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Crested butte

Oh I love a good commute. I used to drive twenty-five miles each way to Denver and back. I drove off-peak traffic times, so it was quiet time for reflection and music. Relaxing, really. Now it’s different. Sometimes we park the motorhome close enough to walk to work. Usually we’re within a few minutes in the car. But here, in Gunnison, we have a forty-five minute commute through the mountains to Crested Butte each day. It’s not spectacular mountain pass road, but wide-open traffic-free high country highway. Colorado Highway 135 north from US 50 follows river valleys, first the Gunnison, then the East, then the Slate, through pastoral forests farms and fields, right into the old 1800s mining town, elevation eighty-eight hundred feet, at the base of surrounding high peaks. There is still snow on the ground in Crested Butte.
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Gunnison

Never easy to leave Ridgway, but we’ve done it. Now we’re in Gunnison. Tomorrow’s job is not in Gunnison, it’s in Crested Butte, an hour away, but there aren’t any RV Parks open for the season there yet. We’re in the Gunnison KOA. It’s not open either, but will be soon, so they let us stay. We were welcomed by the owner…. David Taylor. Conversation with him revealed he has a brother Tom Taylor. A brother Bill Taylor too. Want to guess the name of David Taylor’s first Kid? Right. Mike. It feels like home.
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Slam dunk

We don’t have any rosy finches. Most birders don’t have any rosy finches; rosy finches have a very limited range. But the place you go to see rosy finches… Colorado. All you have to do to see rosy finches (there are three kinds), is drive to Georgetown in the winter and watch the feeders around town. The finches come down out of the high country (and down from the north) in the winter, down to maybe eight thousand feet, and bask in the snow and cold until it’s time to return to their more arctic conditions. All you have to do is drive to Georgetown. Every birding guidebook says so. We’re not in the Colorado high country in the winter any more, so it is a matter timing; get to Georgetown to see the birds without spending the winter in the mountains. At our latest opportunity last year, in November, we drove to Georgetown and located all the bird feeders that could be seen from the street. No rosy finches. We were too early. This year, back to work in Colorado, we tried again. Another drive to Georgetown, this time in April, and a creep around the streets in the car, checking out the feeders. Nothing. Just a little too late. The birds are gone for the year. On the way out of town, we stopped at the visitor center and they had a live person to chat with. Rosy finches? Haven’t seen one in years. They must be wintering somewhere else now. We weren’t just too early, then too late. We missed them entirely.
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Two buck chuck

It’s not like I never drink. In fact I’m supposed to have the occasional glass of wine; it’s good for my heart. I’m an experienced drinker. I’ve had that glass of wine with dinner several times over the last few years. We made friends with some neighbors at the RV Park in Glenwood. As they were leaving, they dropped off a card attached to a bottle of wine. Charles Shaw wine; two buck chuck. Two dollars a bottle. My brothers know about it. I’ve heard mention of it several times over the years, but I’ve never actually encountered it. Well, we don’t want to isolate ourselves from any enriching cultural experiences, so I decided to have a glass before dinner. Two buck chuck…. Not bad. I was just finishing the glass when dinner was served, so I thought I’d have another… I thought I’d have another, but I was wrong. I got halfway through it and got so buzzed I had to go lie down. Two Buck Chuck. I was no match for it. Two Buck Chuck kicked my ass.