At this point, made a vow to reply with personal messages to the friends that responded. I included replies with how they have influenced or attributed to in one way or another. This process invested ample time but I felt the time was well spent. Plus, I am proud to sat that I have never in my life replied with the letter K. My normal acknowledgment is 10-4 but an emoji face thing or the K.
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| What A Gift On The 16th of July |
That link starts off with the ending of a horrible song, The Entertainment Calendar comes up next, and then I began the show with a classic gem of Everybody Loves The Sunshine by Takuya Kuroda. Almost hip hop beats on the wide spectrum of Jazz. Almost anyway and the majority of callers were unsure about how their normally traditional weekly jazz show sounded. But they still chose to called me and share there trepidatious attitudes regarding my style. Their positive feedback was well received!! A number of usual suspects called as well and were "jazzed" about the upbeat diversity in audio wave forms. So That Is Way Cool
Basically, I wasn't going to allow C19 to ruin my day. I have unquestionably taken live music for granted over the years. I clearly see that now. I never imagined that I would NOT be surrounded by friends and family on this, the 16th of July. Sure miss the other 10,000 friends in attendance during any given Red Rocks Summer Tour.
So after my version/interpretation of a jazz radio show, packed the car, towards the continental divide I drove. And I Drove. Drove Some MORE. 3+ hours later, Leadville Colorado landed on my radar. A welcoming light rain was beginning to fall upon my face as I unloaded my belongings. I didn't mind as I just escaped 103F / 39.4C Valley Temps. Bring It Baby
The town of Leadville, perched at a secluded elevation of 10,100ft / 3,078m, accommodated me with a tiny house on wheels. If fact, they actually have a small community of tiny homes for rent. The particular tiny house of mine was named Destiny. Fitting??? These tiny homes are designed for energy-effecincies and are built on tandem axel trailers. Shower, commode, sink, oven, 4 top burner, full size refrain, coffee maker, toaster oven, lounge area, and a step ladder to the loft were just about all the amenities. Would love to design and build one some day as they have so much potential for using creative functional space in multiple ways. Not quite as cool as a treehouse but still.
Within about two minutes of feeling "moved in", Mother Nature opened up her beauty. Pouring rain accompanied pea-size hail stones, lightning bolts that actually danced a few seconds when connecting to Mother Earth, hammering thunder shook the little place, and the asphalt covered streets were consumed by nature once again. Rivers of water ran down the streets and the clean mountain smells were prevalent. Yes, the tiny house windows were open.
After a basic meal of steamed veggies, beans, rice, and a flour tortilla, I meandered along the quaint small town streets of the ever so charming town of Leadville. Dogs greeted me with a bark or two, wild flowers swaying in the after storm breeze, and an unforgettable sunset illuminated the vast evergreen hillsides with multitudes of vibrant color schemes. Completely Engrossing
Within no time at all, eyeballs rolled towards the back of my head for the evening. Here was my little bed on the loft and this was my view out one of the many loft windows. Stunning Really!! The highlights of waking up before Mr Sunrise is witnessing the clear night skies above. With the naked eyes, NAKED, five planets greeted me with early morning goodness. The ringed planet of Saturn floated just above the brightest of all Jupiter in the southwestern sky. The Red Planet Mars was visible along the horizon in the southeast sky. Venus truly blazed in the eastern sky and Mercury danced along with Mr Moon sky high. How Lucky Am I?? So lucky that Comet NEOWISE showered a trail like nobodies business. That Lucky
After vegan style pancakes ( my first go with spelt, almond milk, added chopped apples and whole organic blueberries ) my favorite all time disc golf course awaited my presence. Let me be clear here, I love everything about this course, improvements over the past few years were notable. I mean, Check Out This First Tee Pad!! Bafflingly Desirable
Every hole offers these commanding views and the fairways demand your full attention. I loaded up and uncorked my driver in order to par the 343ft / 104.5 meters on this particularly beautiful first hole. After the second hole drive, I quickly realized that my mid-range Shark would be the preferred disc to tee off with. The fairways are simply to narrow with pine trees for my wildly thrown drivers. Sure, I suck and I am cool with that. Fire Away
See what I mean?? That is the tee pad way back there for hole number 4. You are looking at the basket of hole 4 and clearly no room for error with your drives. The Mt Lincoln on the 5th hole sign, each hole is named after a 14'er, the red dot indicates the basket is unambiguously right there. Once again, the fairway is lined with trees and that basket for hole 5 is tucked nicely behind a grouping of trees. Accuracy is uncanny with unforeseeable hungry tree limbs chopping at those pesky flying disc. First Bogie On The Round
These were pretty cool. Tree stumps for sitting were sprinkled in throughout the 18 hole course. I never actually sat down but found them intriguing. Shall I fabricate a few??? I would lacquer the tops for sure and I just might have a few adequate bottle caps for this project.
The above photo is the whole reason why I played this course today. I discovered solitude on the tee pad and was able to drive the length of the 8th hole. That red disc flew on my imaginary flight path and struck the base of that metal pole with such force that the sound echoed throughout the forestry landscape. My one and only birdie for the day. STOKED
And then there was this amazing tee pad and the second reason of why I played this round. I mean REALLY?!?!?! Postcard Perfect!! The basket is way down to the left there and was designed for a forehand hyzar drive player like myself. I retrieved my driver with no hesitation, full on grip and rip, just cleared that evergreen Alberta Pine to the right, my disc settled firm in the breeze, and faded perfectly to the left in front of the basket. My putt, not so hot. Another Par For The Course And Pun Intended
I two-putted a lot during the day but I really couldn't care less. This game was about simply being. Before each and every drive off the tee pad, I soaked up the views. With every approached shot, I appreciated the atmosphere. With every putt, I humbly tried again. Call Me Mr Mulligan
Then, there was this moment in time. The basket is dead center there with a Ponderosa Pine on the right and three more lined to my left. I launched my putter on a collision course with the tree to the right of the basket. My putter narrowly somehow avoided contact and slammed into the chains with velocity. As quickly as my birdie filled excitement boiled up, my putter fell to the ground, missing the basket. "Well Sh*T Fire" I muttered to myself. There is a very unique sound of a plastic disc making contact within the chains of a basket. There is also an onomatopoeia sound when your disc lands upon the dirt floor. Oh Well
Overall, the 18 hole round was satisfying in every way, shape, and form. My Shark driven drives were fairly well played, my first putts were atrocious, but my mulligan putts always found their mark. Beautifully defined cumulonimbus clouds built up with the summer time heat and produced afternoon rains once again. Excellent timing on my part and the ideal backdrop for enjoying a packed lunch. My poor mans trail mix was a nice tied-me-over move while playing but The Donger Needs Food!! That Is A 16 Candles Reference. Then, I roamed around Leadville before departing. No real hurry to drive back down to GJ where the baking desert oven awaits.
The town of Red Cliff here. The Boy Dog & I walked along that lower bridge many a times. My friend SA still lives there with JS. The Boy Dog & I would visit both in the Summer and Winter months. He loved winter romps and there are a number of outstanding hikes outside of Red Cliff. Its A Sight To See
So That's It Folks. Another Trip Around The Sun. The Anniversary Of Ones Arrival On This Planet Is Definitely Something To Celebrate No Matter What Else Is Going On.
One final note here and this is NOT a debbie downer for a number of reasons. Will share those reasons on air, will be hosting a Tribute Show for the late KAFM programmer Old Dog. Ron passed away almost two weeks after his beloved dog Sarah passed. They are happily joined together again and are no doubtingly spreading propaganda were ever they find fit. The show will be on Tuesday the 28th of July. Ol Dog on the Freeway was the name of the show and I genuinely hope to cover it with justice, integrity, and dignity. Listen HERE
Stay Strong & Think Of Others First,
Cheers
