it was a day of mixed feelings.

Summer flowers.

I hitched up the Arctic Fox about 9 o'clock this morning and then spent some time with the family waiting for rush hour to be over. Coming and going in Denver is based not so much on when you want to go as when will traffic conditions allow you to go. And I have found that anytime I leave the Denver area somewhere around 9:30 or 10 o'clock in the morning allows the best chance of avoiding too much bumper-to-bumper traffic. Driving the truck through it is still a bit stressful, but pulling the Arctic Fox through it is downright frightening.

Denver wasn't always like that. A long time ago I used to come to Denver usually for business reasons and the traffic was bad but it wasn't unreasonable. But Denver's grown tremendously, the price of land and houses have skyrocketed, and the traffic has outgrown the roads. The same thing happens over and over, people move to great places that have a high quality of life, and the sheer numbers of the people moving there slowly destroy it. I'm old enough to have watched it happened to several places.

Saying goodbye to my family gets harder and more painful every year, but there's just no easy way to do it. My first few days on the road is always tough for me, I've enjoyed spending time with my family so much it's hard to leave, but leave I must. The warm days are getting shorter and shorter, the cold nights are getting longer and longer, and my propane is getting used up faster and faster, I'm being compelled by circumstances to head South.

I made it to the Walmart in Trinidad Colorado today where I'll spend the night. Tomorrow I'll probably go to Storrie Lake state Park in Las Vegas New Mexico which has always been a good place for me to prepare myself and the Arctic Fox for my winter travels, and give some thought to where I want to head next.

                                theboondork