Running the Trails

You probably thought, by the title, that I took up running again. Noooo, now my trail running is done on an ATV. Yes that is me and my Grizzly, and yes, I know my waist line says I need to run for real. But I like this much better.


Today was a group ride from above Ouray, Colorado (the Switzerland of America according to the town's ad agency). We carted our ATV's up into the mountains on our backs (er, more like on the back of our pickups and trailers) and unloaded them so that we could gain 4-wheel access to the wilderness. Today's group totaled 7 people on 6 ATV's. The blue Grizzly in the foreground is mine. Sharon and her "bike" and another couple riding tandem were out of the frame to the left.

We went up, over rocks, through streams, and then up some more........until we hit the snow.









Then we went up some more, until we hit even more snow. Then we hit the wall of snow and there we stopped, short of our goal (the top of course). We make it past the 10,000 foot level, and in a few more days the road may be clear to the top.

Not all was lost for even though we could not reach our goal, who can complain about a view like this!!! Besides, the ride was fun, moderately challenging, and no one got hurt (even though Sharon tried to fly over her handle bars).

It is great to be able to start writing about fun events, fantastic scenery, and great times again. The last couple of months have been a bit trying, but it should be all up beat now. So, hope to be able to bring you plenty of great pictures and second rate chatter.

Catching Up

Dateline Montrose, Colorado, Sunday, June 8th. Warren on the Road reporting.

It has been 6 or 7 weeks since my last post. A lot has been going on. One of the good things (in my mind, anyway) is that Sharon and I both now have new ATV's. Mine, above, is a Yamaha Grizzly 700 with electronic power steering. The power steering is in submission to my advancing years and aching body.

Most of the things that have been happening over the last two months haven't been good things. We've had trailer problems, the truck has been in the shop three times, I got evicted from an RV park in Colorado (that is a fascinating story that I will probably NOT tell, even with a bunch of embellishments), and the worst of all is that my mother died Friday, June 6th. Sharon and I are heading back to Indianapolis Monday to help my sisters arrange a memorial service.

Maybe my bad luck streak is coming to an end. It must be, because Sharon and I went for an ATV ride today (Sunday, June 8) and neither of us were the one that rolled our ATV on it's side in a stream....... Looks like ATVing this summer is going to be a good source of stories for the blog!!!!! By the way, no one was hurt, well, except for a small dent in the aforementioned ATV and some cold feet from wading in the snow melt. This ride also proved that my election to spend the extra money for a winch on my ATV was a good move.

I am sure that this ATVing is not only going to provide good fodder for the blog but it gets us into the back country for great pictures without the hours of hiking (always up hill). We saw deer, wild turkey, snow (to the point of blocking our trail), and great scenery on our ride. But, for some reason I cannot figure, I didn't take my camera (okay, so I forgot it, and my lunch too). I promise to take the camera from now on (as for the lunch, well it wouldn't hurt me to miss a few more).