Nomad Life - Day 139

After nearly a week of planning and yesterday's drive across Wyoming, I was ready to make a day trip to Denver for a meetup with family!  This morning, I was up at 0520 (no alarm set) after someone sent me a text.  Unable to return to sleep, I spent the morning reading, doing puzzles, completing Duolingo exercises and catching up on my blogging.  I had time to got to breakfast in the lobby of the Super 8 (Cheyenne) and then packed up my car.  Overnight, I'd briefly considered extending at the hotel (using a weekly rate) but ended up deciding against it - I'll be better off if I can see how the day goes and see if I can better deal.  With that thought in my head, I checked out of my room at 1030 and departed Cheyenne.  To reach Colorado, I used I-25.  Outside, it was 45 F, sunny and clear!  This beautiful weather was accompanied by much more wind than the previous day, though, and I had to fight to keep my Subaru Outback on the Interstate.  About 12 miles after leaving Cheyenne, I entered Colorado and was immutably blessed with very pretty views of the Rockies to the west.  During the drive, the temps (according to my car gauge) rose as high as 53 F!  Not sure I trust that but we'll see...  I passed the exit for the town of Carr at 1055 and arrived at the Arapahoe Bend Natural Area (town of Fort Collins), my target, by 1120.  After exploring briefly, I parked at a trailhead about a mile north of East Harmony Road and started walking.  Almost immediately, I realized I could hike part of the Poudre River Trail, a nice paved walkway that ran north and south (parallel to I-25).  Starting towards the south, I discovered the Fort Collins Transportation Center (and a dead end) before heading back to the north.  When I reached the "real trail", I followed it along the Poudre River (east) until I crossed under I-25.  Along the way, I passed several frozen ponds, birds and happy-looking dogs.  Overall, it was a very nice walk and I logged about two miles before departing at 1205.  Again on I-25, I continued south until the exit for US-36, which I used to reach the town of Westminster, where my cousin (Joy) lived).  On the way, I listened to a good audiobook.  Eventually, I got off the highway and took surface streets - I found Joy's home by 1300.  Coincidentally, my (younger) cousin, Shannon, arrived at almost the exact same time.  Together with Joy and her little dogs, we all spent almost 2.5 hours inside visiting and enjoying some delicious margaritas, chips, guacamole and enchiladas.  There was a lot of talk about the family's upcoming Thanksgiving in Nashville, my Nomad life, Shannon's upcoming move back to Texas and Joy's new job (after retiring).  Overall  it was a very nice visit!  At 1625, I reluctantly said goodbye to my cousins and headed east until I was able to access US-287.  While driving north on that road, I was treated to a beautiful sunset over the Rockies - wow!  When I reached West 104th Avenue, I followed that east to I-25 and started north towards Wyoming.  Before it was completely dark, however, I wanted to get some more steps.  Without any planning beforehand, I was at a loss on where to stop until I realized the Arapahoe Bend Natural Area and Poudre River Trail would be just as good as any other place.  I reached Fort Collins at 1715 and parked at the trailhead.  This time, though, I walked north and logged two more miles (mostly in darkness) with a turnaround on the northern end of the Rigden Reservoir.  I found it interesting that Google Maps showed it as a dry marsh - however, it was full of (frozen) water and I watched several Canada Geese landing on the thin ice.  In the western sky, I got to seem some pretty sunset remnants.  When I finished walking at 1800, I sat in my car for a while making a reservation for Cheyenne.  Like I'd thought, there were cheaper deals for a week in Cheyenne than the Super 8's offered weekly rate.  Since I already was familiar with the hotel and was able to beat the daily rate, I chose the Super 8 again (bypassing a few that were cheaper).  With the reservation made, I caught up on social media and replying to texts before heading north on I-25 again.  After an uneventful drive, I arrived in Cheyenne just after 1900.  While I was parking at the Super 8, some other guests asked if I could give their car a jump start - fortunately, I was able to help them.  Like yesterday, the parking lot was filled with what appeared to be the trucks of the transient workers I'd encountered inside.  When the desk clerk gave me my room, I had to laugh that it was the same one I'd had the previous night (I guess that's the "cheap" room).  For the rest of the evening, I spent time catching up on emails, setting up my work computer for the next day and watching movies.  Somehow, I got carried away with the latter activity again and ended up going to bed at 2300.  Still, I must admit that I had a great weekend of driving, sightseeing and visiting with family!