Big Cities and Conversation

Driving through small towns for several weeks and arriving on the Front Range of Colorado on I-25, the heavy traffic was first indication that I was back to an urban world.

Although the traffic, long waits at traffic signals and the number of people is a bit disconcerting, I am happy to be here. After months of small towns with little to explore and a lack of grocers to meet my expensive food tastes, there are lots of choices here on the Front Range. Lots of choices.

Then there were the months of no real conversations. There were the usual short term conversations scattered along my travel path, but no real conversations. I obviously missed that opportunity to chat. That is a problem of living alone. With an ear, I do have a tendency to ramble on from one subject to another.

I made up for that little conversation over these past months when I met Rich for coffee/tea on Monday morning at his regular coffee hang out -- Loveland Coffee. Several of his neighbors were there also enjoying their morning coffee. After his neighbors left, Rich and I continued talking. Then we talked right through lunch at a Loveland micro brewery. Maybe it was me that did all the talking. Could have been. Later that day and back home, I noted my throat was sore from all the talk.

Parked for a couple of weeks at Boyd Lake State Park. A pleasant place to park with large spaces and close to the big city experience. Fortunately, the temperatures have moderated to the low nineties. This is great after weeks of daily temps of over 100 degrees during my recent travels. I won't even complain about the smokey fires from my campground neighbors.

The return to the big city has confirmed how much I missed the big city and a community for conversation.