So I'm feeling pretty tired right now. The driving and epic adventure/exploration continues and I could use a little down time. I wanted to go up into the national forest since they offer free camping so I went up into Nederland which is west of Boulder and started exploring that area. It was about midday and a snowshower started coming down when I was there. The snow started getting to the point where I quickly realized that it was no longer driveable. I'd hit the brakes on the road and found that they did almost nothing. The car just kept going... So I pulled over, put on my snow chains (finally got to use them, woohoo!) and drove on out of there. That snow was really no fun. It was wet which wasn't pleasant on my face and soaked into my pants and the nearly whiteout conditions means you couldn't really see when driving or see what all's around you. Ned is a smaller city nearby, definitely a mountaintown very different from Boulder. If you keep going past Ned, you'll run into Eldora, the nearest ski resort (I'm pretty sure) to Boulder. To drive up from Boulder to Ned (like 5,300ft to 8,300ft) you drive up this beautiful road called Boulder Canyon Dr. This shot is from the way back, when I pulled over to take off my snow chains once I got to snowless road. The chains realllly help, but they definitely add a lot of vibration when driving, especially on pavement. Right next to this pullout was this view. It was cool to see the river all along the area. You'd find snow and ice on top of the rivers here.
A lake I visited yesterday morning was totally covered in ice. There were signs saying that all activities on the ice were prohibited, but the ducks and geese apparently can't read. ;) It was cool to see birds walking on a lake. When they come down to land, they kind of skid in as if they were wearing skates. It's pretty cool. Definitely not the same as if they were landing on water or earth. By the end of the day at sunset, much of the ice had melted, but there was still quite a bit left. I love seeing the change throughout the day like that.
It's pretty interesting, this mobile lifestyle. It brings up questions like where do you shower, brush your teeth, get more water (buy some at the store or fill up water bottles at water fountains, for example), get power, get internet (Starbucks' are great for the last two), where do you sleep, and so on.
I found I'm actually not a fan of a lot of the parks here. They charge an entrance fee plus another fee to camp, and the camping fees are like $14-20. That is if the campgrounds are even open during the winter and many of them are not. You can show up after dark and get up early before sunrise so that the rangers don't catch you, but that's a really stomach-churning experience and I really don't like it. I want a place to stay for free. Nothing special really.
I slept in my car last night and found I really enjoyed it. Just get in your sleeping bag in the passenger seat (no pedals or steering wheel as in the driver's seat and my back seats are all full with stuff) and you're good to go. What's great about that is you can pull into almost anywhere, you don't have to worry about finding a place to set up camp, and you don't have to tear down a tent in the cold in the morning. It's actually pretty awesome, much to my surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.
There's lots of Subaru Outbacks here. A LOT. 4x4's and AWD's are very common here. I'd like to get one and took one for a test drive. It was a lot of fun. It handles potholes, dirt, and offroading much better than my Camry does. I'd like to take it out in the snow and see how much better it performs with all wheel drive and all season tires as opposed to my front wheel drive and highway tires, as well as the extra lift I get so I don't bottom out when driving.
I found this cool place to stay on craigslist... Low rent, you get to work on a farm and do construction stuff and gardening stuff, you get some quiet time to yourself, and you live in a tipi! haha, sounds like such a cool idea! I'm starting to feel like I want a place for now in the winter and maybe do more traveling/camping in the summer when it's warmer and more of the drives are accessible (no snow) and the campgrounds open back up. May is when a bunch of them open back up here.
So yeah, time to go chill and relax. Some quiet time would be nice. Peace is not at all overrated... ;)
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