Mountains!!!

This is not a current rendering of the above exclamation. The real Mountain! Mountain! Mountains!! moment came a couple of days ago, as I approached Greeley. They are truly a sight to see, at first barely visible through the haze of distance, looming like hunched figures in a dense fog, they appear as if out of a dream on the horizon. The mountains signal a sense of elation and trepidation, for they are a sign that the parks of the southwest are getting closer. Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Jion, and the Grand Canyon have become more solidly part of the near future. Yet the mountains are my biggets shallenge thus far. My route will be taking hwy 50 through the mountains via the 11,000+ foot Monarch Pass. I don't need to explain to you all that this will be a rather tiring affair, the cycling of this pass. Also, the weather in the mountains is known to change very fast, and it is also likely that I will get some amount of snow during the few days I will be truly in the mountains.

Mountains, Mountains!! Lift your arms in joy, cringe in fear, shout to the sky: "I have arrived!", and let youself shake in your boots! Feel the excitement and the happiness, leep and dance! Be merry, but also shudder and buckle your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen(or rather, zip up your jackets), for we, friends, have arived at The Mountains. Whaaaahoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!