Road trip

Driving west out of Denver. Winding roads forever climbing. Up up up to the summit of Monarch Pass. Select "Altitude" on the Garmin Navigator and it shows over 11,000 feet above sea level. Wow, that is how high I fly headed to Denver when I desire to keep radar coverage. Only this time it is tires on the road and no wings involved at all.

It is amazing to me how, through high tech electronics, our modern automobiles manage changes in altitude and temperature to consistently get the best performance from the engines. Even changes in fuel, 10 percent alcohol mix or as much as 85 percent alcohol mixed into gasoline is not a problem.

Modern automobile engines manage the changes automatically and seamlessly. Aircraft engines, at least the general aviation engines that I fly do none of it automatically -- the pilot has to interact in some way for any change in air density and don' even think of changing fuel grade.

The difference? Well it might have a lot to do with government bureaucracy, in this case the FAA, who has their finger in any change in how we build aircraft and engines. The process of any design improvement or innovation is so onerous that the approval for any change is almost impossible. Vote for any politician that thinks socialism is a good deal and we too will be driving automobiles as sophisticated as my old Model T. They too made it over the mountains but had to back up some of the steeper grades due to fuel feed problems. I digress!

Losing a few thousand feet of altitude after snow covered Monarch Pass one breaks out unto what is called a "basin" or in this case "North Park." The terrain is as flat as driving the Nebraska Sandhills just miles and miles of grassland. Not a tree in sight for great stretches of good straight road. There it was early spring with the grass just starting to green up and populated only with cattle. Towns are a long way apart and appear small and hard bitten yet in the far distance the whole basin is ringed with tall snow covered mountain peaks. The place does have its own allure even though we missed spotting any moose along the way.

Into the hills again and about an hour of twisty turny roads, thankfully four lane and separated, we arrive at our destination Gunnison, Colorado. Hey it could be McCook again. About the same size only built at an altitude of some 8,800 feet above sea level. That is why their airport's runway is over 9,000 feet long, half again as long as ours. Altitude certainly has an inhibiting effect on taking off or landing an airplane. No problem though, we are operating a sophisticated self-compensating thoroughly modern automobile. No aviating this trip.

It was our first time to Gunnison, home of Western State College. The campus was quiet, evidently graduation had come and gone and the whole town seemed to be preening for the summer influx of tourists and vacationers which "officially" starts Memorial Day weekend.

Vacation was not actually our goal. We had come to attend a funeral. Russ the second oldest of Grannie Annie's seven cousins on the Teel side of the family had died. Now Grannie is the eldest of the eight and as such the matriarch of the family. She rules and the rest know it but it is a rule of love and accepted by all.

Cousin Russ was an independent sort of a guy. Obviously a well-respected well liked teacher he specialized in taught junior high math for some 40 years in Gunnison. His summers off were reserved for fishing. He came little to cousin events but then he also died with three ex-wives so he had been busy in other ways. Two of the exes actually attended the funeral and didn't seem at all bitter.

Question? Are ex-wives widows? Is the old guy's funeral a time for mourning or a time of celebration? For sure I'll never learn from experience as Grannie Annie informed years ago that she didn't believe in divorce -- murder yes!

In his declining years, Russ was fortunate to have family step up to help him over the rough spots. Half the cousins made the funeral but it was his only brother Rick, younger, a successful businessman from Grand Junction that ably stepped up and arranged for medical care, nursing home and made the final arrangements. A lesson in life here: Be nice to your kids or siblings because they are the ones who will choose your nursing home!

As usual the time with family and new found friends was cut short by obligations back home. There is an advantage of traveling opposite traffic on an upcoming holiday weekend. The road was much busier with people heading west for the long weekend than going our way. Still the scenery was just as beautiful with cattle by the thousands, most mamas with babies, awaiting the trip to higher summer pastures. It is always a delight to spot a herd of elk and another of mule deer and always the lonely mobs of antelope out across the plains. Even Kansas offered glimpses of a couple coyotes along the way.

The old farmer in your old writer assesses the upcoming wheat crop the best I've seen in a lot of years. Our Mediterranean climate this spring with ample rains have made the wheat plants tall and solid with full long heads promising super yield. Typically though a few fields across Kansas have suffered "hard water" as in hail damage. Pastures boast luxuriant grass and bountiful wild flowers. It is a good time to be alive.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail