Angus had surgery on Friday to remove some of his soft palate to help with his breathing.  All seemed well until mid-day yesterday and he started panting quite a bit and then he wouldn't eat.  Jodi took him to the vet this morning and he apparently has pneumonia.  He is now hospitalized and the vet says it's usually 50.50 on how they respond.,  They either bounce back pretty quickly or they go downhill.  He better be one of the ones that bounce back because I can't lose him right now.   

The day after we did Holy Cross, I had planned a day of relaxation and sight seeing.  We slept in a bit before heading into Frisco for breakfast and so the girls could do some shopping.  Afterward, we gassed up and headed to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to Estes Park and while there we roamed the river walk, visited some shops and had some ice cream before heading to RMNP.  By now it was around 5pm, which I had planned for us to be their in the evening for the likelihood of more animal sightings.  It was perfect timing it seems as we hadn't been in the park long before we spotted a large mule deer buck bedded down under a tree by the roadside.  As we progressed further, we fed chipmunks at a scenic overlook and at some higher elevations we saw a lot of elk.  Later, we saw some moose and the highlight of the visit was seeing three moose followed by a bull moose with some pretty impressive antlers.  I have video of them walking within 25 yards of me.  I had never seen a bull moose in person before so it was pretty impressive.

After a late dinner in Granby, we had a nice night drive home, doors off and top down.  We were on a highway that not many were on and we had a couple close calls with deer so I decided to run my light bar most of the way, only having to turn it off about 3 times for oncoming traffic.  I was leading and those behind me said it was quite a sight to see the whole highway lit up in front of them.

    

Thursday was our second day in Colorado and we had the mighty Holy Cross trail planned for the day.  Due to the difficulty of the trail, it was going to be an all day event with 8 Jeeps.  We chose to get an early start and hopefully beat any traffic that might be out on the trail.  We met up with a local guy that I had made contact with online who had done the trail 6-7 times already and who could provide guidance as needed.

After airing down and a photo op at the sign at the entrance to the trail, we began the climb.  Pretty much immediately, you could tell this wasn't going to be a walk in the park.  Bigger rocks in the trail and off camber obstacles met us nearly right away.  One of the rigs at the back lost a tail light pretty much right away as it's rear slammed against a large boulder on the side of the trail. 

On this trail, there are three major obstacles.  The first gives you a few options, some tougher than others.  I chose to go the tougher route and that is the image where we are in the "launch position" as we call it.  Unfortunately, my long wheel base didn't allow this line as at the top, my passenger slider kept bottoming out.  Since we were off camber and hitting the skinny pedal wither wasn't going to work or put us in a very precarious position, we decided it best to back down and take the easier route, which is still a difficult climb that is off camber.  I didn't have any trouble there and everyone else went that route too, some doing it easier than others but we all made it.

Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the mighty French Creek.  The water level was down due to the drought so we had a pretty good view of the rocks and boulders we would need to traverse.  We all walked it first, trying to pick a good line for our particular rig.  I was the second one through and it was certainly a battle.  Armor is your friend here and the sliders paid dividends on the large boulders.  Once out of the creek, you still had to navigate a tight corridor around a large boulder before being clear of potential damage.  After I successfully navigated the creek and following obstacle, it was time to get everyone else through.  We wound up having to winch 4 rigs through as the creek exit proved to be too much.  We now had one rig with a bent tie rod, another with a bent tie rod and blown steering stabilizer and one with a scratched painted fender.  Luckily for them, the rest of the climb to Holy Cross City was much easier than the creek and we arrived at the top some time later where we stopped for lunch and some drone flying.

After some entertaining discussion about the trip up, it was time to make our way down.  Usually going down is easier but there were many steep drops that were climbs on the way up and they had to be taken slowly or you were bashing your rear bumper pretty hard.  We got pretty far off camber on one so that was exciting but other than that, we had a good run down.  I think others scraped up their bumpers some but there was no further parts destruction that I am aware of.  We all made it to the end, surviving the unforgiving Holy Cross trail and earning our Jeep Badge of Honor award that will be sent to us in the mail.  What an great rail.  I wouldn't hesitate to go back and do it again.

On our first full day in Colorado, we all got up early and hit the first trail I had planned for our adventure, Mosquito Pass.  It rises to 13,165 feet and the trailhead is between Alma and Fairplay.  When we arrived, the sign said that the pass was closed.  A gentleman driving by said they had called the Forest service and was told that they didn't have it closed but it could be the county.  We decided to drive into Fairplay and visit a Ranger station to get the scoop to avoid potential tickets.  They confirmed that they did not have it closed and gave me the number of the county to see if they had it closed.  After a call to the county, we were told we could proceed. 

The trail starts as a gravel road, like most in the area.  They all seem to be of the washboard variety so we aired down to soften the ride.  The scenery was beautiful as we headed to the top of the pass.  The temperature dropped as we climbed to the higher elevation and the wind picked up some.  We stopped at the abandoned mine not far from the top and ate lunch.  I got out my drone afterward and grabbed some video from above that will be featured in an upcoming video from our trip.

After lunch, we continued to the top, reaching the peak and taking the opportunity for photos.  After a brief stay, we worked our way back down the mountains and back into Alma.  We then decided to do Georgia Pass to finish up the day.  It was a much different trail as it was through forest and much more rocky to the top.  It ends at the Continental Divide at 11,585 feet. At the top, we ran across some sheep grazing in the meadows.

Tomorrow, I will share about our Holy Cross City trail adventure.  It was the toughest trail of the week!

The drive home is always the worst part of a trip, especially when you are a long way from home.  It took us 11 hours and I was pretty tired at the end as we only did gas stops.  I couldn't wait to go get Angus and he was pretty excited to see us.  I don;t know what a dog thinks, or even if they do but he may have thought we abandoned him as he went to stay with JD and Megan for the week.  He is pretty old for a Bulldog and I was worried about stress.  I think he is happy to be home too.

It will take me quite some time to go through all of the photos and video I have of our trip.  We checked off some bucket list trails and the memories are priceless.  Holy Corss was everything it was advertised to be but my favorite trail wound up being Wheeler Lake, which we did on our final day there.  We followed that up by going the highest we have ever been by doing Peak 10, topping out at 13,400 feet.  The view was incredible. 

I'll be posting more about our trip as I get pics and video ready but here are some from our adventure.  You can click on them to make them larger.

We are having an awesome time in Colorado.  We've seen a lot of wildlife and some amazing views.  We've topped out at 13,165 feet so far and today we are doing Wheeler Lake which has an awesome Alpine lake at the top.  I'll provide updates, photos, videos and more when we get back to reality on Tuesday. 

T minus 24 hours until we depart for Colorado. I wrapped up my bumper install about 9pm last night after working on it pretty much all day.  This whole bumper episode has been a complete cluster.  It didn't ship like they said it would and then winds up getting here on Friday with obviously no time to strip it and powder coat it.  So Jodi goes and picks it up and the skid plate is missing.  So I start the bumper install and right out of the chute, missing hardware for the vacuum pump relocation bracket.  After figuring that all out, I go to install the KC Hilites driving lites and the slot to mount the bolt on the light bracket is too small.  Mind you, these are the same lights that are being used by others in the Youtube videos about the bumper.  Naturally, they were using "pre-production" bumpers so I guess PS changed the dimensions for the production models.  So, I had to enlarge those holes.  GEEZ!

It was time consuming because of cutting off brackets and getting holes to line up right but it's done, only to remove it when I get back home and take it to powder coat. 

I probably won't be posting from Colorado so upon our return, I will have plenty to share.  We are running Holy Cross on Thursday, one of Colorado's toughest.  Should be a great time.

My work week is half over.  Luckily I got out of working Sunday which gives me a full day to finish our preparation for our trip.  I have two more photo shoots to do and then two sales sessions on Saturday to knock out before I get a break.

In two more months, I will reach my 30 year anniversary at work.  My how time flies.  I remember hitting the 5 year mark and thinking there is no way I can stay here 30 years. 

Another session in the books and another one today, and tomorrow and the next day.  It's only suppose to be 97 degrees today, so a nice break from the 98 yesterday.  :)  Actually, it wasn't terrible at all and we had a fun shoot with a senior who drove from two hours away to be photographed by us.

Today Jodi is taking my Jeep to get aligned and I am hopeful that my new bumper arrives today or tomorrow.  I only have one day off this weekend to get it installed along with the winch.  I really hope there are no issues with installation as

If you're unfamiliar with the meme:

One session down and four two go.  It was hot but we managed pretty well using fans to keep the client cool as we moved about the park we were shooting at.  Tonight i have a boy to photograph and we will be using a location where we get in our cars to move to the next area every 15 minutes or so, which will allow us some air conditioning time.

I called the Jeep dealer this morning to schedule a front end alignment since I have a tired that is toed out a bit and they told me they could get me in next Thursday.  Really??!!!   I don't think they want that kind of business, it doesn't pay well enough. 

Jodi and I created some pretty cool images for a recent client.  She wanted some images that were different than what her friends were getting for their senior portraits and I told her we will do that AND some.  I used our pink parachute and we did the images below for her.  Mom and Dad ordered the first one as a big print for their home.  You can click on the image to view it larger.

Saturday was mostly business as we had two sales sessions and a pre-session consultation.  I wound up working in the backyard a bit in the evening, taking care of some weeds and unwanted growth along the fence and we went to a friends afterward for pie and ice cream.

Yesterday, I put my new drone up in the air to familiarize myself with some of the advanced features my older drone does not have.  The video below shows me using the Active Track mode, which I believe will come in handy on the trails in Colorado.  Once activated, the drone will track the vehicle on its own.  In the clip, Jodi is driving and I am monitoring the drone from my tablet from the passenger seat.  The drone did pretty well.  Later I used some other features that I think I like more but they will all come in handy on the trip.

My bumper supposedly shipped so basically Jodi will have to drive 45 minutes each way to go pick it up later this week just so I can put it on as is.   My luck is so good.

I have a session every evening this week and it is suppose to be 94-96 degrees all week.  I won't sweat at all!  It's a good thing we get paid well for doing it.   

We spent the 4th with Jeep friends as about 15 of us gathered at a friends house for BBQ before heading to a city fireworks show.  A couple of us help the host install his front fenders.  I have to say that DV8 quality sucks.  After installing the front fenders, he has decided to ship them back.  They actually use a crappy rubber gasket between the fender and the body that looks horrible when installed.  They also use rubber nutserts that fail when you install the fender. 

My bumper had not shipped as of Tuesday morning.  I'm calling again today to check on the status but I'm pretty sure I'm hosed on getting it powder coated and installed prior to our trip.  I ordered it 6 weeks ago and here we are. 



 

 So far we've been able to get all of our shoots in for the new class and last night we actually had really comfortable weather for the shoot.  After tonight's consultations and shoot, we have a couple days off to enjoy the 4th with our Jeep friends and then on Thursday I'm working on video stuff with one of my models.  Another shoot on Friday and then I get the weekend off before a shoot every day next week.  I will then be ready for Colorado. 

I really hope my bumper shipped yesterday or no later than today.  I'm going to call Poison Spyder later to see if it did or is. 

I like weekends where quite a bit gets accomplished and this past weekend was one of those.  I was up early on Saturday to meet up with others at a wrenching event hosted by someone in our Jeep social group.  I took my Adams driveshafts with me and work began right away upon arrival.  It certainly isn't fun laying on your back doing the work and it certainly took longer but the shafts are in and a test drive showed no vibrations and they stayed in place so i think we are good.  :)  

I had to rush home afterward and get cleaned up for a sales session at 1pm and barely made it as the clients arrived as I was walking out of our bedroom after finishing getting ready.  We had a really good sale and then we jumped back in the Jeep to meet up with the people I was wrenching with at a pre-planned ice cream run to cool down.  We had about 10 Jeeps there and we wound up deciding to go to dinner after dessert.  We went to Wabash BBQ for some good eats.  I then created an event on our Facebook page for a Jeep meetup for a fireworks show at the church across the street from our neighborhood.  We had about 7 Jeeps total and two others that we didn't know pulled in to join us in our meetup spot.  It was a fun time although the fireworks show wasn't very spectacular.  

I was out in the garage at 7:30am on Sunday to get more Jeep related projects done.  I started with installing my new JL hood latches.  The hardest part was accessing the nut on the stud for the fender mounted part.  I drilled out the holes to accommodate the new pieces and mounted them.  I had to make some small adjustments to the fit but they look great and work well.  I ensured that with an 80 mph run up and down the highway.

 

I then turned my attention to installing Jodi's new third brake light. It's simply a matter of removing the factory light and splicing in the new light with some butt connectors and heat shrinking them.  Then you just mount the tire back on the carrier.  She now is one of the cool kids.

My next project was re-installing my Bartact seat cover I sent in for repair.  As I figured, they just sent me a new one so I got that back on.  I then crawled under my Jeep and loosened up the bolts on the draglink to center my steering wheel.  Jodi assisted with telling me when the wheel was straight.

I then went and watched one of my model team girls play a softball game at a nearby park.  She lives two hours away but was in town and texted me to let me know.  I didn't bring her any luck as they lost. 

A late dinner followed and I got some business work done prior to going to bed.  I have a photo shoot today, three consultations tomorrow followed by a quick shoot with a cheerleader at a local college.  Then I have a couple days off to relax a bit.  Hopefully I get word that my bumper ships today or tomorrow.  It's the big unknown right now.