Life of Nobody

[Adios]

I had been staying with Terri and her family a few weeks by now. One day her son came home and wanted to talk to her. I asked if I should leave, since we were in the living room watching TV. He said no, and then he told her he was moving to Ft. Collins, with his brother.

After they talked it over for a while Terri said, if you're leaving, then so am I. It got real quiet and I wanted to melt under the carpet. I did get up and go outside so they could talk it over.

Well, she did move out. I tried to stay there a while, but two recently single men, both with issues over it, in the same house wasn't a good fit. A buddy of mine had a spare room he was willing to rent out so I went there.

I had no idea where Terri was until we saw each other in the bar one night a little over a week later. Her other best friend, Brenda was living in Limon and she had gone there. She told me about this crappy little trailer she had rented and all the work it needed.

Since I had over 25 years experience in maintenance I offered to come out and work on it. She accepted and she was right, it needed a lot of work. I didn't mind though, like I said, she was my best friend.

I was driving about 120 miles a day to work on her trailer and keep my job, painting the lines on the roads. I was getting pretty tired and so was my car. We were having lunch one day at a local Flying J and we saw they had a help wanted sigh out.

Terri is a chef, and the best damn line cook you have ever seen, and I wasn't too shabby myself. So we filled out applications and the Gm came out to interview us. We had applied for cook jobs, but he offered us both management positions and we took them.

Somewhere in all of this I fell in love with Terri. I drove back to Kiowa and told her husband that I was going to make him a one time offer. I said I will put my hands in my back pockets, and you have one free shot at me, but I am asking Terri out. He refused to take the shot and just begged me not to. I refused.

So we dated, moved in together, her divorce was finalized, and life was pretty good. We got married and this past June we celebrated our 10th anniversary, and we are still very much in love and still very happy.

[BadBeast]

Serendipity + Honourable actions, seldom works out badly. Good on you Mate, that hands in the back pocket thing, gave you both a clean slate, with the risk of getting punched out, the worst that could happen. And if a Woman isn't worth risking getting a slap for, then why the Hell would you want to be with her?

[Juana]

I read this pretty much as you posted it, and have been wondering what to say about it for the last day or two. Other than, "wow, you stuck that out, didn't you?" and that I'm glad you got out of there ok, of course.

[Adios]

Thanks guys, The story continues at EB&G under Al A Carte.

[Doktor Howl]

Thanks guys, The story continues at EB&G under Al A Carte.

Oh, come on, Charley, you know that I know that you know you'll be posting more here.

Don't be so upset.  That's my job, and I guarantee I'll fucking file a greivance.  You really want the union stewart up your arse?  No, didn't think so.

[the last yatto]

CB, You can remove the 'wannabe' from your title. You are a good writer.

[Adios]

It was a beautiful winter day in the mountains. There was no snow on the ground, but there was a good hard frost. Sunup was about 30 minutes away and I was walking to a place I wanted to sit and hunt from.

Now where we hunted had a beautiful long valley nestled between mountains on either side. The place was just south of South Park Valley.

I got to the place I had in mind and just stood watching the pre-dawn light filter in. As I was watching the sun just started coming up over the mountains on the other side of the valley.

The air was crystal clear, there was no wind and only the sounds of the woods to hear. When the light from the sun hit the ground around me it looked like I was standing in a field of diamonds. I could see my breath hanging on the air.

The animals started coming to life and the frost was slowly melting, causing the sparkling diamond field to shift and change.

On rare occasions in our lives we have the opportunity to witness pure perfection. This was one of those days. I felt the tears streaming down my face as I stood, stunned by what I was seeing.

I wept without shame and longed for those few fleeting moments to return. Slowly I came to know that forever in my memory that this time would live, and in times of darkness would help to lift me from despair.

I hope with all my heart that each of you can have such a moment in your lives.

[Doktor Howl]

Yay!

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Nice!

[Adios]

Let me tell you about Colorado. It has everything for the outdoors people. Mountains, plains, whitewater, tourist traps.

Now let me tell you about my Colorado. The Colorado you really have to look for because there is nothing on any map that says, "This is one of the most beautiful spots you have ever seen".

My Colorado is in a place well off of the beaten path. A place where if you want a meal you are going to have to eat at a mom-pop diner. You are going to have to sit next to real people, hardy people.

You may even have to listen to stories about the bear that was in the restaurant dumpster last night. Maybe stories about elk hunting or fishing.

This is a place you are going to have to drive to, where you may only see another car every half hour or so. Two lane roads that are weather beaten from the mountain winters. Houses and business that just might need a coat of paint from a howling north winter wind that can drive snow and sleet at 50 miles an hour.

Places three of 4 hours from Denver, headed westerly. You will have to drive through pristine valleys with majestic mountains all around you. Many with snow on the top of them even in August.

The streams are so clear you can see the bottom perfectly, and natural alpine lakes it takes a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get to. Yes, you can even see the bottom of the lakes.

Be sure to take winter clothes, even in the summer. See, when the old wind comes over the top of a Thirteener it is a bit crisp. At night you will need warm clothes anyway, it can get down to 50 degrees, even if it was 80 during the day.

Let's say you find one of the places in my Colorado. You see the sign announcing the land is BLM land. (Bureau of Land Management) There are dirt roads, (again 4-wheel drive is highly desirable) and if you open a gate, you better close it behind you.

Cattle ranchers lease the land from BLM for grazing. Oh, during hunting season they move them to private land, but in the summer they use the gaze.

Patience, we are getting there.
  Now you take one of those little dirt roads. You find yourself in a Quakie (Aspen) grove. They are called Quakies because even the mildest breeze will cause the leaves to 'quake'. It's almost beyond description, being in one of these grove of trees. Everything is green (in the summer) and the trees muffle external sounds.

If you stop to listen you will hear birds of all kinds, squirrels barking and chattering, the wind in the Aspen trees. If you are very lucky you can hear deer or elk.

Then as you drive on, always going up, you will pass through black timber. Lush, thick evergreens trees. The sound gets even more muffled.

Suddenly you break out of the timber and you have to remember to breathe. As you reach the open a vista opens up in front of you that goes on for miles.

You will see Aspen groves, streams, black timber and always mountains close and in the distance. I would stop here for a while. My realization of my own insignificance would gently caress me at these times. Like a cruel lover, but you want her to caress you.

Here is a good place to possibly set up camp. You are pretty sure there are no cattle in this area, so your tents should be safe. Be careful to not leave any food out. Remember, his isn't the safe city.

Coyotes or even bears might find you interesting if they smell food. So keep everything wrapped up in sealable containers. Be sure to not leave any clothing out overnight for obvious reasons.

Stop long enough before to allow your engine to cool completely before dark. If you don't then little animals will crawl on it, and they love to chew electrical wires and you may be stranded. That brings us to one of the principle rules, never drive anyplace you can't walk back out of.

It could be weeks before anyone else comes where you are. Respect the land. Take only pictures, leave only footprints. You ca almost always find a firepit someone else has made. Use it instead of making another one.

Never use rocks from the streambed to make a fire ring. See, they are porous and filled with moisture and will explode when they get hot. Never drink from the streams. If an animal has died in it upstream you will carry bad things inside you the rest of your life. 

If you walk in the streams wear sneakers. Trust me. If the water is moving very fast and over knee deep, don't go in it.

This is My Colorado, and one day I will return to that seductive and cruel lover, because I can't get enough of her.

[Adios]

I was still with my first wife and we were living in Denver, Colorado. We had bought an AMC Pacer station wagon, please, I know, I lost the fight again. The rear glass had been removed and replaced with panels. Panels painted in a yellow moonscape.

Remember, I said I wasn't going to spare myself when writing.

The Denver Police all had the Blue Flu and they had pulled cops out of the academy to put them on the streets.

Raelene and I were in the middle of a big fight, which I was losing, as usual. Well, behind me a cop had turned on his lights to pull me over. I was already mad, and this wasn't helping.

So I found a place to pull over and was waiting impatiently for him to come up to the car. After a few seconds I got out of the car and stormed back to his car, slammed my hands on the top of and screamed "What the hell do you want".

At exactly that moment his radio responded to "Approach driver with extreme care, considered armed and dangerous." Many time in my life I have had to restrain from laughing, but none was nor will ever be more difficult than this time.

He visibly swallowed, and with very large eyes said I couldn't see out my back window. Did I mention I am not a patient man? I screamed that of course I couldn't see out of it because the damn thing was wood.

He, in a shaky voice told me that was illegal. Now I was pissed again. I asked him what the hell he thought the rear view mirrors on the sides of my car were for and questioned if he, in fact, should be driving a police car if he didn't know the difference between a car and a van.

He was getting a little pale by now and still hadn't gotten out of his car. Well, he took the opening and asked if it was classified as a van, I just shook my head mumbling and went back to my car and left.

[BadBeast]

I have been to America, briefly, (Seattle) and ever since, I have had no particular urge to ever visit again. Not because it wasn't beautiful, (it was) but there just seemed to be so many other places that I would rather go (given the choice) Maybe New Orleans, that always souinded nice, but you have just put Colorado right up my list. I read this, then dug up some old Nat Geo pages, and it's, like pristine! It looks like all the best bits of all those old scenic Westerns, (Jimmy Stewart, Randolph Scott, Lee Van Cleef, Robert Mitchum) You could seriously believe that you were the first human to set foot in some of those mountain lakes, and forests.
And the fishing! I fished for steelheads, dolly vardens, and chinooks in BC, always wanted to catch me a Musky Pike too. (Never did) And these lakes and rivers have the same sort of look about them. . It must be a Rocky Mountain thing. But yeah, this seriously changed my mind about America. For a parochial Brit, Oregon IS the American Dream, unsullied by MacDonalds, empty beer cans, and about as far removed from WDC as you could get. Yeehaw, cook me up a passel o' grits, while I unpack the mules, and break out the sippin' whiskey!  Loving it, keep 'em rollin out like this Mate, and you'll have a new diaspora of settlers heading for the hills.

[Adios]

I have been to America, briefly, (Seattle) and ever since, I have had no particular urge to ever visit again. Not because it wasn't beautiful, (it was) but there just seemed to be so many other places that I would rather go (given the choice) Maybe New Orleans, that always souinded nice, but you have just put Colorado right up my list. I read this, then dug up some old Nat Geo pages, and it's, like pristine! It looks like all the best bits of all those old scenic Westerns, (Jimmy Stewart, Randolph Scott, Lee Van Cleef, Robert Mitchum) You could seriously believe that you were the first human to set foot in some of those mountain lakes, and forests.
And the fishing! I fished for steelheads, dolly vardens, and chinooks in BC, always wanted to catch me a Musky Pike too. (Never did) And these lakes and rivers have the same sort of look about them. . It must be a Rocky Mountain thing. But yeah, this seriously changed my mind about America. For a parochial Brit, Oregon IS the American Dream, unsullied by MacDonalds, empty beer cans, and about as far removed from WDC as you could get. Yeehaw, cook me up a passel o' grits, while I unpack the mules, and break out the sippin' whiskey!  Loving it, keep 'em rollin out like this Mate, and you'll have a new diaspora of settlers heading for the hills.

I love Colorado, and not to worry, most people will never dare to venture where I am talking about.

[Adios]

Sometimes while driving in the mountains off road a mistake is made.

I had an idea. Sad

My 4-wheel drive truck was real rough on the outside. Mechanically I kept it in top condition, because I used it for hunting.

There was a couple of feet of fresh show and there was this one spot......, well, here comes my idea. My truck was rigged for this kind of thing. I had great tires, off road chains for all 4 tires, a winch, chainsaw, axe, handyman jack, the whole deal.

So my son and I were driving up this hill to get to this spot. It was very steep and getting steeper. Suddenly all I could see was sky. I couldn't even see the tops of the mountains, and I couldn't stop. If I stopped I could lose traction and we were on a hogback, a narrow hogback. If we started sliding backwards we would go over the side, it was only about a hundred feet, but the truck would roll for sure.

So my son rolled his window down and sat on the edge of the door to spot for me. He was giving me directions, left a little, no too much, there, right, back left, OH SHIT.

Now I really didn't want to hear that because all Could see was still sky.

HARD RIGHT!! CRANK IT. CRANK IT, DAMMIT!

I was cranking it. The power steering box was squealing like a blue norther. Rick was yelling for me to keep it hard right, and I sure was.

Suddenly the front of the truck went back to level and Rick sat back down in the seat, sweating in spite if it being 13 degrees.

Now that I could see the road and that we were still on it I remembered to breathe. I stopped and we went back to look at what had just happened. The road followed the hogback, perfectly.

It was a long way down. We were both still sweating, and then it dawned on us this was probably the only way out. That's the way most of the logging and hunting roads work.

Well after all the squealing from the power steering box and Rick yelling there was no sense in even trying to hunt the spot, but I was not quite ready for the trip back. e drove on up the road and sure enough, back was the only way.

After about an hour we got the courage to return, but it was easy as I could see the road going down. We never went there again.

[Adios]

I have been to America, briefly, (Seattle) and ever since, I have had no particular urge to ever visit again. Not because it wasn't beautiful, (it was) but there just seemed to be so many other places that I would rather go (given the choice) Maybe New Orleans, that always souinded nice, but you have just put Colorado right up my list. I read this, then dug up some old Nat Geo pages, and it's, like pristine! It looks like all the best bits of all those old scenic Westerns, (Jimmy Stewart, Randolph Scott, Lee Van Cleef, Robert Mitchum) You could seriously believe that you were the first human to set foot in some of those mountain lakes, and forests.
And the fishing! I fished for steelheads, dolly vardens, and chinooks in BC, always wanted to catch me a Musky Pike too. (Never did) And these lakes and rivers have the same sort of look about them. . It must be a Rocky Mountain thing. But yeah, this seriously changed my mind about America. For a parochial Brit, Oregon IS the American Dream, unsullied by MacDonalds, empty beer cans, and about as far removed from WDC as you could get. Yeehaw, cook me up a passel o' grits, while I unpack the mules, and break out the sippin' whiskey!  Loving it, keep 'em rollin out like this Mate, and you'll have a new diaspora of settlers heading for the hills.

Look for Villa Grove, Colorado. It's just a wide spot in the road.