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Archive for August, 2009
Stage 4: Olney Springs to Eads - Day 5
Leaving Olney Springs
The wind is a very fickle thing indeed. The weather always supposed to move from west to east, except when you need it to. The day broke with a beautiful sunrise, with a few clouds for color, and a couple of stars still out. Quite calm with just a slight breeze from the southwest. Rising in La Junta, we returned to Olney Springs to start the ride on Colorado 96. The goal was Eads, some 74 miles away, with the hope of going further assuming a favorable breeze.
Stage 3:Florence to Olney Springs - Day 4
The SAG driver gets ready for the day.
The morning opened with a fully overcast sky, but not terribly threatening. We started out in Florence at the Jade Cafe, no doubt a famous restaurant, where we had ended the afternoon before. It wasn’t open for breakfast, but we had already eaten at the Holiday Inn Express, (my father partaking of the biscuits & gravy for the second day in a row). Still not sure how anyone can eat that stuff!
Stage 2:Fairplay to Florence - Day 3
Leaving the Western Inn
Dawn broke at 6:45 with a temperature in the 50’s. Brisk and bracing, but a bright cloudless morning. After a breakfast at the local Brown Buffalo Cafe, we left my father’s SAG and headed down Colorado 9 at 8:00. Starting at an elevation of 9,838′, we were in for a treat. As we turned south, we found a newly paved road, with the wind at our back, we cruised at a descending grade for 17 glorious miles, never seeing anything less than 20 mph. The road crossed a high mountain meadow with streams criss crossing the floor and fly fisherman getting started on their Saturday morning. A beautiful way to start the day. Arriving in Hartsel, we then headed out towards our last major pass.
Stage 1:Beaver Creek to Fairplay-Day 2
Heading up Vail Pass
- Tom & Bill begin their excellent adventure
Prologue - Day 1
Beaver Creek, CO The flight to Denver was a great start - low wind and arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Hope it all works that smooth going forward. Tom King picked my father and I up and we arrived in Beaver Creek to a glorious, blue sky high mountain day. Tomorrow appears to be the same forecast.
Ate lunch at the base of Beaver Creek mountain and then rode up the ski lift for a panoramic view of the valley and the climbs ahead. We drove around the area a bit visiting Battle Mountain where the 99th Battalion trained for WW II. A very remote and high mountain plateau that no doubt was as windy as could be in the winter. A great training ground for the French Alps, I suspect. We then drove the first portion of the ride to familiarize ourselves with places to meet and get a sense of the grade up Vail Pass. After surveying the route, we are contemplating marrying the two climbs through Vail Pass and Hoosier Pass on the First Stage. No doubt ambitious, but we will let the morning determine the actual result for tomorrow. Optimism is always good at the start, but wisdom will hopefully Pre-Vail.
Steampower!
Do you know what the numbers (SP) 4449, (PM) 1225, (NKP) 765 and (MILW) 261 mean? If you answer a very strange architectural ratio you would be incorrect. If you answered a steam locomotive of mid-20th Century vintage you would be correct. You see, I am train enthusiast. If I were to pick a point in time, Post World War II to the late 1960’s would be my favorite. It was a point in transition in how people and materials were moved across the country.
The ‘habit’ started when I was young … Mom and Dad’s homestead is about ¾ of a mile North from the Canadian National Railway South Bend Subdivision (Grand Trunk Western Railroad) and five miles South of the Norfolk Southern’s Water Level Route (Conrail, nee Penn Central, nee New York Central). For good measure the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend, The South Shore, parallels the Water Level Route until New Carlisle, IN as it moves towards Chicagoland. Operations of the South Shore are now under the authority of NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District) www.nictd.com – more on that in the future. I took my first train ride on the South Shore with my Grandfather – even got to sound the horn with conductor observing. A great memory but I digress from my numbers …
Architecture: South Bend (a)
Well it has been 10 years since I walked across the stage at South Bend Washington High School which means High School Reunion time! I spent a beautiful July weekend revisiting old memories and getting reacquainted with my hometown.
Just a little background on the City of South Bend: The city’s economic engine was due to companies like Oliver (plows), Studebaker (wagon, cars and Avanti) and Bendix (brake systems) setting up shop on the West and South sides of the city in the late 19th Century. In turn a robust downtown was established with stores like Robertson’s, Gilbert’s, G.L. Perry and Dainty Maid. Sadly all have disappeared in their entirety over the last 30 years, with the exception of Dainty Maid, due mainly to economic reasons. That said, the city continues to move forward.
ARE 4.0: Part 1
(Postscript: It appears that I didn’t hit the ‘any’ key when I orginally posted)
As my Blog Biography indicates, I am pursuing my licensure in architecture.
I completed Test #3: Construction Documents and Services on May 4th. I walked out of the test feeling quite unsure about the 100 multiple choice question and 90% confident on the graphic portion of a building section. I am still awaiting the test results – probably due to the cheating scandal NCARB made all testing candidates fully aware of via e-mail and snail mail. The RATIO bloghood will know as soon as I do.
ARE 4.0: Part 2
I unfortunately will need to retake test #3 which has me a little frustrated. I know where my weakness was but in fear of the “NCARB police” I can’t say what it was. I would also like to commend NCARB for raising testing fees at the most inopportune time within the profession to address the cheating scandal that was announced two months.
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