Colorado Living

Why I Love Driving Through Montana and Wyoming

August 14th, 2009

During the first week of August, my family and I were visiting my wife’s family in rural Antler, North Dakota. It’s become an August tradition for us to go back for a couple weeks in August to help with the harvest. My father-in-law raises wheat, canola, peas, and sunflowers. The first three of those crops are normally ready for harvest by early- to mid-August.

Sunflower field near Antler, North Dakota

I was not able to take more than about a week of vacation this year, so my wife decided to stay behind in North Dakota with the kids for a while after I had to return to Denver to work. So this past Tuesday morning I gathered my stuff in the car, said an extended good-bye to Adena, Liberty, and Kaden, and set out for the 14-hour solo trip to Castle Rock.

Our usual route home takes us south through Minot, across the Garrison Dam, then west on I-94 to US-85, which we follow through South Dakota. From there it’s I-90 west into Wyoming and then we pick up US-85 again in Newcastle and proceed south to Lusk. From there it’s a quick trip over to I-25 which brings us on home. This really is the optimal route (time- and distance-wise) and it has conveniently-spaced gas stops. But, for me, it is just not that exciting.

Making the trip on my own gave me the opportunity to take (what I find to be) a more interesting route. I go west on US-2 to Williston after taking some back roads through Mohall. From there it’s over to Sidney, Montana and MT-16 down to I-94 at Glendive. 75 miles of open range and exits for “Ranch Access” later brings me to Miles City and MT/WY-59, which is probably one of my favorite roads to drive on. It’s nearly 300 miles on down to Douglas, Wyoming, and then the I-25 home stretch the rest of the way.

People often look at me funny when I tell them how much I enjoy driving through eastern Montana and central Wyoming. But I have my reasons. Here’s why:

The Trains

I’ve always had an innate interest in trains. I don’t know why, other than they’re huge, powerful machines that summon the childish imagination of most technically-inclined boys. One of my life wish list activities is to be a [train] engineer for a day to experience them up close. The railroads that carry the coal from the mines parallel highway 59 between Douglas and Gillette, and I can usually count on seeing at least a half-dozen trains on that stretch of road.

Trains along highway 59 in Wyoming

The Energy

Gillette isn’t called the energy capital of the nation for nothing. A massive amount of coal and natural gas are produced from the mines in the Gillette area, and highway 59 is the main access corridor to those mines. You can see the tops of the silos and drag line shovels on the horizon all along the road.

Closer to Gillette, there are several large coal-fired power plants that take advantage of the nearby mines. These “mine-mouth” plants produce electricity that is transmitted around the country. There is a new plant going up just north of Gillette, the scale of which is quite amazing.

New power plant being built near Gillette, Wyoming

The Romance

I mean the “manifest destiny” and “Lewis and Clark expedition” romance, not the “Sleepless in Seattle” romance.

Growing up in the midwest among the endless farm fields, the wide open ranches of Montana and Wyoming are an exciting change of pace. There is something about being “out west” in the middle of nowhere that fulfills that “Wild at Heart” male desire for adventure.

Most of that area is undeveloped enough to give you a small glimpse of what folks like Lewis and Clark must have seen when Americans first pushed beyond the great plains.

Highway 59 near the Montana/Wyoming border

Highway 59 north of Gillette

In any case, it was a very enjoyable trip home. I’ll be going back to Rapid City to pick up the family in a couple weeks, which won’t take me on highway 59, but still should be a nice trip through Wyoming.

Posted in Energy, Family, Travel | 3 Comments »

North Dakota Energy Tour

August 13th, 2009

While visiting my in-laws last week, I took a day trip down to the Garrison Dam for a tour of the hydroelectric power plant. I wasn’t sure how much I’d really get to see, not knowing the security stance of those type of places these days. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did we see the generator floor, but also the drive shafts below and the penstock room where the huge 24-foot diameter pipes enter the power plant from under the dam.

I also tried to set up a tour of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota, but I was not able to make the scheduling work. That will be on the to-do list for next year, I suppose. On one of my next trips up into Wyoming I plan to tour the Laramie River Power Station, which actually serves both the east and west U.S. power grids.

Posted in Energy | No Comments »

Copper Skiing Trip

April 4th, 2009

Thursday and Friday this week we went out and used our day of skiing at Copper Mountain. It turned out to be a good time to go, as there was several inches of new snow earlier in the week as well as on the days we skied. Temperatures were much lower than during our trip to Steamboat and Winter Park, so the snow was nice.

I skied on Thursday and Adena on Friday, while the other watched the kids. Liberty went out with Adena on Friday afternoon and had a blast. They did some green runs together and then Liberty spent a couple hours on the conveyor lift in the kids area.

We were so happy to see Liberty take to skiing so readily this time. At Winter Park a few weeks ago, she was less than enthusiastic about it all. We might go out for another afternoon yet this season just to get her some more experience. Kids under 5 ski for free, and it wouldn’t require us getting up any earlier than usual, so it would make for a nice day trip.

The rest of the photos are up on Picasa.

My GPS tracks are here, although I was disappointed to find out that much of my early afternoon (including a couple runs in the Copper Bowl) was missed. The GPS had turned off at some point, and based on where the “Copper 2″ track ends, I suspect that happened when I fell on the Upper Sluice mogouls. However, I managed to capture most of the day.

I was hoping to find someone who had converted the Copper trail map to Google Maps tiles, but didn’t find anything. Ideally I’d like to be able to include the ski trail maps as a map type option for the ski trip GPS tracks. However, I can see how this isn’t really practical since the trail maps are 3D artistic representations and aren’t to scale. I might start playing with Google Earth at bit and see if it might be cool to overlay GPS tracks on that as well as the 2D map.

We encountered some snow during the drive out there and back, but in general the roads were in good shape. Every time we are out that direction, I am always amazed at how much of an engineering feat that I-70 is, especially on both approaches to the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Spring Snow

March 28th, 2009

This week most of Colorado was blanketed with several inches of spring snow. Here in Castle Rock we got about twelve inches, which is the most snow we’ve gotten from one storm since Thanksgiving. Copper Mountain received two feet, which is great because we are skiing there next week. We’ve had an unusually dry winter here–before this most recent snow, March was the driest on record.

I was happy that we got one more major snowstorm this season, because I’ve really missed the snow this year. (It has been nice, though, because the lack of snow has kept the voles out of the yard.) Just a week ago the temperature was in the 70s and I was watering the grass!

Friday was a “work from home day” because many of the roads were still in bad condition that morning, so we were able to get out and do some sledding in the afternoon.

Friday afternoon much of the snow was melting off the roads and sidewalks, and it’s another sunny day today, so I don’t expect the rest will last much longer. But we’re all grateful we had one more chance at winter this year.

More snow pictures here, and some other misc photos from March also.

Posted in Around the House, Family | No Comments »

Unsustainable Federal Debt (read: Entitlement Programs)

March 24th, 2009

PBS’s FRONTLINE tonight was an interesting look at the Federal debt during this time of a faltering economy and the affect that the Government’s entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) have on it. Currently those programs comprise roughly 40% of the Federal budget, and are projected to consume over 20% of GDP by the time the baby boomers are well into retirement. Much of this is financed by foreign debt (China, Japan, Saudi Arabia.)

The politicos refuse to fix this problem because those programs are immensely popular with a large portion of the voting public (i.e. seniors collecting from those programs.) And we (Gen-X and Gen-Y’ers) are left footing the bill.

Just another reason why a little fire lights up in my soul twice a month when I see that $249 come out of my paycheck. I’d rather hand that cash over to my parents or father-in-law than see it dumped into the black hole Ponzi scheme that is Social Security.

There’s got to be a better way.

Posted in Current Events, Economics | 1 Comment »

Spring Skiing Trip

March 14th, 2009

A couple weeks ago we went on our traditional spring skiing trip. Grandma usually comes out for a few days sometime around my birthday, and we take that opportunity to go ski since we can just leave the kids with her.

Normally we just go to one location and ski just for one day. This year, though, we got the Pow Pow Platter pass, which gives you one day each at Steamboat, Winter Park, and Copper Mountain. So we had a progressive ski trip this year and went to Steamboat for a couple days, and then Winter Park for a couple days.

The days we chose to ski ended up being two of the warmest days so far this spring, so the snow wasn’t that great, but it was still fun. It’s always enjoyable for Adena and I to get off by ourselves without the kids, if even just for a few hours.

We put skis on Liberty for the first time in Winter Park and gave her a chance to try it out. For the most part I think she enjoyed it, although she did get a little frustrated when she couldn’t move her feet as freely as usual. But, she says that she wants to do it again, so that’s a good sign.

We’ve got one day yet to use at Copper Mountain, so we’re trying to figure out when we can do that within the next few weeks before the season ends. Hopefully there’ll be a few more good snows in the high country so that we can really take advantage of it.

More photos are up on Picasa. GPS tracks for our ski days are on the dorm.org Maps page.

Posted in Family, Travel | No Comments »

The Second Car Dilemma

March 10th, 2009

Recently I’ve been thinking (dreading?) about what we should do about getting a second car for the family. With two kids, it won’t be too long until we’ve completely outgrown the little Saturn. It’s already placing some limitations on trips we can take. For example, with two car seats in the back, we basically can only choose one of the following items: stroller, playpen, cooler, dog, or an additional person. The dog and extra person are not a major deal, but for longer trips it would really be great to be able to bring along the stroller, playpen, and the cooler.

Clearly, the threshold of becoming a two-vehicle family is near. If nothing else, it’ll be an absolute necessity by the time we have a third baby. (I haven’t actually measured, but I am pretty sure that two toddler seats and an infant seat won’t all fit in the back seat of the Saturn.) As much as I don’t want to have to deal with this, I’m realizing that we need to start planning and saving.

The major internal dilemma I have is the full-size SUV vs. minivan, mostly with respect to fuel efficiency. I’ve been spoiled (blessed?) with 30 MPG in the Saturn, so the thought of a 30%-50% cut in gas mileage makes me cringe. But with the current problems in the auto industry, I’ve given up on the pie-in-the-sky dream of gas/electric hybrid SUVs that achieve 25-30 MPG, at least within the timeframe that we’ll need to get a second car. So, I’m slowly forcing myself to accept the fact that in the future we’ll have to burn 50%-100% more fuel.

Deep down, I really want to get a Chevy Tahoe, Toyota Sequoia, or Honda Pilot rather than a minivan. I justify that by figuring that the higher ground clearance and 4WD will be useful for trips to the mountains or on snowy days. But, realistically we’re probably never going to drive on any off-road trails and there are at most 5 or 10 days each year that have enough snow that actually requires 4WD. Although I hate to admit it, I’m probably more motivated by the image of driving an SUV, which is silly, but I don’t have a better way to explain why I want one so much.

Of course, after this last summer, there is a bit of a social stigma attached to driving an SUV as well. I don’t want to be seen as an arrogant, stuck-up exurbanite who thinks I’m entitled to driving a huge, inefficient vehicle regardless of the climate and energy implications. Perhaps my largest motivation against getting an SUV is the image, too.

But, maybe it’s not so bad. I got to thinking that I should really approach the efficiency measurement as person-miles per gallon rather than just straight MPG. After all, beyond a family of four, it’s not possible to use a 30 MPG sedan for transportation, so I really can’t use 30 MPG as the standard for the family vehicle. (The only exception would be one of the few full-sized gas-electric hybrids, but they are almost impossible to find and are so expensive that they don’t make economic sense. And, even those only achieve 20-24 MPG.)

To run some numbers:

Saturn:

4 people x 30 MPG = 120 person-miles/gallon

Minivan:

4 people x 20 MPG = 80 person-miles/gallon
5 people x 20 MPG = 100 person-miles/gallon
6 people x 20 MPG = 120 person-miles/gallon

SUV:

4 people x 15 MPG = 60 person-miles/gallon
5 people x 15 MPG = 75 person-miles/gallon
6 people x 15 MPG = 90 person-miles/gallon
7 people x 15 MPG = 105 person-miles/gallon
8 people x 15 MPG = 120 person-miles/gallon

Assuming we have four kids, a minivan is just as efficient (per person) as what we have now, and an SUV is only 25% less efficient. If we have five or six kids (more unlikely, but possible), then the numbers are even better. This way of thinking helps justify the bigger second vehicle a little more. As long as we use it primarily for trips with the whole family, then we’re still doing about as well as we can with the number of people we have.

Now, I can only hope that the auto market remains depressed for another year or eighteen months so we’ve got some time to save up a significant down payment…

Posted in Economics, Energy, Family | 2 Comments »

Season’s Greetings from the Dormans!

December 18th, 2008

Please enjoy our year-in-review Christmas e-card!

Posted in Family | No Comments »

Why Detroit shouldn’t be bailed out

November 12th, 2008

David Frum had a great commentary on American Public Media’s Marketplace this afternoon describing why the big three automakers shouldn’t be bailed out by the Federal government. Here’s a snippet:

President-elect Obama has expressed support for yet another bailout package for the U.S. auto industry.

Here’s the case: Manufacturing is the backbone of the U.S. economy, and the Detroit automakers are the backbone of U.S. manufacturing.

There was a time when this argument was true — back in the 1970s, when Chrysler extracted the first auto bailout from the U.S. government. Not any more.

…

I couldn’t agree more with this analysis. Anyone who’s read Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat can tell you that manufacturing is on it’s way out as the backbone of the U.S. economy. It’s more efficient to outsource that work overseas, and Americans need to get out of the mindset that we’re entitled to the manufacturing jobs from three decades ago.

Americans need to take it upon themselves to learn new skills and move forward to find their place in the new global economy instead of relying on the unions or the government to “protect” their jobs.

Posted in Current Events, Economics | 1 Comment »

Over-the-air Digital TV in the Exurbs

November 8th, 2008

Ever since the Lake Cedar Group began broadcasting from the new consolidated DTV transmitter on Lookout Mountain earlier this year, I’ve had a dream of being able to receive all the over-the-air signals at our house here in Castle Rock. I would like nothing more than to stop flushing $22 a month down the toilet to Comcast for basic cable.

Unfortunately, this is more difficult than it seems. The topology of Colorado’s front range makes it tricky to receive a sufficient signal unless you’re located in metro Denver or are high enough to have true line-of-sight to Lookout Mountain. You can see on this coverage map for KUSA that the signal strength fizzles out pretty quickly south of Surrey Ridge. Fortunately, we live just above Castlewood Canyon which gets us out of the RF shadow cast by the ridge over most of Castle Rock.

I’ve tried a couple different omni-directional set-top antennas over the last few months, with very poor results. I found a great site (tvfool.com) where you can enter your address and it’ll give you a report of all the DTV stations in your area, their expected signal strengths, and the azimuth of their transmitters. Here is the one I used:

As the chart shows, the majority of the transmitters are northwest of us, somewhere in the foothills west of Denver. It also shows pretty marginal signal strength here at our location. Clearly the set-up antenna is not going to work.

So I picked up an outdoor UHF arial from Radio Shack that’s small enough to fit in my attic, plus an 18 dB booster to push the RF down through the fifty feet of 300-ohm coax cable to the TV.

This weekend I took a couple hours to get everything rigged up. It took a while to figure out a suitable mounting scheme in the attic (since the antenna is designed for mounting on a mast), but once I worked that out it was surprisingly easy. I put it as high as I could manage and pointed it at 309°, the azimuth of the weakest channel I wanted to receive (KMGH.)

Back downstairs, I was pleasantly surprised that we could receive all the local broadcast DTV channels as well as a few others from up near Ft. Collins. Success!

I’ll be returning the cable card and canceling my cable service Monday morning.

Posted in Around the House | 1 Comment »