Well, here we are at Dakota Ridge in Golden again. Left Lathrop early; got here by lunch. It’s hard to stop after less than two hundred miles on the freeway, it feels so good and goes by so fast, but we managed. We’re back in town, first for some training at the office on new audit software, then on to Thanksgiving with the kids. Nice day. Nice weather. A visit with Matt, Kari, and Alex. It’s good to be here. Go Broncos!
Lathrop
Yesterday was blue. Today is bright gray. The weather wants to be stormy, but the sun won’t let it.
Stopping at Lathrop State Park is like going back to the beginning. Several years ago, this is where it all began, our life on the road. Judy and I had been in Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley, doing a job. We had done it as a favor, because the nonprofit organization couldn’t find a local auditor they could deal with. We spent a week there in Shamu. When the job was done, and we were packing up to drive back home to Louisville, Judy wondered aloud why we didn’t do more of this. If we could do more of this, we could spend more time on the road together. We headed towards home, but only made it to Lathrop State Park, eighty miles from where we started. We got so excited talking about the prospect, we had to stop so we could get it all figured out before we got home, disappeared back into real life, and forgot about it. So we sat here for an entire day, walking, sitting outside, and figuring out what we wanted to do when we grew up and how it would work. It’s a fun place to come back to.
Devious
One more word of wisdom regarding the devious shed-rental hostage/felony situation. This advice from John: “It’s only a felony if you shoot them outside the gate. Shoot them inside the gate and it falls under the “Make My Day” law.” That ought to resolve the issue.
Walsenburg
In response to my “devious” email, a few people have pointed out that doing what they did, trapping delinquent renters inside and making them come to the office to get permission to get out, constitutes kidnapping and is probably a criminal offense. Well, sure, it might be a felony, but it’s a funny felony, isn’t it? We’re done in Durango. We like it a lot there, but time to move on. Spent the morning at work, then headed east over Wolf Creek Pass in the afternoon, through Alamosa in the San Luis Valley, over La Veta Pass, and down the hill to Lathrop State Park outside Walsenburg. There is some weather on the way down from the north, but we’re out of the high country and back on the east side of the continental divide now. Today’s crock-pot torture, vegetable and beef stew with barley and hot biscuits.
Devious
While we were in the Louisville area, we stopped by the storage shed. It takes a code to open the automatic gate to get in where the sheds are, and you have to put the code in again to get out, so they can track every visitor. It’s a secure area. That makes sense. The system almost always works, but when it doesn’t, you have to get their attention in the office to override the system and let you in (or out). We were inside the office having a visit, and looking through the window into the shed yard, noticed someone in their car, stuck at the keypad entering their codes over and over in an attempt to get out. We pointed this out to the attendant we were talking with and she said: “I know. They’ll give up and come inside soon. If you’re late paying your shed rent, your access code still lets you in, but it is disabled for your exit.” How devious is that? You can get in, but you can’t get back out. You have to come inside and face the music. How good is that?!!! Sometimes, as an auditor, I have to be resourceful. Sometimes, I ask questions about one thing that are really designed to gather information about something else. But nothing like this. This is masterful. This is truly devious.