Author: Steve

Happy Friday. Job done today, mostly, a little follow-up next week, but we
won’t have to be here for that. Then, the escape from the high country.
Even with the late start, after lunch, we bailed on the motel and headed
east. The snow has really only been flurrying here in Carbondale all week.
No problem driving here. We expect to encounter our winter challenges on
the road over Vail Pass and at the Eisenhower tunnel. The whole time it has
been flurrying here, they’ve been calling it winter storms for the high
mountains and ski areas. Four-wheel drive Jeep, antilock brakes, new tires.
I don’t think we could be better equipped. We could lurk and wait for a break in the weather, but we don’t want to miss
the company Christmas party on Saturday. Better head back now.

It was a long commute to work. Up early, check out of the hotel; drive the
seventy miles, through Glenwood Springs, Glenwood Canyon, past Gypsum,
Eagle, Edwards, Beaver Creek, and Avon, to relocate to Vail for the next
job. Five minutes before nine, call the client for final approach
instructions. The response… Vail? Plan B. He’s in Aspen. Drive back to Carbondale, check back into the
hotel, have a quick lunch, make the thirty mile drive to Aspen, and I’m
there by one. Got in a good half-day’s work today, plus a surprise two
hundred mile drive through the winter wonderland. We’ll still be able to
wrap it up tomorrow.

Wrapped up the Carbondale job today, a snowy day in the morning, sunshine in
the afternoon. Tonight we pack up as much as we can. Tomorrow morning,
we’re off bright and early, even if the weather isn’t bright, between
storms, moving camp to Vail, where the next job is. Alpine Legal Services.
Judy will drop me off at the job and go check us into a room while I work.
I’ll work inside while it snows outside. Even though it has been single digit cold at night at least once in Denver
while we’ve been gone, I’m sure it was a good decision to leave the coach on
the other side while we came up into the mountains. I should confess,
however, that it was not entirely my decision to leave the rig and drive
over in the Jeep. In fact, it was not even a little bit my decision. Judy
and I disagreed. We live in Colorado. We work in Colorado. Why change
what we do just because there is some snow off and on in the forecast? Judy
felt strongly too. We had just finished extricating ourselves from a
snowbank in Woodland Park, with some damage to the motorhome already. Why
ask for more abuse by driving back up into a snowy forecast? An impasse.
We went to the tiebreaker. Judy felt more strongly about her position than
I felt about mine. That’s the final determiner when we disagree, we gauge
how strongly each person feels, and go with the one it’s most important to. Now see how smart that makes me look? Wasn’t I smart to listen to her?

And, back in Golden, the Christmas tree is up. We’re not back in Golden,
but the motorhome and Christmas tree are.

Annie took Judy to the Vet. She, Annie, needed something checked so while
she was there she had Judy looked at as well. Judy got her stitches put in
her finger at the Woodland Park Clinic. In Carbondale, twelve days later,
she got them taken out by Doctor Leak, Annie’s doctor. Thanks Annie.