We stop at the Glenwood Springs Lodge to try out their giant spring-warmed pool. It’s really nice, but pretty steep at $11 for admission. I was looking forward to trying out the water slides too, but they were closed. Instead Ann leads us in some water arobics. Feels great after driving all day.
We hit the road for Vegas, via our storage locker in Denver, with my old friend Anne Marie Powell in the back seat.
On the way to Ft. Collins we pass this brush fire, started by a resident burning grass, that consumed a home before being controlled by firefighters.
What a loud, bawdy, frollicking Shakespearean romp! Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are great. Because everything is so exaggerated you hardly notice the Elizabethan English. I guess a Shakespeare afficionado might consider this a “dumbing down” of the bard’s work, but I loved it. For once I could at least tell when I had missed a joke! Of course we were kind of rooting for the shrew, so we appreciated the ambiguity left in her taming.
It might look, given my recent entries, like we’re sitting around watching movies these days. Actually, organizing our supplies and getting all our gear working has become our new full-time job. I haven’t published any of the many tables and lists we are working on yet, because there are constant revisions, and we want to publish the last one before we leave.
We’ve fallen into a nice segmentation of our days. We start with analyzing our route, making key decisions about maps, alternate routes, food, and water. When our heads are spinning fast enough to make our eyes cross, we shift to making and stocking our 33 supply boxes. That gets tiresome and monotonous after a while, so we walk to Mugs, a local internet cafe, to write emails and research things like current water levels and supply locations. I’ve also been putting a lot of effort into getting some GPS software working on my handheld computer.
Next we really will take a break, to attend the 2004 Sociometry Fair.
I’m a little conflicted about this movie. The story of a gutsy, naive, headstrong reporter who goes after drug dealers in Northern Ireland is told and acted very well. The fact that it glories in the removal of civil liberties, which gives the righteous government the power to take the property of suspected drug dealers, is what bothered me. I guess it’s OK in a biography if that is what Veronica Guerin truly wanted to accomplish. I hope it was - otherwise the movie would be no more than propaganda and a terrible abuse of her name.
Ann and I, tired after a day of packing supplies, popped this in for some relaxation. We had no idea what we were in for. I think there were half a dozen prophetic visions and sword battles in the first 20 minutes, and it goes on like that for 3 hours. Of course there’s nothing wrong with swords and visions when they are well done, and the themes in this movie were just rebellious and thought-provoking enough to keep us from turning it off when it repeatedly fell into unrestrained melodrama. Everybody is breathless all the time. I kept expecting Fabio to show up in a role. When it was over I felt exhausted. But I slept well!
I get the sense that a husband should use caution when publishing pictures and comments about his wife’s hair on the internet, but this is too much fun to resist. Jess wants to dye Ann’s hair with free artistic license. Ann figures that her hair can look like anything for the Sociometry Fair and the trail, so she goes for it. The afternoon is spent with many applications, washings, and rinsings. When all is done, Ann remembers the one other event on her schedule: her brother’s wedding! I hope her family likes the new do as much as I do!
As usual I’ve missed the historical context of this film: 1920’s Chicago, Bob Fosse choreography, the original broadway musical, and the revival. The city is portrayed as a place where vengeful beauties murder their husbands and lovers daily, and the public follows the drama through the press with rapt adoration. I didn’t like this setup at first, but the performances are persuasive. The whole story soon becomes a skewering of mass media, masses in general, and the justice system that I won’t argue with, but in the end feels sort of like being buried alive in glitter.
With all our errands to run getting ready for the continental divide hike, it’s hard to get good day hikes in too! Today my Dad takes us up a trail on Bear Mountain behind his partner Sarah’s house in Indian Hills. It’s mostly nice forested hillside, with occassional views of Denver far below.
We top out in an area of palacial homes. One has a small domed astronomical observatory on top of a wooden tower. We continue to the very top, where a strange stone house is for sale. All the wood is rotting, it has baby blue carpets, a V-shaped pool and hot tub, and a stunning view of Mt. Evans. We conclude that it was a 70’s playboy’s house, long abandoned.
Ann and I are staying at Pete’s house in Denver at the moment. He and his wife Jess are taking care of our dog Jezze while we’re on the trail. They orginally planned to hike with us, and even though circumstances forced them to cancel those plans, they’ll still be playing a major role in our journey.
I first encountered Pete in Junior High, when I was trying to figure out how to reject social norms without too much ridicule and he was into school athletics. We would probably not have become good friends, but one summer we were both interested in working, saving money for school, and skateboarding, so we loaded up my van and went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We lived outdoors there in the Gros Ventre wilderness and worked together cleaning condos. It was during this time that Pete told me about his desire to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, which we attempted in 1996. He encouraged me (and everyone else) to become a member of the Institute of Sociometry. Our friendship has had a profound impact on my life.
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