Windy Friday, October 6, 2017

We opted to stay in Loveland today, as they were predicting rain in the mountains.  It was quite breezy, so something is brewing.  Before I get started on our blog, I want to wish Phil O'Connor, our son-in-law a happy birthday today, and our second daughter, Karla and her husband, Worth a happy anniversary.  I believe it's 27 years for them, and I'm not telling how old Phil is!  We hope they all have a wonderful day and take time to celebrate!  We rode our bikes out of the campground and up the street a block to the bike path that is near us.  It had a few caches on it, but it also took us to a beautiful green space area with water 'ponds' dotting that area.  The trail took us to backyards of big, beautiful homes, and to large office complexes, that are right off the trail.  Quite the contrast, throughout our ride.  Most of the trail was cement, but they had some packed stone trails, too.  Then this afternoon, we went north toward Fort Collins and got on another trail that is still in Loveland.  Wow!  Another cement trail that went for miles.  We quit riding when the caches ended.  It was time to turn around, and Jim kept telling me that we would have a tough time getting back.  He was right!  We had a tailwind going out, but once we turned around, our legs hurt peddling going downhill! 

This is a park shelter that is behind the huge office building complexes.  Next to the office buildings, are numerous and large apartment buildings.  They all have patios, and most of them have a bike positioned there, also. I don't blame them.  This is a gorgeous place to bike.

We are still on the bike trail near us, and they call it the High Plains Environmental Center.  It is 275 acres of land and water set aside for the bike trail and to protect the marsh land.  They say it is a style of living with the land, and not just on it!  They call it 'Suburbitat'.  Pretty neat, don't you think?  Loveland is very progressive with their bike trails, and I might add that, we haven't seen a Culver's Custard Shop here! It is too healthy to have a custard shop!  Notice the dark skies looming overheard.  We could see the rain clouds on the mountains, so we are glad that we didn't go to the Rockies today.

I guess I didn't center this very well, but it was on our way back and 'against the wind'.  I think I was in a hurry to get back to the truck.....huff and puff!  If I don't post a message on our site tomorrow, it's because we may just ride the bike path near us again.  We are thinking, why do we want to spend 3 hours on the road to 'do a hike'?  Everyone and their dog will be out tomorrow, as there is going to be a big change on the weather scene come Sunday night.  We move south to Colorado Springs on Sunday, and they are predicting snow in Denver and north on Sunday night and Monday.  These beautiful Aspens will be covered with snow on Monday!  It's time to get out of Dodge!