Ooh Yes Back in Denver LOL ...

22H10 Believe it or not i have returned to Denver hostel of the Rockies.

I bussed up to Boulder and then onto Nederland. Awesome town next to this really lovely lake and strolled into town. Well the hostel that was advertised in Nederland had closed 12 months ago and the Motels wanted $90 a night to stay. I landed walking up to the Mexican grill restaurant as I had heard from the locals that they have rooms for rent outside the Ski season and when I got there they were fully booked. The landscape and scenery was really neat and I would love to have stayed and explored but you definately need your own transport in america. Mark the manager tried to help me there but to no avail. So I strolled back to the bus station and caught a bus back here to Denver. I booked in for another three days and will amtrak out on monday. To find a hostel in Boulder when three were reportedly already full, I stopped and tried to settle in but tit was chaos and getting comfortable seemed a real mission and I know I will regeret not exploring Boulder but I chose not to walk the streets with my kit and just caught a bus back.

So on my return there were open smiles and a welcoming handshake. They were going to have a barbeque and everyone was invited. I secure the best room and bed, did my washing and chatted to this couple from the UK. They took a year off and went traveling. The girl next to me has come to boulder to take part in a new sport that has been spawned from the movie Casino Royale, the initial chase scene is now refered to "free running" or some other fancy french name. Basically it is people running and jumping off a myriad of obstacles such as stairs, and basically any structure. I admit some of it is trully amazing stuff. The two guys from New York who work in a brewery, have traveled 7500 miles in two weeks and are continuing today further east.

There is a spitting image of Suzanne here, [amtrak yoga flowerchild] and hell they could be twins. Same body, same mannerisms and same personality and both keen on yoga. The english guy that booked in thursday night and kept me awake the whole time returned last night slightly wasted and well continued to stay wasted. Gabriel was in good spirits and the maintenance guy was his usual self. Linda's hubby [partner?] is a photo journalist.

We later went to the back garden area - photo,s available and well genereally just hung around and chatted. I left after two or so hours as the alcohol started flowing and people do not present their best side at these times. Linda the woman that owns the hostel [graphic artist] is a lovely person. She does the graphic artistry surrounding the funeral pamphlets and commemorative stuff so her niche market is well - dead. Not my personal choice in forms of income but hell it keeps them alive and if she enjoys it who am I to comment. I am so pleased I do not drink anymore. I would love to though, have a couple of Jack Daniels and get in on the buzz but watching the people get slowly wasted kinda changes your mind when they start falling all over the place and loosing all etiquette surrounding being polite.

So here I am back at St Marks and well am really glad. And I sapose that is what traveling is all about. Traveling may not always have to be made up of traveling and exploring the whole time. This week has been magic and well really enjoyable. Definately out on Monday though, Sacremento maybe, heard it is really nice there. Apparently they have restored an "old West" part of town, side walks and all. San Franscico I hear is very busy and I must admit the cities are a bit much right now.

Flagstaff is my objective and the grand canyon. That will be really neat. I am really looking forward to it. I MAY stop off in Las Vegas. The photo opportunity is wow of course, so we will see. I am running out of photo space and well need to delete the not so wow and fill up the cards individually or I need to download my stuff onto disks or my hard drive. Linda from the hostel says she may be able to do that on her equipment at home. I must see if Walgreens can download onto DVD for me.

I must admit the next road trip on my return will be by motorcycle. I cant get around as much as I wish and lugging this kit around is a shlep. There is never a locker or place to leave it and if there is the kit bag doesn't fit so I am destined to carry it with me. If I had wheels I could take the camping stuff with and use the camp grounds spread all over. The camp grounds at Nederland are free in some spots. If I had a van it would be perfect for I can then just stop and camp anywhere. It is a definate consideration. The biggest problem is raising the money in South Africa to get all this done on my return. It will take me a year or possibly two to collect the R 100,000.00 needed to do this properly. We will see how it all pans out. The disjointed method of writing that you see here is purely due to copious amounts of coffee and not being able to break wind when I want. Polite company and all.

So a quite weekend and move on to Amtrak heading for I dunno where, will plot and plan tonight. Take care till later, I will get back onto the email later to chat to Shar and all.