Author: Steve

Friday Way back at the start of this trip, I accidentally filled up with Number 1
diesel. Since then I’ve managed to put Number 2 diesel in it like I’m
supposed to. In Durango, we discovered Biodiesel. We stopped at a station
to fill up the Jeep, and the diesel they sell there is Biodiesel. Blue Sun
Biodiesel. What a great sounding idea. It’s made from vegetable oilseed
crops. It works in existing engines. There is no drop off in engine
performance. It is biodegradable and less toxic. It produces about 80%
less pollutants from combustion. That’s what the literature on it says. We only found it in that one station. We’d have tried a tank of it, but it
was a small station we couldn’t have gotten the Bounder in and out of.
We’ll keep an eye out for it. Did I mention the service intervals on the diesel? We took it in for an oil
change before we left on this trip. It takes a lot of oil, they measure it
in gallons instead of quarts, but it turns out we only have to do that once
a year. I asked about a tune-up. How do I know when it’s time for a tune
up? The service writer told us to drive it for a hundred thousand miles,
then get back to him. I like that. We were farther west in the time zone yesterday. It was hard to wait for it
to get dark before falling asleep. We didn’t make it. The badlands of Utah. One hundred fifteen uninhabited miles. Cones,
spires, castles, turrets, parapets, canyons, gorges… and flowers. It is
hot and dry here, but we can see fields of late spring flowers from the
road. Nice. Stopped at the same rest stop we always stop at to admire the view. There
was one other car there. From somewhere else. It was filled with a family.
They got out. We don’t think they are veteran travelers. Mom, Dad, and two
early teenage girls. One daughter headed for the rest room at the other end
of the view area. It wasn’t really a restroom. It’s an outhouse. She went
in. She came back out. Distressed. “Mom” she shouted, “It’s round! It
looks just like a can!” They all went to see. Most of the freeways we drive on are asphalt, but it seems to us that states
tend to take out asphalt freeways and replace them with concrete freeways.
Why do you suppose they do that? Maybe concrete freeways last longer, and
so, cost less in the long run. We drove on some concrete freeways in Utah.
Lots of Interstate 15 in Utah is concrete. Concrete freeways suck. I think
this Freightliner chassis provides a pretty good ride, but it sure shakes
and rattles on an old concrete freeway. Stopped at a rest stop, and was watching a Western Kingbird with the
binoculars. It was more yellow underneath than some. I was struck by how
yellow it was. Then it quit fluttering around and landed, facing away from
me. It was gray. The entire top of his body was gray, while facing away.
So much for the mystery bird yesterday. It was a rear-view of a western
kingbird. Here we are in Mesquite Nevada. Ninety-five degrees. Not that hot. Hot
and dry. It feels good. We checked out a motorhome park attached to a casino in the center of town.
You know how, sometimes you look at an RV Park and think it’s going to suck,
but after you’ve been there a while it grows on you and after that you end
up loving it? Not going to happen here. We moved on to a nice park on the
outskirts of town. Not a birdy place at all. Saw a house sparrow. Saw a
grackle. That’s it. We waited for it to cool off to 85 outside, then sat in lawn chairs and
watched the stars brighten. We can see the big dipper every night. The
North Star sure is high in the sky this time of year. We’re used to seeing
it low on the horizon from southern Texas in January. A three hundred fifty mile day. Not very far to go tomorrow to Las Vegas.

The Green River camp.

Thursday. Breakfast in New Orleans, dinner in Timbuktu. Okay, we skipped breakfast at
the edge of the eastern plains. Crossed the Continental Divide in
spectacular blue-sky weather. Another perfect day. Lunch at the Dillon
Lake Overlook. Across Vail Pass, through Glenwood Canyon and DeBeque
Canyon. Out through the Western Colorado Mesas, and into the Utah desert.
Utah. For all the traveling we’ve done, this is the first time we’ve been
out of Colorado in months. Stopped for the night at Green River State Park.
This used to be a regular stop with the kids on Spring Break trips. It’s
shadier than we remember. It’s a very birdy place. Lots of birds we recognize, and then…. A New
Bird. A new bird. I know it’s a new bird, because I have no idea what it
was. I saw it perched. From the back. The bottom half looked like a
sparrow. The top half looked gray. From behind. What is solid gray from
behind? It could have been a Lawrence’s Goldfinch, but I don’t know if
they’re here or not. I went to get Judy and it was gone when we got back.
Never saw it again. We don’t know what it is, but we know there is a new
bird here. It would help if the park had a bird list, but they don’t. That’s a great
help, when you’re trying to identify a bird, and you can check a local bird
list and eliminate the birds that have never been sighted where you are.
Sometimes the bird lists indicate the relative abundance in each season.
That really helps. We can use all the help we can get. I thought the Jake Brake would be proportional, but it’s not. You can’t
feather it with the throttle and drive it smoothly. It is tied to the
transmission. It is purely incremental. It downshifts. Let off the gas
enough, and the exhaust brake kicks on in an appropriate gear for that
speed. Step down on the throttle, and it switches back off. At 65 mph, it
downshifts and provides a slight braking assist. We can handle a long 5%
grade at that speed. The first big assist pops in at 45 mph. That’s the
one we ride down the hill if it’s not too steep. It will handle a long 6%
grade on the freeway. There is a more serious hook at 35 mph if we need it.
That will ride the 7% grade down the continental divide without resorting to
the foot pedal brake at all. Cruise control. I’ve already declared that I like the way cruise control
works on this thing. What else I like about it is that it keeps the speed
you last selected in memory: even when you turn the key off. Start it up
again the next day, get it rolling, and hit resume. You’re right back to
where you were the day before. Green River, Utah. A three hundred fifty mile day. Tomorrow, the badlands and beyond.

Wednesday Our last day at work. Our office neighbor and friend Gary Kring bought a
celebratory, “end of busy season” lunch, for his office and our office
combined. It’s an annual tradition. Judy and I planned to leave right
after lunch. We’re heading for the Las Vegas conference, Arizona,
California, and….. condors in the Grand Canyon. I worked till eight. All ready for an early start tomorrow morning. The weather started earlier today than yesterday: right after lunch. Dark
dark skies. Wind. Rain. Tornado warnings. Quarter size hail. Wave after
wave of weather came through, clear into the evening.

Monday. I love that drive home from the eastern plains, watching the shadow of the
Rockies rise in the distance. But now we’re back in the office. It’s a
nice return. The work doesn’t pile up and wait for me while I’m gone now.
It just gets done. Ohmigod! I think I’m dispensable. We had quite a busy season of December year-end clients. It takes through
June to get them cleared out. After that, though, we’ll have some excess
capacity. It’s nice to have time to relax and breathe, but we don’t want
too much of that. We don’t want anyone to get bored. We’re putting
together a list of nonprofit organizations that have year-ends that are not
December. We’ll send some information to them to see if we can get a little
more work in the second half of the year. I’ve wanted to do this list for
years. Two thirds of our clients are December year-ends. It would be nice
to balance out the work. I’ve always wanted to do this list, but couldn’t
figure out how. How do you find nonprofit organizations that don’t have a
December year-end? Thank you internet. Now we have access to information
about nonprofit organizations we can accumulate and sort. Jamie is taking
care of it. A list of potential clients in Denver that are not December
year-ends. Thank you Jamie. I caught myself referring to our time in Denver as “the trip”. I was
describing to Jamie what I could get done in a short amount of time, and
explained: “I don’t have time to do everything this trip. Maybe I can
finish it next time.” Interesting transposition of perspective. Got the financial statements finished up for the Silverton job. It’ll be
ready to go out in a couple days.