Winter in Wyoming

I wrote the following Saturday night.

I'm sitting the same place I spent Friday night. I'm a few miles from the Happy Jack exit on I-80 on a ridge. The weather is worse than ever. Ice coats the outside of my car.
In the past, I have "roughed it" to extremes. I've hiked, climbed, and camped in severe blizzards. A few of my adventures were downright death-defying in sub-zero raging winter storms above treeline.
So here I sit inside my steel and glass cocoon, cheating. I have comfy bedding. I've just finished watching I Am Legend for the 2nd time.
Outside, the wind rages, rocking the vehicle. I have the windows barely cracked to let some air pass through. The wind tries desperately to send its rage into my lair.
Am I getting old, or what? All I do is run, now. If I climb a mountain, it's just a training run. If I head out into a winter storm, it's for a short training run - or an aided race. I tell ya - life is so different now.
My soul loves the wind. When I sleep, I like to feel the wind on my cheeks. I like when an occasional snowflake or droplet lands on my cheek. But I sure am woosing-out inside the car.
Oh well...
Time for bed.


Around 11pm, I was awaken by... silence. The wind had stopped. I opened up the rear window and let the clean air in. Then it started snowing lightly.


In the morning, the clouds had lifted sufficiently to give me a very nice view. What a crime that I forgot my camera and was left using my iPhone. I did the best I could with its pathetic camera.


I like shooting. I've been pheasant hunting in the past. I have nothing against guns or hunting. But why do some selfish, ignorant turds have to bring TVs and other garbage out, then shoot it up, and then leave it? It pisses me off for so many reasons. It is SO hard to find a place to shoot in Colorado because so many idiots have caused signs to sprout saying "No Shooting". There were a few nice, free outdoor shooting ranges near Idaho Springs, but each were shut down. They give shooters a bad name.
When I've taken my son shooting, I've always warned him, "We always leave the range better than we found it." I won't clean up everything (I'd need a pickup truck!), but I'll at least clean more garbage than I brought. If everyone did that, piles of junk wouldn't proliferate.