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“Bessie” the cow by The Summer Road.

Tomorrow is my Monday, which for most people brings about a sense of angst as they begin their work week anew.  Part of this has to do with just the stress of getting to work, dealing with traffic and the slow grind of going to work.  When I reflect back to my days of living in the Washington, DC area, I think of friends who often by car or by train or by some combination of both, would spend 1 to 2 hours to get to work each morning.  I’ve never had a lot of patience for sitting in traffic going back and forth to work, or traffic of any kind.  I’d much rather drive fifty miles, but be moving along, than drive 10 miles in stop and go traffic.  And I think living in the mountains has lowered my tolerance for traffic even more.

I find myself dreading any kind of drive towards and around Denver, simply because of the traffic and congestion.  And Denver’s traffic doesn’t even begin to compare to the traffic from cities like Washington, DC, New York and Philadelphia.  Fortunately, my jobs in the parks field led me a different direction in terms of getting to work, driving rural roads, so traffic hasn’t been an issue.  Traffic usually consists of an out of town tourist driving 20 miles below the speed limit, gazing at the scenery along the way.  But that doesn’t mean the daily commute can’t be challenging, or interesting, as the case may be.

I was reminded of this the other day as I drove down The Summer Road.  First of all, being that it is summer, the summer road is a little less scary than in winter.  But it’s still full of pot holes, washboard and cows.  Yes, cows.  Several of our local neighbors up here in Nederland own live stock, cows, horses, chickens.  One of the cows, who I affectionately refer to as Bessie, seems to be a free ranging cow and meanders along the dirt roads of our neighborhood.  She’s a sizeable creature, so you really don’t want to whip around a curve too fast to happen upon her in the middle of the road.  Fortunately, the other morning, I wasn’t going too fast, as I came around the corner and found her next to the summer road.  You’ve seen the deer crossing signs, perhaps, a cow crossing sign would be in order for us local residents.

The drive doesn’t get any easier going up and down Boulder Canyon.  I’ve seen bears crossing the road, and more recently, we’ve seen a significant uptick in the moose population.  Since moose routinely weight more than 1000 pounds, you definitely don’t want to run into one of them on the road way.  Still, seeing wildlife during my daily commute reminds of what makes it so special living in the mountains.  This spring, I saw a herd of female elk standing alongside the road way, grazing on the grasses, seemingly oblivious to all us commuters.  And just the other week, I was driving home just after dark, and as I entered the mouth of Boulder Canyon, a family of raccoons, mom with her two youngsters in tow, waddled across the roadway.  I couldn’t help but laugh and crack a smile.

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