DENVER!!!

I wake up.  There's lots of fog, the air is COLD to say the least.  I love the freezing refreshing air. Reminds me of a hard spring or late fall.  I love the cold air in the mountains, it's perfect.  I get it.  I take off early, around 0700 but I notice I'm dehydrated or the altitude is affecting me.  I feel slightly dizzy like my head is swimming in syrup.  I ride for about an hour and stop off at this little country diner. I'm starving so hard my gut hurts.  That or I've got worms.  Which wouldn't be so bad, I'd have a 6 pack if I had worms! haha, ok so the diner is small, there's a town meeting in the one room and the waitress looks like she's had enough and she could really go for a long vacation.  I try to be as pleasant as possible and tip her big thanks to the strong coffee and amazing steak with eggs.  Still I feel funny, probably dehydration.  The temperature is around 34 degrees in the sun. I take a few pictures and get off.  Slowly I'm descending into Denver. The temp rapidly climbs and I'm able to shed the jacket and layers and sweat is glistening on my arms.  Just a few hours before I was dying in cold!  Anyhow, the decent is winding and precarious.  Lots of 'Caution' signs dot the sides of the road.  I take a quick break to pull over and do my business in the brush.  A few semi's honk and a squad car rolls by with lights and sirens.  I hop on and take off.  A few miles further on a car has taken a descending curve too fast and counter steered too hard.....right off the mountain.  I slow down to rubberneck and see the car is hung up in trees and all kind of emergency vehicles are around.  Crazy!  1.5 hrs to go.

The outskirts of Denver remind me of Chicago.  Run down, dark, dirty.  The closer to the center of the city I get the nicer things look and the more friendly people seem.  I get into the city and people drive pretty well, not as selfishly as in Chicago, so my nerves are much more calm.  I get to a nice sandwich shop and have some lunch.  After I finish up, I head to Matt's house. His crazy cute daughter just had a birthday, so I stop at Target to buy something for her.  I have a long conversation about what to get, clothes or noisemakers?  Noisemakers it is.  I'm about 3 miles from the house and strap the gift down to the bike.  It starts to slip through.   Every turn I make, every stop it's getting out of its little holder.  The last thing I want to give the kid is some beat up crushed heap of plastic, so I try to adjust it mid ride....oops, copper!  I shift down and pin the throttle, Google Maps better not fail me now!  I duck into a neighborhood which happens to be the right one and pull over to adjust the straps.  We're good!  I head over to the house. I'm so happy to see them and everything I pass the house.  I turn around and there's momma Kate and lil Ivy just waiting for me, waving and smiling!  Ugh soooo cute!! I park the bike and laugh and hug and smile, life is good.  The parents are at work, but Kate shows me around. Obviously a doting loving crazy fun grandma that can't get enough of her granddaughter.  She needs more babies to play with if you ask me.  Anyhow, she gives me the great tour and I see how awesome Matt's got it here!  They did some work to the house and it's so open and in such a great neighborhood.  This guy is super jealous.  Plus they have this super cute lil girl, Ivy. oh.my.god.  She's the ultimate cutie!  Momma Kate is obviously obsessed.  How could you not bet? They have been inseparable since I arrived and it's absolutely cute.

It turns out the gift makes it....and did I mention it makes a bunch of noise?! Oh yeah, it's awesome like that.  Matt gets home first and we make small chat as he makes dinner. He's become quite the grillmaster he tells me.  I have no reason to not believe he's not, he's a married man after all!  I have this memory as a child of looking up to Matt, thinking he was so cool.  He was! And it was his birthday or barmitzvah or something and I kept making cards and running down to the house and giving them to him. I just remember my mom finally stopping me hahah i just remember grabbing a bunch a paper and busting out the package of Crayola happiness, and gettin to business.   How annoyed would you be? You can't let a little kid know they suck, so you put on a smile and say thanks.  That's what he did and that's probably the most prevailing memory I have of him.  Well, that and he somehow memorized the men in black theme song after hearing it once.  haha, anyhow, we drank amazingly great beer, and watched a storm roll through.  The one thing he truly misses about the Chicago.  Sitting in the garage and watching storms roll through, how awesome is that?  He grills up the chicken after Rachel gets home, and she looks awesome!! She's definitely lost any baby weight she might've had, and is so nice and such a great host.  She recants the business trip she was on and I can't help but think to myself one day I want to be so good at what I do that I have to travel to spread the word etc.  The rain starts in a drizzle that quickly escalates into a full blow downpour.  Oh sweet. I don't offer to help the chef and here's why: Never Grill on Another Mans Grill.  Unless you are asked to help, it should never be conveyed that the grillmaster needs help or you have an opinion about how they grill.  And this is a great time to follow that to a T.  Dinner gets served and we watch some shows and make awesome conversation.  Of course Marijuana comes up in the dialogue.  I'm super interested in it and how it's regulated from people whom fall under the jurisdiction of such laws.  Amazing.  They tell me its no big deal.  Remember, alcohol was a banned substance in the past allowing for the rise of horrible violent criminals whom are often time romanticized in great movies and novels.   Not dissimilar, our neighbor countries to the south see this opportunity and the criminals grow networks larger and more violent than anything Al Capone dremt of becoming.  They also don't have syphilis, or at least take care of it before it makes them insane!  These cartels ram weed into the country via our pour southern border and recruit merciless Latino immigrants and illegals to do their dirty work. Make it legal, tax the crap out of it, and manage it with growers here in this country, suddenly you take a chunk out of the cartel's take.  Politics aside, you can consume weed in many different forms, edible at least. You can smoke it too, but you have to be inside or out on the back porch.  When you eat it you get this body high, where you become super relaxed and calmed.  Not like prescription drugs that will incapacitate you, you are still alert and oriented you just feel relaxed. They had some gummies laying out and I snagged a few, and what a feeling! There are kids suffering with debilitating diseases, in constant pain and we dope them up with opiates which are far more harmful to the human body than this herb, yet marijuana has been demonized and hated on by governments and big pharma.  Because you can't patent life.  Anyhow, I digress, it was wonderful and I had the most restful night of my life after that.  But yeah, I don't crave it like i crave coffee or tea, so look out!  Anyhow, I felt rejuvenated and completely rested.  I hadn't felt like this since I was in San Francisco.  We watched the most horrible cop movie ever called "RoboCop" the one that came out this year.  We all groaned through it and got some kicks out of it for sure. It was a great time sitting, having amazing beer and conversation with awesome people.  One I won't soon forget. While Denver is not on my top 5 of places to settle, it's amazing to visit and if you know cool people....you'll be in great hands!

The hardest part of every morning is packing.  Making sure everything packed tight, tied down and in it's proper place.  Matt got his mom and the baby ready to take them to the airport, and I said my goodbyes to Rachel and we all went our ways.  I left and brought up the Google maps.  14hrs 45 minutes to home.  Shit.  That's a lot.  1000 miles.  Ok, I can stop in Omaha or something right? There's probably stuff to do there.  No. Time for ET to phone home.