Medical update: After three weeks, the treatments are going smoothly. Two more weeks of radiation, six more weeks of chemo. The only problem this week was a series of accidents on I-10 causing a massive traffic jam. I was re-routed over a two-lane road through the mountains, adding more than 50 miles to the trip. An hour late, I was processed efficiently by the staff of the oncology center in Tucson.
************************************************************************************
The route we took to Fort Collins goes through Poudre Canyon, carved out of rock by the Poudre River. Actually, both are more completely named "Cache la Poudre", according to legend the name given by French fur trappers in the 1820s. Caught in a blizzard, the trappers decided to "cache la poudre" (hide the powder). The legend fails to tell us from whom or what the powder is hidden. I suppose legends often omit key details.
The Poudre River starts in Rocky Mountain National Park and travels 126 miles before joining the South Platte River, dropping some 7000 feet along the way. It is a designated Wild & Scenic River and very popular for fishing and rafting.
While staying in Fort Collins, we visited with friends who live in Greeley, Colorado, a town of about 100,000 people named for Horace Greeley, the newspaperman who famously said "Go West, young man". Greeley is on the edge of the Great Plains, just east of the Rocky Mountains. Our friends, also photographers, invited us on an evening picnic at Pawnee Buttes in the Pawnee National Grassland. Nearly 200,000 acres set aside to preserve our original prairie, the grassland is popular for hiking, camping and wildlife observation.
No comments:
Post a Comment