo and Colorado Springs. And East is where most of the agriculture is.

So, in the 30s and 40s, the Feds and the state undertook a massive project to pump water from the headwaters of the Colorado River, over the Continental Divide, to a series of lakes and massive tunnels that slake the thirst of city & country alike. Who knew?

This may be one reason that Colorado is now tinging blue politically—well, that and the massive influx of population. It’s pretty hard to be a hard-core libertarian in Denver, when your very drinking water depends upon New Deal era infrastructure.

Check out “Colorado-Big Thompson Project” on wiki is interested.

–Mark M

Mark:

Interesting. Apologies if I mentioned this previously but a couple of Boulder city things you might like—if biking or whatevering along Boulder creek—and looking for lunch there is an overhead bridge—part of building that crosses the creek—not a thoroughfare bridge. If you go find the building entrance it is attached to, you’ll discover it is the City Library. And the bridge portion is a nice little deli with views of the creek. One of the better kept Boulder secrets. The other is McGuckin Hardware, I LOL at the complete row of Park Bicycle Tools, lubes, etc. More like an REI than a hardware store. In December, a string quartet was playing, harp and all. Last the Boulderado Hotel has some nice woodwork inside. The stairways are so wide the landings have settees on them…the elevator has a human operator who has to ‘time’ the stops…good restaurant, tad pricey like everything else in Boulder.

-D.

For a ghoulish treat, look for the winter wildfire area where 1000 homes were consumed this year. It is in the Superior-Louisville swath of suburban hellscape, only actually turned into a hellscape.

I don’t wish such natural trauma on anyone, but the aftermath of such disasters is always intriguing to me. I haven’t gotten to see the destroyed and abandoned areas of New Orleans after Katrina, but I’ll still go. Yes, I am a ghoul.

Also, if you’re staying in Bloomfield, visit South Boulder. Along Table Mesa there are many cool options. You can also visit the King Super that had the mass shooting during the pandemic. My sister and mother live within walking distance, and it was their regular supermarket. Crazy shit.

–MarkO

(Methinks Mark O. meant to reply all—first his e-mail—then my “pile on”, In raging fire red, (got me in my own ghoulish mood and such…)

–Dave S.

Looked at some maps of Marshall Fire. It was about a mile to the NW of our Holiday Inn on the Boulder- Denver Turnpike (Hwy 36). Sorry, no time for sleuthing! Have to hit the free breakfast buffet!

Must correct my reference to McMansions. There may be some, but I didn’t see them. Instead, saw vast housing tracts of similar townhouses. Reminded me of the Phoenix suburbs.

Not that I can claim moral superiority. I live in Forest Hill Heights, where there ain’t any forest anymore, and the hill is pretty dinky. Vinyl covered ticky-tack as far as the eye can see. But it was affordable.

My impression is that Greater Denver is a boom town. Construction everywhere.

Our RMNP visit was shortened by the goddam snowstorm. Really want to get back there at some point.

–Mark M.

Hey Bots,

Interesting stuff. I visited Colorado (mostly a drive-through) only for the first time earlier this year. It was actually the first time (since I was an infant) that I was seeing the West at ground level. If you’d indulge me, I did a short travelogue of the trip out there and I thought I’d post it. Kind of the first-time view of a pioneer virgin.

https://geoffreymalcolmcarter.com/2022/03/31/in-nebraska/

And this was more of a travelogue of our time in New Mexico, a beautiful, beautiful place.

https://geoffreymalcolmcarter.com/2022/04/07/land-of-the-lost/

–Geoff

I think these pieces all hang together under the banner of Monuments of our Civilization, and how precarious these monuments of civilization are, past and present.

I think it might be a defining characteristic of our species, the willingness (even desire) and ability to “pack up and go”. The lucky ones would do this in the form of leisure travel and adventure. The vast majority would do it out of necessity. I’m certain that our hunter and gatherer forebears would periodically exhaust their hunting, fishing and foraging grounds. Time to move on. Our agricultural forebears would do the same. The difference was the suddenness and exigency of the situations. Humans living off native plants and animals would see these resources diminish fairly gradually. Native plants and animals are resilient within their evolved ecosystems. Also, out of necessity, hunters and gatherers would have a very diverse diet. Agricultural peoples would be one failed crop, one staple crop, from starvation. Time to move on. The “pack up and go” imperative is understandable and necessary. Unfortunately, in almost all cases in the past few millennia, there’s folks already living where you decide to relocate. Is there any wonder we are such a violent species?

The “pack up and go” phenomenon is going to be epidemic with advancing climate change. The clusterfuck we have at our southern border will get progressively worse. The same with Europe’s borders. I’m afraid most tropical latitudes will become too hot and dry to support the current populations. Like the people of Bandelier Monument in New Mexico, it’s gonna be “pack up and go” time.

Cheers.

MarkO

Geoff:

Nice travelogues!

I’ve “done” Nebraska (3) times in the last 2 years (5) counting the return trip (we came back via “the Dakotas” once). Takes:

‘bout halfway westward, one is accompanied by the mighty Platte. Can’t see much running water, but the consistent corridor of trees is something of a comfort. I owe my Platte consciousness to James Michener.
Runza’s is a local chain. Polar opposite of Panera. We love local chains.
I’ve had irrational aversion to Casey mini marts (Iowa and Illinois)—mostly due their Old West font. Oddly, they changed it recently. I have this power….
Des Moines state capitol building is worth driving/jogging around. We often get a ‘night before start’ from Madison and stop either in Des Moines or Omaha. Iowa alerts drivers re distance to Council Bluffs, every 10 miles (wtf?).
A western hegira is only made whole when one see antelopes—never up close, always in a heard. Beautiful species. Wiki now tells me they are technically Pronghorn and are “even toed”.
I recommend the route from Denver, west a bit, then diving down to Flagstaff—those 12 hours go fast.
Similar recommendations for the route from Flagstaff to Provo Utah and on to West Yellowstone Montana. So many rock formations, such little time…
Dakotas are not much different than Nebraska, nor is eastern CO—IMO.
Reservation gas stations are a learning curve: Not many of them….limited hours…porta potties…
Lots of little res enclaves with about 6-10 vehicles per building.

-D.

Dave,

You know what killed me this last trip was seeing Sinclair gas stations with those little green dinosaurs—a flash from my past. I used to love these when I was a kid—this is right over the Nebraskan border into Colorado. I never made the connection between these dinos and fossil fuels until my wife pointed it out.