Rocky Mountain Skies

One of the things I love most about my relationship with McCall is the time spent talking. It seams to me that when we go places the radio stays off and we talk about things that are most important in our collective and individual lives. Not all conversations are deep or life-changing--they are often free and easy. Like when she told me about her dad bringing home a dog for her when her mom was out of town--McCall got a dog and Hooper got a horse(s).

We drove to Colorado to visit my brother's family. We left early on Friday, April 3rd through Wyoming. The clouds sat low on the vast prairies and snow salted the landscape. Although the snow fell , the roads were clear making our travel time from Salt Lake City to Denver only 7 hours. I think we listened to one song.

We spent the weekend in a spring freeze so a lot of our time was indoors. My nieces, Isabel and Sophia, immediately took to McCall and McCall found them in her bed snuggling with her early in the mornings. Every time McCall sat down Sophia would quickly stake her claim on her lap. Children can quickly identify the authenticity of a person and my nephews and nieces have immediately taken to McCall because of her genuine love and happiness.

We went to several restaurants, a chocolate bar and the 2009 auto show. We had other plans but since it was 24 degrees with 60 MPH winds, an indoor event like the auto show was perfect. What's more, both McCall and I like cars so that was cool enough.

We took I70 home. I think one of the most beautiful stretches of Interstate is from Eisenhower Tunnel to Glenwood Springs. From Denver to the Eisenhower Tunnel the sky clear and sunny, we flew up the canyon with ease in the 4.2L twin turbo.

We honked as we entered the 1.6 mile long tunnel that sits at 11K feet above sea level expecting to be blinded by the sun as we exited. Not so. There are two weather systems when you're that high--one is the system on the east side of a mountain and the other is on the west. Since systems generally travel from the west to the east with an occasional SW to SE or NW to NE the weather can be drastically different as a storm gets pent up against the high mountain peaks. This was the case. There was several inches of new snowfall on the western exit of the Eisenhower Tunnel and instead if being blinded by the glare of the sun, we were blinded by heavy snowfall.

We were lucky, not only did the Allroad's massive engine motor up the mountain with great ease, the Quatro drive kept all four wheels gripping tightly to the slippery roads as we careened past cars that had stopped to wait the storm out. My brother Josh called us about an hour after exiting the tunnel to check if we were OK. Turns out, minutes after we shot out of the hole in the mountain, a 21 car pile-up ensued. We must have missed it by minutes...maybe even seconds.

Our adventure once again confirmed my love for McCall. Spending that much time in a closed metal box that's only 7'x15' doesn't give you much space for solitude...and thank goodness. When you're with a woman like McCall, you want to be as close as possible--even smooshed.