Day 2

After we let Maggs run a bit, Chad wanted to go to a small restaurant to get some chow. While he went in to put on some big-people pants, we hopped in his 4x4 and took off. We took the back way, winding up into the mountains. The sun was in full effect and the day was already in the 60s. "Snowboarding wasn't going to be on the menu this week." I thought. The higher we went, the ore tense I got. Chad is a very inattentive driver. He's totaled a few cars. Luckily he was the only one in the car each time, so no one got hurt. I was really hoping his perfect "no casualties" record was going to hold up.

We pulled down a dirt side-road and parked in front of a very humble building. The mountain man's version of a greasy spoon. As we walked in the door I took note that there were four tables. Luckily, Chad immediately noticed the big "no credit cards" sign over the register. Chad didn't even sit down before he turned heel and hopped in the Jeep to hit an ATM. He arrived pretty annoyed. The town's only ATM was kaput. The post office up the road didn't have one. You would think that if you owned a business miles away from civilisation that you would keep a close tab on the only source of cash. Or buck up and take credit cards. Oh, well. I apologised that my coffee would go unpaid for. The lady didn't seem bothered.

We hopped in the Jeep and took off toward Estes Park. I had never been there before and didn't know much about the place. We drove a good hour before we crested the hill before Estes Park. It was a very touristy town in a valley. The hotel from The Shining is there. Never knew that. We looked for an ATM (and found one). After we gassed up, took the main road toward where there might be a restaurant. "The Egg House"... looks like a place that might serve breakfasts. We pulled in, sat, ate, paid, and split. Eggs work every time.

Chad spent the majority of the drive and the meal bitching. He let me know how clueless his co-workers were trying to screw him. He let me know about a bunch of legal trouble a recently exed ex had gotten him into. Those two topics were going to be a theme this week.

We headed back to his place and arrived around 1 pm. I wanted to go on a hike and decompress from the stressful conversation. I crossed a small snow-frozen bridge across from the cabin and hit a trail. Did I mention it was sunny, beautiful and cloudless? It was. for the first time of the trip, I was glad I did.

With Maggie in tow, I took a left and hit the ascent. Chad had handed me a walking stick that he had adorned with carvings, leather straps and baubles. It was the type of thing you would expect a dread-locked white girl with political amounts of armpit hair would carry around at a drum circle. (I have seen this.) This squirelly stick was my only weapon against the roving packs of chipmunks that were known to stip a man to the bone in a matter of seconds. I digress. We climbed the mountain a few hundred vertical feet. Maggie and I got separated. I hope the chipmunks didn't get her. I took a minute to look around. There were a few deer tracks in the snow. took a deep breath of the fresh air and headed back down the trail. I called, but Maggie was nowhere. I passed some felled trees and spotted a decent log. I was going to need fuel for the stove if I wanted to sleep well. When I got to the house Maggie was waiting inside the front door. Maggie 1, chipmunks 0. I hollered at Chad for an axe to hack this log to usable pieces. He told me to grab the splitter with the red handle. A splitter is a combination axe and sledge hammer. I went outside and set up for a bit of muscle straining wood splitting. Bam. Solid hit dead center. I was going to really have to lay into this thing to do any damage. I hauled back and really let one swing. Put everything I had into it. except good aim. The splitter hit the log at an angle and glanced to the side, wizzing by my leg. It was a scare. I could have easily put a big vertical gash in my right ankle. We were so high up in the hills... it wouldn't have been pretty. Chad came out right when I was catching my breath. He pulled out a chainsaw and made quick work of my nemesis. All limbs were in tact. Time to go.

We stacked the wood and I grabbed the computer. we were heading into Boulder.