Back in beautiful Colorado again after a long, weary drive out of Nebraska this morning and afternoon. A bit of wind to contend with for most of the time and that always makes life more difficult. Got into Longmont around 2:00 a.m. though and drove over to the local 'Discount Tire' store to get a couple of new tires put on the trailer before putting her back into storage. Had replaced the other two a couple of weeks ago so I now have all new tires, including the spare, for my next trip in September. Will need to get 4 new tires on the truck also, but plan to hold off on those until I'm back from my canoe trip to Montana.

   There will be a few more things to do on the trailer before taking off again, including getting the wheel bearings serviced, or replaced, but that is just a matter of scheduling it for sometime between the Montana trip and the raft trip down the Grand Canyon. Also need to get a couple of new metal lag screws to replace the ones lost out of the right front scissor jack before it shakes loose and falls off. There always seems to be something to do, but the reality is that in the grand scheme of things, it is really pretty cheap living. My thought is to keep up with the maintenance on the truck and trailer as best I can so that a small problem doesn't turn into a major one while I'm on the road. So far that has worked out okay for me. But both the trailer and truck are starting to get older now and it is only a matter of time before something big goes wrong. Will just have to try and be ready for that when it arrives.

   Spent last night in Imperial Nebraska with one of my sisters and her husband.  They had picked up some items that had been left behind at the old family house when I left last year. Since they were selling it and trying to clear it all out it was nice that they managed to snag my stuff and hold it for me until I got back into the area. On the other hand; I would of swung past their house anyway before leaving in September. Ten months to a year is a long time to go with out seeing some of your family and friends.

   Got Esmerelda tucked away into her storage spot for the next couple of weeks and got the truck unloaded of misc. road trip stuff. It rained a little bit this afternoon in Longmont and it is pretty pleasant out right now. The sun is back out already and the temp is a very pleasant 86 degrees. A little higher humidity of course, but with temps 20 degrees cooler than the past week, and a nice breeze blowing, it feels more like a day at the beach. Not sure yet where I'll be staying tonight, but assume it will be with one of my friends here in the Denver area. It will most likely be with Tom and Donna but they are evidently out playing today so I haven't actually heard back from them yet. The back up plan is for me to be at George and Marge's instead, so I'm not worried about not having a place to stay.

  Tired tonight.... two days of driving generally does that to me. Having to fight the wind, or at least pay more attention to my driving, always makes it worse.  The trailer actually pulls very well most of the time, but add a little cross wind and it is suddenly like trying to sail a barn down the highway without a rudder. Will have a couple of days to relax and see friends and family, maybe do a movie and get some more good Mexican food. Will need to start thinking about getting ready for the canoe trip in Montana at some point. My friend Tom and I have each done it between 22 and 30 times, we just kind of lost track of how many times after awhile. It's a 150 miles long and is on the upper section of the Missouri River that contains the White Cliffs section and the Missouri Breaks section. We first did it in 1973 in 3 days time because we had no maps and had no idea where we were most of the time. Now a days we could probably do it blindfolded. Even after so many times down this section it is still brand new every time. The water level is always different, the weather changes and the people are always different also. I'm really looking forward to being back on the water again.