Kansas Crimson

Always liked this song.
It was in my playlist the day that Japhy put out the call to come to the SLV for Summer Solstice 3 years ago!

I'm bummed I am not going to be attending. Would love to meet and hangout with all of you guys and girls. All of you interesting (to me) and I would love to listen to you tell stories about yourself and your life. Hopefully you will share some stories (and pics) about your adventure with me/us on here.
I have a feeling at the end the consensus will be.... What a short strange (and fun) trip it's been.

One more thing to consider at this elevation, pressure. When buying windows for a place in the mountains you have to order special "high altitude glass". The glass is likely not "special" but the sealed chamber between the panes of your insulated glass will have a tiny breather tube installed in the corner. This allows the pressure to equalize in between the panes with the exterior air pressure. Otherwise your sealed glazing panels expand like balloons (and maybe pop like big glass balloons) while driving them into the valley.

Bags of food, especially chips, have the same issue. Yesterday was I was about to reach the top of La Veta Pass and there is a pop like fireworks in the passenger seat of the truck. Dok and I both jumped. I looked over just in time to see the other chip bag blow. Luckily they were inside a cloth grocery bag and the debris field was kept to a minimum. Open the bag just a bit before you head up to a pass unless you like the idea of the surprise.

Most people have no idea what 8,000’ and above is all about.

Whole lotta stuff that you never think about can occur up there.

My most extreme high altitude experience was a severe thunderstorm at Pikes Peak.

Rain that was frozen…..wind that you could barely walk against….and lightning strikes so short and fast that it felt like a scene out of Independence Day

sounds like a storm i drove through over Beartooth Pass

We have AC in our building but we don't use it much. If it gets "hot" ( a relative term out here) and the wind is blowing we shut the windows and turn it on to keep the dust out. Last night it was 50 deg and calm so I just put a fan in front of the security screen door and left the other door open over night. It is a comfortable 68 deg in here today.

When I met my wife about 14 years ago she told me she had never been on a backpacking trip. She heard my stories and thought it sounded like fun. We went in mid July. When we left the trailhead it was about 75 degrees. When we got to the lake at 11,000 feet, temp was in the forties and starting to hail. I unrolled the tent and stuck her inside while I set the tent up with her under cover. By the time I got the tent done it was snowing. Within in hour the sun came out and temps came up to 70 and we were fishing under clear skies, then we heard a sasquatch. At least that's what we determined it was at the time. There are more sasquatch sightings in the Holy Cross Wilderness than in any other area in the lower 48 States. That night under a full moon it got down below freezing and she determined that the down sleeping bag I bought her was a good purchase after all. A -20 deg rating seemed overkill to her at REI when it was 95 deg outside. At about 2:00 AM the full moon came up over the edge of the cirque of 13 foot peaks we were camped within. She woke me up to declare that some sort of giant flood light was overhead lighting the tent up. I open the tent flap to show her how bright a full moon is at 11,000 feet with a clear sky. We went through 3 seasons of weather in 24 hours. She was shocked at what a difference that elevation makes.

To answer the obvious question, she did want to go out there again in spite of the temporary freak out.

Overlander wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 11:39 pm Always liked this song.
It was in my playlist the day that Japhy put out the call to come to the SLV for Summer Solstice 3 years ago!

Great song I'd never heard before, but I'll thank you not to post songs that evoke memories of my wife Nancy.

tia

RainbowsandUnicorns wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 6:29 am I'm bummed I am not going to be attending. Would love to meet and hangout with all of you guys and girls. All of you interesting (to me) and I would love to listen to you tell stories about yourself and your life. Hopefully you will share some stories (and pics) about your adventure with me/us on here.
I have a feeling at the end the consensus will be.... What a short strange (and fun) trip it's been.

Wish you, and many others were coming too, Gutter.

And haven't forgiven Trad for not showing up, either.

blame my niece and nephew

RainbowsandUnicorns wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 6:29 am I'm bummed I am not going to be attending. Would love to meet and hangout with all of you guys and girls. All of you interesting (to me) and I would love to listen to you tell stories about yourself and your life. Hopefully you will share some stories (and pics) about your adventure with me/us on here.
I have a feeling at the end the consensus will be.... What a short strange (and fun) trip it's been.

Plan now, Solstice 2024 is June 21-22 of next summer. Hosting and planning two events 12 hours from home is a logistics issue. Maybe next year we tag another KU event onto the day before or after the Solstice party. You can of course come to both.

I also wish Gutter could attend.
I would like to get to know him, and I am confident the SLV could put some positive charge on his batteries.

Looking forward to hanging again, overlander. Can’t believe it hasn’t been since the first solstice like what, 2 years ago now?!

Japhy too…think it’s been since last summer when we fished the gates of hell.

Defix too, even tho I saw him in Lawrence a couple weeks ago.

Also looking forward to bumping the official ousdahl meets a new poster thread for some of you other guys.

Gonna be fun.
I haven’t seen Japhy since that Solstice event, but we have talked and texted several times.

Wife and I got together with Mr and Mrs Defix last Christmas….always fun!

Definitely down to crash the Cantina with you again. Mrs Overlander speaks Spanish better than me…might cut down on the hairy eyeballs!

Reminder…run toward a gun…away from a knife!

I'm jazzed Dr Pepper is going too to mix it up with all you alpha males.

pdub wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 3:48 pm I'm jazzed Dr Pepper is going too to mix it up with all you alpha males.

My money is on her if a bar fight breaks out.

her’s is the impression/synopsis i’m most looking forward to

(no offense to all you bros)

KUTradition wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 10:04 am blame my niece and nephew

Overlander wrote: ↑Fri Jul 28, 2023 3:40 pm Gonna be fun.
I haven’t seen Japhy since that Solstice event, but we have talked and texted several times.

Wife and I got together with Mr and Mrs Defix last Christmas….always fun!

Definitely down to crash the Cantina with you again. Mrs Overlander speaks Spanish better than me…might cut down on the hairy eyeballs!

Reminder…run toward a gun…away from a knife!

My hope is to swipe Boebert on tinder while I’m down there

but short of that, I am fully prepared to go home with one of them speakeasy gorditas

I'm really looking forward to catching up with members I've already met and extending the welcome to the Empire for the new bored members I'll meet. In a perfect world I'd like to meet all of you. I'm bummed that Trad and Gutter can't make it but maybe next year we can also add Jfish and Twocoach to the list. (CnB, do you lurk on occasion?) This extended dance version soiree is going to be one that myths are built on. See you all next week, I'm out here with Japhy counting the minutes until go time.

I am hoping both CnB and ( gasp ) Illy return here in September.