This morning i had a great visit with Becky and Charlotte in southeastern Denver and took them to lunch. Couldn’t resist showing them the accumulated gasoline consumption from Rock Springs, Wyoming and over the continental divide to their house: 51.8 MPG for nearly 450 miles. Nempimaniac, moi? They planned a route toward the Grand Canyon for me that angled down to the southwest corner of the state without touching an interstate. A lovely drive. Alas, i didn’t find Buena Vista since i failed to notice that it is located about a millimeter to the right of the junction where i’d turned left, but luckily out in the middle of nowhere headed toward Salida i spotted a sign advertising the San Isabel Bed and Breakfast, so i turned off the highway and ended up at a delightful place.
Nice folks, but i didn’t know how i was supposed to act at a B&B so felt a little strange and just ran off and hid in my room. Then it had struck me that i’d eaten nothing since a little lunch snack and had no food in my car. Luckily, the hosts had put out a delicious carrot cake, and i grabbed a couple of pieces of that for my supper. Besides, the most casual glance at me reveals that it sure won’t hurt me to miss a meal.
I considered relaxing in their hot tub until the awful thought struck me: What if someone sees me? Oh please. Only my doctors!
Other guests were around for the excellent breakfast, though, so i just patterned my behavior on them and all was well. This was my first B&B experience, but i have a feeling that it’s way above average. Just saying.
Oh, and while we’re out here in the wilderness i have to comment on something i haven’t been seeing in the city: stars. Well, see, even when the sky seems clear, we always have some degree of maritime haze, and then there’s the ambient light of San Francisco and all the neighboring cities. So as a result, when i stand on my little balconette in the evenings the most common points of light i see in the sky are airplanes leaving or approaching the Oakland or San Francisco airports. Besides the moon, the other two or three lighted objects up there are probably Jupiter, Venus, and satellites. So i forget just how damn many stars are in the diamond-studded night sky that rural Americans probably take for granted. Well, no, i recall being fascinated by the night sky as a kid.