We arrived back in Steamboat at the start of June.  You have probably noticed that this is a common destination for us.  Linda first visited here in 1978 with her family.  I came in December of 1983, shortly after we married.  I had skied back east for 10 years or so, and could handle anything the mountains there threw at me.  However, the night I arrived in Steamboat in 1983, we received 14” of fresh powder.  I excitedly hit the slopes with Linda.  I don’t use the word “hit” in a figurative sense.  I hit them forward, backward, on both sides, and I’m sure with the top of my head.  After about two hours of my flailing antics, Linda finally turned to me and said “I thought you said you knew how to ski”.  It was not my proudest moment, but I was undeterred.  By the end of that visit (which included several feet more of snow) I was able to make it down most of the slopes with my equipment, and my dignity, mostly intact.  I’ve been hooked ever since.  A couple of decades ago, we started coming here in the Summer, and fell in love with this place all over again.

  The ski mountain is open for biking, and there are numerous well-maintained trails.  Also, right next to the Steamboat downtown (about 3 miles away) is Emerald Mountain, which is spider-webbed with a multitude of trails of varying difficulty and slope.  Unlike the ski mountain, biking uphill is not always a 10% grade!  But wait, there’s more!  The entire area around Steamboat has extensive mountain bike trails. In addition, there is an extensive network of gravel roads, AKA dirt roads, which has become very popular.  They even have a 100 mile “Tour de Steamboat” organized gravel ride in July, and the “Gravel Grinder” in August.  And just to put the cherry on top, the people around here are very “bike friendly”.  In Alabama, to be honest, every time I went for a ride a would get honked at, sworn at, or some other foolishness.  I would often go for 20 plus mile rides and not encounter another bicyclist.  In Steamboat, just about everybody rides.  Using bikes for chores or other transportation is quite common.  You also see lots of parents with kids, either on separate bikes or on bikes made for multiple riders.  It is just a great place to bike, but wear your sunscreen!

We came to Steamboat in June this year so I could kayak the Yampa River, which actually runs through Steamboat.  I’ve kayaked it in July and August previously, when the flow was in the 300 – 500 cfm (cubic feet per minute).  That was fun.  However, June is when the river flow peaks from the snow melt.  I managed to get out on the peak flow day, which was 3500 cfm.  That was a wild ride!  There was no paddling off cliffs, but I could reasonably compare some sections of it to the course used for the Kayak Cross competition in the Olympics.  It was worth coming early.

I am a big fan of recumbent bikes.  As you know, if you’ve been following, I have a Bachetta Aero which I’ve been keeping with the RV.  I didn’t bring it to Steamboat because of, well, the hills.  They are doable on a mountain bike, because of the gearing.  Also, you can pedal a mountain bike at 2 mph and still keep it upright.  However, the Bachetta will simply fall over below 5 mph.  Yes, I’ve done this.  It is not a highlight.  So, on the way to Steamboat I picked up a three-wheel recumbent by Catrike.  This would have resolved the “falling over” problem, but still would have left the hills insurmountable.  To tackle the hills, I added an assist motor.  With a little help from a facebook group, I got the motor installed and everything working. 

Some would say that I’m just motorcycling, but it is not that easy.  I still need to pedal, and I keep the assist on the lowest level.  It really takes the edge off the long, steep hills, which lets me go further.  I’m regularly doing 40 plus mile rides, and seeing parts of the surrounding area that I’ve never been to before.  It’s a lot of fun.  Of course, I’m also riding my mountain bike, and struggling up the hills, in very low gears.

Let’s see; biking and White Water kayaking.  Not bad, but what else?  OK, I also took some friends kayaking on Steamboat Lake.  Two of the people were in the 8 – 10 age range.  I love teaching kayaking to kids.  They get the joy of it!  And Steamboat Lake is a really beautiful location.  The lake is about 2 Square Miles in area, and all contained in a State Park.  It’s kind of ideal (and I will be talking more about the area later).

At the end of July I flew out to Sacramento to meet with my two brothers.  Rick lives in Sacramento, and Jim had flown out from Pennsylvania.  The primary purpose of our trip was to scatter mom’s ashes in San Francisco Bay.  My brother Rick has a large fishing boat, which was our conveyance for this mission.  Oh, and we also went fishing.  The ashes were spread near Alcatraz (no hidden meaning there).  Rick and Jim both caught sand sharks (2-3 ft long), plus some other local fish that wasn’t much bigger than the bait.  I got two bites, both of which immediately severed my line.  These were most likely sharks, but not of the toothless sand shark variety.  I’m not totally disappointed about NOT hauling something toothy into the boat.

While there, Jim and I also visited Sutter’s Mill.  This was the location of the first gold discovery in California.  They were building a sawmill for lumber to build San Francisco.  It was to use the power of the Sacramento River to power the mill.  In the runoff area (where the water goes after turning the paddlewheel) they first found gold.  In the end, the sawmill never saw much use because once gold was found, Sutter couldn’t get workers willing to do the menial task of running the mill.

Linda continues with her spinning, weaving, and knitting endeavors.  Once again, she has entered several projects in the Routt County Fair.  Last year she won several awards, and continued this year. 

The year coming up will be quite eventful, but you will hear about that in future blogs.  I am enjoying the variety of experiences we are having, and the amazing places we are visiting.  We have several friends here in Steamboat, and I am enjoying the times we spend together.  However, I’m starting to miss having a purpose.  That’s not the same thing as having a job; I don’t miss that.  It’s more about helping others.  To do that, I think that I’m going to need to get more connected to the community, and figure out where my skills and abilities can be applied.  I’ve been to two “trail maintenance” days, one river clean-up, and provided support for a mountain bike race.  That’s a start, but I want to do more.  That need may be the limiting factor in how long we want to remain “homeless”.