Pikes's Peak vs Peak Oil

These Swiss railcars are self-contained units, powered by two Cummins diesel engines mounted underneath the seating area. They are diesel-pneumatic. Generators driven by the diesel engines provide the power to traction motors for the ascent. The braking is done through a pneumatic retardation system, and the diesel engines must idle on the return trip.

Almost there. A brief stop at the Marmot hotel.
The whistling, yellow-bellied marmots are too cute!

The view was awesome. The windy gusts blew my hat off my head. Feeling light-headed from the altitude I wasn't about to chase it to the edge of the cliff. It was frigid cold and felt like pure chaos as the wind whipped into a frenzy. They closed the auto road and we re-boarded for the ride down.

Fade to black

Came across this article about peak oil. Wake up, wake up, up wake!
:)

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore

JUMBO LOVE ART
In front of the Mid-America Center
Council Bluffs, NE

Horseshoe Casino
right next door,
'cause, well, LOVE is always a
GAMBLE.

Saturday night I was rousted from a deep sleep when the trailer shook. Hearing sirens I knew something was up. Glancing at the clock, the time was 2:37am. The wind wasn't letting up and the rain was whipping the tent. A knock at the door as the cat trainer said, "Hey, tornado in the next town. People are going in the building." The old joke about trailers being tornado magnets suddenly came to mind. Ha, ha, NOT funny. Threw on some clothes and went into the ele tent. "Grab a hook!" Huh? Okay, tail up. And we led the girls inside. They were calm and attentive, curious as to why the sudden need to be led into the building in the middle of the night. We fed and watered them and hung out for awhile. The winds died down and we put them back to bed.

Next day, one show, and tear down, the sky was cloudy but the rain stayed away.
Driving west the sky was amazing. . .

Stopped for coffee the next morning, at LOVE'S travel oasis on Bison Hwy in Hudson, CO and had the great pleasure of meeting B-ball all star Bill and his sidekick Bev.
Nicest folks you could ask for. Baby Ruth's 2 for 1.
Thanks! Ah, clear skies ahead and life is good!

Zoo Who

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo


Entered the huge glass dome of the Lied Jungle and I was greeted by curious and cute Golden Lion Tamarins playing hide and seek, betcha can't catch us, between the roots of the man-made mangrove.

Waterfalls and water surround you, the negative ions generating a feel-good vibe.

Around the corner. . . monkeys in trees. Right over head.
Hey, monkeys can jump. FAR!
I felt a bit vulnerable. If they wanted to stage a mutiny, they could.

Winding around, who's watching who?Hanging out

Designed without barriers, great photo ops.
Our neighbors' dogs treed one of these recently.

This phone is handy, but I'm thinking it's time I got a better camera.

Thunderbolts and lightning. . .

very, very frightening!

As the tent was erected in the afternoon, storm clouds gathered and the radar images showed huge storms and tornadoes heading our way. It dumped rain and hail at one point. While unloading the wind was changing and lightning bolts flashed across the sky constantly.

Luckily it was a short walk and just as we arrived the drops started to fall.

Pachyderms and Hummers

Drove all day to a secured location where the elephants were unloaded so they could stretch while their quarters were cleaned and water refilled.

Hundreds of Hummers as far as the eye could see. $200,00 each. Our hard-earned tax dollars, hard at work. (Excuse me. Could I please have beautiful art instead?) Getting lifted by the crane and loaded on a train to be shipped. The train yard hummed at night an eerie call, blessing all the handsome young men and brave young woman that will climb into the Hummers, who knows where, who knows why? I wonder what's the point? So I can be free to drive across this country and watch TV. Plenty of fossil fuels to use. What does it mean? Men feeling their pain by inflicting it on others? Enter the cave and the dragon emerges. . .

Wilkes Barre elephant walk out

I bought a present for Karen today. I think she'll like it.

As we purposefully parade down the street it's literally easier than walking into town because we are going downhill.

I reflect that even in my comparatively short life span I've seen major changes. Half as many elephants as there once were, twice as many people, still enthralled by the sight of these huge gentle giants silently trudging through their neighborhood.

This is a very special moment as time is taken to smell the elephants.
"Look Mom! No gasoline!"
No fossil fuels are used to propel them down the street.

Kids and adults alike scream with excitement at the sight. Beaming with JOY!
Dogs are driven mad with confusion.
Biggest darn four-legged creatures ever to set foot in their territory.
Bark! Bark! Bark! Make it go away!

Witnesses to a pachyderm parade, here and then gone, leaving huge boluses of plant matter in their wake. The brief scent of their presence wafting by.
Once upon a time their numbers were thought infinite.
Now we know different. Perhaps they're here to tell us.
Evolve or die. . . .

:)