Leadville, CO

​July17, 2022


What a chilly morning it was, for quite a while, as I warmed up to my morning coffee. That chipmunk freeloader: I heard plenty of stirring and saw the chipmunk bolting around in here, and I was really ticked off that he was still in here, which left me with a restless night sleep. If only I could talk him into leaving. The mouse trap did nothing but annoy or amuse him.


A few days ago I decided to treat myself to a deli soup from Safeway. It was a busy day and I didn’t take the time to read labels although I do remember flipping the container over. But the font was microscopic, and there were so many ingredients, I thought well, gee, I’m just going to have this chicken soup. Well, lo and behold, the chicken soup had modified corn starch, and now I’m enjoying (not) one of my most pronounced allergic reactions so far. Damn. It certainly looks like my “sensitivity” to corn has migrated into a full on allergy. I am seriously mourning the loss of popcorn. But these reactions are really a pain in the face, etc. I immediately took a Benedryl . So I’m ready to exit (drive) down this mountain, nearly 5 miles, on what I would call a 1.5 lane wide road. Steady downward, in low gear, and in tow haul. There were several cars coming up the other way and a few, where we literally were gridlocked on who would move over, or who could back up. I was hugging the death side of this roadway, of course with no guard rails, and in soft mud it would have been the end. It was rather stressful to do first thing in the morning on Benedryl, as I was already feeling sleepy. Like many of these situations, by the time I hit pavement, I was feeling complete and utter relief. Hallelujah for pavement!

I tried to relax amongst the winding inclines and declines of this mountainous paved roadway. My next destination was Leadville.  I did stop briefly for a break at an overlook to a bridge crossing over the Eagle River. I saw Mr. chipmunk scurry up on top of my dashboard. Even though I had my slider open, I immediately jumped to the front to open up my passenger windows. I can only hope that he left. 

The drive through Leadville took me through Main Street where I could find parking in the shade, right next to an antique mall. This is déjà vu as I spent a very brief time working in an antiques mall, in Cave Creek. But this had all the charm of a turn of the century or 1800’s building, with so many interesting details and interesting antiques. I spent more than an hour in here and seriously am debating going back again tomorrow morning. However, the combination of my allergic reaction, the sleepless night of the chipmunk horrors, and the fact that Leadville is over 10,000 feet in elevation, have left me wiped out. I was ready to find my campsite at about 2:30 pm, in the afternoon, which I did less than 10 minutes away from town.  So far it’s peaceful, however, there’s not a stick of shade, and even though it’s high elevation, it’s pretty darn warm in the sun. Interestingly enough I am at the shore of a river and also a couple hundred feet away from a railroad track. Time will tell whether the train will come around and jolt me out of bed tonight.



























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