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Dog days of summer

 It’s quiet here.  It’s calm.  It’s still warm.  We should be looking at the Continental Divide, but there is a haze in the air from distant fires and we can’t even see past the foothills.  It’s like a dead-zone for birds.  They’re all through claiming territories and raising young for the year.  When I walk here I usually record 30 species.  Yesterday I saw 8.  We hung out a bird feeder.A feeder here usually gets swamped by birds, but this trip it remains untouched.  I guess we’re not usually here in August. 
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Driving the Jeep

 Driving the Jeep, with lane sensing technology, is somewhat akin to driving a motorcycle with a rider on the back who is anticipating the corners and “helping” steer.  You end up not only steering the corner, but steering the corrective steering.  I think the lane control is a great safety idea, and I want to keep using it to get used to it, but we’ll want to adjust the sensitivity, or turn it off on winding mountain roads.  
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We sent out this picture of the motorhome and Jeep

 It makes the Jeep look pretty small. So I took a picture from this angle for a better perspective. Now the Jeep looks almost as big as the motorhome. I’m reminded of freight trains along the highway.  They don’t put all the engines up front, they use distributed power.  Imagine topping a hill with a 100 car train and maybe five engines altogether.  On the way down the other side, the front engines will actually be holding back the momentum on the cars behind.  Meanwhile, the engines at the back are still pushing the second half of the train uphill.  If we fired up the Jeep and redesigned the tow gear to tolerate compression stresses, we could do the same thing with our setup! We’re at St Vrain State Park for a few days. 2017 Summer Trip Map Dinner with Becky and family! 
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Poor Judy

 She has been waiting this whole trip, months, to get her left hand fixed.  Now it’s pretty much useless; there is no grip left at all.  She can use her right hand better and better since surgery a year ago, but almost every right hand action requires a left hand to hold something steady against the force (like opening a jar).  Not that I see this as a problem; it’s job security for me.  I reach, grab, and open everything she needs.  J We have an appointment to get her left hand taken care of, but guess what, her doctor and appointment are in Corpus Christi, which is in the middle of a long-lasting weather event!  If she can’t get her surgery right away, that will suck, but how bad can she afford to feel for being inconvenienced by the storm, when so many people have lost their homes already, with more damage to come?  Our trip back to Texas was all planned out, but now we’ll have to watch and wait; see what route is open, which roads are closed, and when she can reschedule her doctor’s appointment.  We’re at the Laramie KOA. 2017 Summer Trip Map It’s a big blue beautiful sky. 
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A $700,000,000 lottery payout

 To one winner.  That person’s life has been changed forever.  Hopefully in a positive way.  But what a terrible idea.  One person.  $700,000,000.  A million dollars could change one person, or family’s, life.  Why not 700 winners of a million dollars each? I’m such a communist.  A three-state day.  Idaho, Utah, and just into Wyoming.  We’re in high desert, but we’ve climbed up into the Rockies now, at 6,700 feet, and have finally gotten out of the forest fire smoke. 2017 Summer Trip Map