2006 July

Films like this make me realize how overdramatized most of the movies I watch are. The story down here isn’t stripped to the very bone like Bubble, but it is told unpretentiously. It’s a worthwhile tale, and the Alaskan setting is intriguing.

Referred by Nehring

Dad, ever the explorer, chooses a forest road he’s never been up for his birthday weekend excursion. Four Mile Creek Road in Pike National Forest takes us into the Mosquito Range west of Fairplay, Colorado. We’re initially put off by swaths of private property and mining detritus, but end up having a beautiful hike up Horseshoe Mountain. There’s a great variety of rocks in this area, the wildflowers are in full bloom, and the long gentle ridges beg to be meandered along. We scramble down a rock field to Leavick Tarn, where the view of the Horseshoe Mountain cliffs above is unbeatable. There is so much to see that I fill up my 128MB memory card with photos for the first time.

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This ocean life documentary doesn’t go into great depth in any particular place or creature, but contains jaw-dropping footage from ocean locations all over the world. It does an especially good job of conveying a removal from the human realm, where the camera is an omniscient eye showing us sights that most human beings never see.

David Cronenberg has interesting ideas, so I was willing to give this film some leeway, but after half an hour of swallowing one cliché after another, I gave up. Maybe I’m spoiled, but I’d rather listen to Cronenberg talk about his message than sit through such a bland set-up.

Referred by Fresh Air

The idea is simple: we stay cool on a hot evening by bobbing around in the Poudre River for a while. The plan is complicated: Ann drives with our newly acquired tubes to the free solar-powered air pump on the bike trail, while I ride my bike to the take out at the Shields St bridge where I lock it. Ann puts the filled tubes in the car and picks me up at Shields. We drive to our chosen put in on Overland Trail. With really no idea what it will be like, we jump in the tubes and go.

It’s COLD!! Ann screams and retreats, while I disappear down the river, hyperventilating. I manage to pull over and wait, and soon Ann appears. We’re off, quikcly getting accustomed to the cold water.

We learn to paddle around backwards with our arms. There are more rocks and low tree branches to avoid than I thought, but we get the hang of it. The view from the river is entirely new to me, and I have no idea where we are. There are lots of birds to watch, and a pair of deer even watch me float by.

It’s all quite pleasant until we reach the Taft Hill bridge. After this we have to portage around a dam. Getting back into the water is cold again, and I start to shiver. Then we repeat this for another dam. Slow, cold water follows, then shallow, rocky water. We start getting eaten by mosquitos. As soon as we’re in range of the bike trail, we get out. The hot air feels great now. Ann carries the tubes home, while I get the bike and ride it back to the car. Throwing the bike in the back I drive home, picking up the tubes from Ann on the way.

Next time: for an evening, the float from Overland to Taft is plenty. We could go straight from home to the put in, or stash the bike near the bridge first. Still, this is a good end to a hot day!

Hey kids, it’s time for another fun-filled RV-life lesson! Today we’ll answer the question, “Hey, why is the carpet by the bathroom all wet?”

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A recent change to Google Maps brought this gremlin to the hobomap and many other Google Maps API users also. I found the explanation at Mapki. The cardinal sin is putting the map-creating javascript inside a <div> or other tag. It has to be right before the closing body tag.

This is a bit painful for some users of my geo mashup plugin. I’ve tried to remove all requirements on the page template, but this imposes a requirement again: the <?php wp_footer() ?> tag must be right next to the </body> tag, and not enclosed by other tags. Thankfully many existing templates meet this requirement already.

We awake to the buzz of a low-flying plane, and it’s not the kind that the Reverend Horton Heat sings about. The cornfield next to is getting a dose of pesticide, and as far as we can tell, so are we. As people who go to great lengths and expense to avoid eating pesticides or supporting growers that use it, this is maddeningly ironic. We can smell the stuff, like a cloud of poison gas. We’re surprised that no one else in the RV park seems to care - it makes us want to pick up and leave.

The day begins in a maddening comedy that ends with us chasing Sean down a forest road, and Sean going home with no idea where we are. We embark without him on the rugged trail to The Monastery, where we manage to do some climbing on strange new rock despite a hot sun. When we return exhausted to camp we find one thing that can relieve any lingering ache or regret: ice cold India Pale Ale.
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We don’t know any good open camping spots near Estes Park, but Roosevelt National Forest encompasses much of the map area northeast of there, so we go in search of a spot. Following Devil’s Gulch Road to Glen Haven we find nothing. Nor is there much prospect between Glen Haven and Drake. We’re planning to climb at The Monastery, so we make the drive up FR 128 and find glorious primitive camping right at the trailhead! The views of Long’s Peak and the plains below are just amazing. Homeowners in the area will probably manage to eliminate these camping spots eventually, but we’re very thankful for them today.