Tag Archives: adventure

Dangerous Highway 133

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Highway 133 in Colorado is rated by the Colorado Department of Transportation to be the 5th most dangerous road in the state. The road itself is impeccable. The blacktop is kept up to standards, there are guardrails on many of the curves, and the striping paint is always well done (except for that one time when the painter wobbled the centerline for about 5 miles. We think he was either hung-over, or it was his last day on the job.)

Nonetheless, there are persistent dangers on the road that I drive seven days a week, not the least of which, are the mudslides. On the most recent episode of “Have Mudslide, Won’t Travel,” I counted no less than 30 spots where the mud came out onto the road.

It reminds me of the time we were headed home and a big slide covered all the width of the road near Redstone, Colorado. It was raining, and nearly dark. Vehicles were backed up, but a few four-wheel drive trucks were coming our way through the mudflow.

I asked my son, Caleb to run up to the slide and see if he thought I could make it through with the Subaru we were in. He came back out of breath with, “Yeah, if you go fast enough you can do it.”

So being in the mood for adventure (when am I not in the mood for adventure?) we hit the mudslide at about 30 mph. It was deeper than I expected, and the rocks were bigger than I would have wanted to go over, but hey, we were in the middle of a quality father-son experience.

The car bottom hit some rocks, and we bounced like a cheap quarter ride at the mall. The car cleared the slide, and we came out the other side with a “Yee Haw!” and a prayer of thanks.

“We may have wrecked the bottom of the car, or punctured the gas tank,” I told Caleb.

“I said you could make it through. I didn’t say you wouldn’t wreck the car,” Caleb replied.

Mud flows can be fun. Just don’t try it at home.

Spiderman at 8500 ft.

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The adventure isn’t over, yet. Last week I turned 52, and yesterday I was hanging by a climbing rope with a Holehawg drill and air impact wrench installing braces on the south end of my house. The braces are triangular, and weigh in the neighborhood of 100 lbs. each.
To be quite honest, installing the braces is something that I’ve dreaded doing for over two years. My wife and son, Caleb, and I have discussed how to do it for all of that time. Not having a deck to set up scaffolding on has been the major obstacle.  I knew all along that I’d have to hang from a rope to put them up.  
Climbing ropes aren’t new to me. I have several. I’ve been a climber for many years, and a mountain guide for a few. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. But using climbing ropes on the side of my house with drills, impact wrenches, and SAWS was a little bit weird. (Yes, I cut plywood with a circular saw just a few inches from my rope during the installation.)
Needless to say, the braces went up, and that part of living life large is over.  My son, Caleb, and my daughter, Heidi were up on a scaffolding, around the corner of the house, handing me tools, and beams. 
I was Spiderman, doing my thing on the rope. “Thank you, Jesus” kept coming out of my lips whenever a big beam got attached by the 12 inch lag bolts. I didn’t want to fall 25 feet backwards onto rocks with a log on top of me.
Living life large comes real natural when your home is up in the mountains.  If you chuck the “comforts” of city life, flatland life, and on-the-grid life, you can’t help but live an interesting life. 
The other night, I was awake at midnight, thinking how much work needs to be done on our house before the snow flies. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up, made a fire, fixed a snack, and sat down in front of the wood stove to make a schedule. Building contractors make building schedules all of the time. To get the outside of the house ready before winter will require massive work, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks.  
So far, I’m only slightly behind schedule. But for the next 5 weeks, it will be an accelerated schedule for me and my family.  
Don’t ask me how the house is coming. The answer is way too complicated. People who know nothing about the design or building of our house look at it and say, “Oh, all you gotta do is shingle it.” If I listed the things I need to do before it’s shingled, it would take up the entire blog. 
But don’t feel sorry for me. Last night as the sun was going down, I was hand peeling logs for the porch posts. I was warm, the sun was on my face, and the only sound I could hear was the wind clanging the chimes in the tree and whistling softly in the branches.