Yes the traveling duo wandered through some amazing landscapes listening to Roxy Music but they also addressed two demanding technical challenges today. The first was how to have a shower in the Gateway resort, the second was to deal with an errant tire – more of that later. But first that scenery.
OK first the shower. All right I know I only have an MD ( but it’s real, despite the MB). but for God’s sake, Blair has a PhD or so he says. After about 10 minutes of trying to get the shower to work we called the desk: pull down the thing in the faucet she said. Of course we know what’s a tap, but what’s a faucet? Eventually the engineer came to demonstrate the least intuitive piece of bathroom equipment since the Japanese toilet, leaving our self regard barely intact.
That solved, we cleaned up and hit the road. An impressive rest stop was No Name Canyon, Colorado where we looked at canooers on the Colorado river rapids.
OK, now for the supralavatorial challenge, a tyre dropping off the car in front of us. We hit it with a thump at about 60, no time to swerve as we were in single file traffic. After a while there was a new sound. We differed on whether this was the roadworks or the car. Eventually switching between road surfaces we shed a big chunk of tyre and the car seemed fine. Until we pulled off.
Then we found we had taken a hit and a bit of porsche that had been covering the undercarriage had been flipped and was now dragging along the road. The travelers fell prone on the pavement and wrestled it back into place. Cometh the hour , cometh the men.
On down the canyon , past Vail and on to Boulder, Loveland, Keystone and Leadville, – all the ski runs down to where Oscar delighted in the miners.
Meantime Blair was thinking about how he keeps his mass specs in the air and speculated about patch ups with wire from the hardware store ….
The magpies
shared his concerns . We pushed on down to Denver to be Born again.
Thence to the local Italian where I did my best Capri vacation imitation and
after extensive consultation with David our Texan grade 2 Sommelier (7500 flash cards and counting 
we opted for the day’s perfect pairing:
The result of a showdown at the Barolo corral with the local DGOC commissioner. The boys were impressed with the great food, harmonizing on the tagliatelle: the owner is #4 allegedly but Elvis wasn’t in the building .
Finally, we were impressed by the apparently disinterested and non obsequious 
style of Noel, a Connecticut explant who , unprompted( she wasn’t our server) came back and changed our mind to the tiramisu – good advice.
Finally we adjourned, leaving the restaurant to step onto the arrivals of the attractive Denver station.
Exactly what we need, the last metro – more public transport, attractively framed, fast and efficient.
Wow, what an interesting day!
I am not quite sure were to begin :
Pleased to hear that someone knew how to turn on the shower—- was it that difficult?.
The repair job you did on the Porsche reminds me the car trip Ian, Gill and I took to South Devon over 50 years ago … it I recall it was just a little different …. maybe not ?… I am not sure that Ian remembers the adventure….I think Gill might ,
You two certainly have perfected how to enjoy how to enjoy and relax in the evening .
I notice that you had a few birds came to join you !!!
Love the photographs of Colarodo it looks stunning, I have never been there::::
How could I ever forget! Unfortunately there was no Tavernetta at the end of the day
You had some serious challenges, and you passed!! 👍🏻👍🏻
Glad you are ok after the car incident! And made us smile Monday morning with this story!
Clearly, even Paradise is not without its hazards.
And as to the 50 year ago trip to Devon differed vastly – first, not a porsche, and more importantly the mechanical/driver failure required the passenger to change gear.
I remember David changing gear while I was driving but not why he had to!
If ever your careers in science fail, there’s an opening in writing.
Quite an adventure, escaping the rogue tire, patching up the Porsche “mass spectrometer”, and tasting some more world history – Piedmont wine – approved!. 🙂 The new RTD line to DIA was still under construction at the last ASMS in Denver.
Worth it all for an evening in Tavernetta and to see the new RTD station!
Hello: after Omaha, I have been reading your blog most days, and reading it to Mark as he drives too.. Happy memories of an unexpected meeting indeed. So glad your trip has been rich in experience, and that your connection with each other has been affirmed. Not easy to be in such close quarters for such a long time. Will write a bit later but just wanted to say “Thank you” for having taking a ‘leap’ last Monday evening… Garret, you are particularly in our thoughts today, as we drive back to Denver… G.
So great to hear from you Geraldine. Hope your Western excursion was as much fun as our Northern route. Stay in touch
Hi Geraldine and Mark
Say hi to YoYo. Great to meet you both in the Deco. Let’s keep in touch , especially about where to flee to if the mid terms come unstuck
Best G