Is that the same old farmhouse I saw in 2010 ?(https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/briefescape/day-4-rangely-colorado-to-buford-colorado-the-white-river-took-my-diet-coke-away/#23284_gkceuulb4sos60gi1e87787f47n)

I think it is. Your photo is from a different angle (and is a better photo than mine.)

I rode from Vernal to Rangely on a little tour I did in 2010, when I lived in Utah.

I was so cautious about riding on the highways that I used back roads wherever possible, and my distance for the day was 65 miles.

I remember that Brush Creek Road out of Vernal was nice, but you didn't miss much by skipping Blue Mountain Road; my journal entry for the day says that "despite its appealing name, [it] was filled with ugly oil-or-gas-drilling-related equipment."

You deserve the queen of the Mountain medal after all our the climbs you’ve done.

this is the first day in awhile that we've seen flowers. I saw a very few individual stalks of indian paintbrush. Those are something I look for in the mountains, but haven't seen this trip. We are heading lower, so I don't think I will see more flowers.

I have seen some marshy areas, but no more wild iris. IDK if that's a Colorado thing, or their season has peaked? Bonny, up in Minnesota also saw wild iris in the marshy areas there.

Pink ones look like sticky geranium.

http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Pink%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/geranium.htm#viscosissimum

Hi Kelly:

Saw your comment on the beetle killed trees - "I'd guess that at least 50% of the pine trees are dead." I believe you also mentioned something similar on the Colorado part of this tour.

Just for your knowledge, and to set the record straight, in both locations those are actually Engelman Spruce trees killed by Spruce Beetle (Dendroctonus Rufipennis) not Lodgepole or other Pine species killed by Pine beetle (Dendroctonus Ponderosae.) The little buggers are what they call "host specific" ie a spruce beetle won't attack a pine and a pine beetle won't attack a spruce.

The westwide Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic was in the first decade of this century, lately it's been the spruce that's been getting whacked, especially in Utah and Colorado.

Hope you've enjoyed our Utah riding if not the
dogs!

Hey - a mini Airstream!

Great photo!

Living in that small of quarters would make or break a marriage quickly!

A favorite bird; come thru KC by the thousands each spring.

Makes me think of my dear departed friends Bill and Beth Eastman, who, when first married lived in one while tending several thousand sheep in eastern Wyoming.

I would agree that my brash statement of COVID being gone was mis stated. Perhaps a better way to state it is that motel restaurant breakfasts have overwhelmingly gone back to normal, so I expected more of this breakfast.

I don't remember you commenting one way or the other on masks during your Covered Bridges tour - did you see many?

A friend of mine just did a group tour back east. I think they had 18 participants. He said three people caught COVID during the three week tour. One quarantined, and then caught up later. One went home. The third was diagnosed right at the end, and went home because he was timed out. AD said they were taking as many precautions as possible. But, I sure didn't see any masks in the photos (admittedly, outside and while they were riding).

I think most people are resigned to dealing with it when they get it and probably aren't as concerned about long COVID as they might be.

My phone says 9:11 AM - we did see the Mormon church on the far opposite side of town. The parking lot was already full. So, I believe the correct answer would be, after the rush hour.

Well, I hesitated to state the obvious but the willingness to take personal protective measures for both one’s self and for the good of the public appears to be gone, even in places where it was present in previous surges. Masking seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Covid is spreading heavily in most states and continuing to mutate and evade immunity. Maybe after people have been sickened multiple times with an increasing risk of getting long
Covid, they will start to behave more cautiously. Or not…

Was that before or after the going to church rush hour?