Why are you cool?

Originally posted by wolf
Do you need a copy of the song for the trip?

Songline for Wolf Creek Pass

You'll know you're almost home
when you reach that pull-out on the road
the one where you put your chains on -
or take them off.
The Rio Grande is just a creek here,
head waters 90 degree angles due west
at the Continental Divide.
Big up country starts Now!

Gear down here and begin to gather speed.
Consider the laws of classical physics
Force = mass x acceleration
Vectors becomes a calculus of place.
And in those days the road was narrow -
two lanes, no guard rails.

Up ahead now, there's a semi going far too slow
And I have a record to break
Besides I never had any use for brakes.
In the mountains, use your gears.
Don't brake going up.
Don't burn out going down.

Swing out and around,
tires skittering near edge
Sharp curve,
1,000 foot drop off!
Pay it no mind
Fear would have you look over the edge
stand on the brakes,
go out of control
skid over and down.

Drive through the fear.
and keep your eyes where you want the tires to go.
You are staying on the road!
Then swing back in
smooth and easy.

It was a riff done by girl and car,
road and mountain.
The trucker flashes his lights -
On Off!
On Off !
- twice in admiration!
I lift one hand from the wheel,
turn and blow him a kiss.
But the road claimed my attention like a jealous lover.

You learn to respect the Pass
listen to its demands
after 7 years of travel -
sometimes in winter blizzards,
sometimes in sudden wash-outs of summer rain.
And don't forget the occasional avalanche
thrown in just to see if you are paying attention.
Wolf Creek always has its moods
and so do I.

Today I am in love
with this road,
these mountains, these Spring wildflowers,
which have come out just for me,
watching as I take those sharp turns
effortlessly - flying,
accelerating into the curves,
my small Suburu hugging the road tight
like that lover
returning home
after a long absence.

Two days later sitting in the faculty lounge,
I'll boast to a friend -
A fellow poet and a philosopher,
but most of all my main competition
in a serious contest -
Who could drive Wolf Creek the best!

"Did the entire pass averaging 50 mph,"
I'd say casually.
He set his coffee cup down with a sound
like a guantlet being flung.
"Prove it!"
So I did.
Took a long drag on my cigarette and said
"Let's go!"

A couple of college teachers cutting class
on a warm spring day
leaving our students behind like shadows
in empty class rooms.

My friend had given me the music for Wolf Creek,
Jean Luc Ponty's incredible jazz violin.
It happened to be in my cassette deck
that day I drove the Wolf Creek invitational.
I hope in return I gave him good company,
talking poetry and the philosophy of road advisories;
dragging the main strip -
Highway 160 between Pagosa Springs and South Fork,
showing off how well we belonged there.

The real kids behind us
would return to the city,
in search of better things.
We'd already found them,
topping the summit of that pass.
Wolf Creek!
Elevation 10,640 feet
Chain law
No longer in effect!

[ladysycamore]

[pimpstress]"I gots my 95 purple, yes PURPLE, Geo Metro, sitting on thirteens baby...AAAAND what![/pimpstress]

Being with Sycamore (shut up Bruce). :p

And well, just because! (I can't turn all this off...*brushing off shoulders).

[Lady Sidhe]

Originally posted by wolf


Can't you just increase the amount of sterine that you add to the wax mixture to stabilize it?

That's not how I make them. I burn different types of candles, along with crayons (sparkly, regular, neon, swirl) and make a base for whatever I'm going to make. Then I mold the drippings that don't stay attached to the candle, or I burn a tealight candle, and pour the wax out onto a surface and carve it into whatever I want it to be, and attach it to the base-- or I carve the candle itself into what I want it to be.


For instance, I have one candle that started out in a decorative flowerpot. I took several tea candles, burned them, poured the wax out, and carved them into flowers. I let them solidify, peeled them up, then heated them again and molded them. I then took several long green drips that had broken off a candle that was on a bottle, and attached them into the flowerpot as background greenery, then added the flowers. It looks real.

I took pictures of all my candle sculptures, but I haven't gotten them developed yet.

I need something that I can maybe spray on the finished sculptures that won't degrade them, but will preserve them well enough so that they won't melt easily. I have one sculpture of a castle on a hill that I have to keep in front of the air conditioner, or the walls of the castle start to slide...lol...



Sidhe

[smoothmoniker]

I once played poker for 56 hours straight, at a table where over $50,000 changed hands in the course of the game.

And Blue, when you want to start throwing back Johnny Walker Black, call me. We'll see who stands longer. 28 is the perfect age for a liver - it's used to be kicked in the head every two weeks, but not old enough to be broken.

-sm

[jaguar]

I once played poker for 56 hours straight, at a table where over $50,000 changed hands in the course of the game.

Finish up or down?

[glatt]

Originally posted by blue58


I've been electrocuted & burned on many occasions and lived through it.

What's my cool score?

I think the electrocuted/burnt thing may work against you. Cool people know how to treat electricity without getting shocked.

Besides, to be a nit-picker, doesn't "electrocuted" mean that you died of an electric shock?

[lumberjim]

I crossed wolf whatever pass. and i stayed in durango for a night. I have a really funny picture of jinx all fucking drunk on the porch of the motel we stayed in while we were there, too. If i can find it i'll post it.

jack daniels coolers, high altitude, and a little grass make jinx pretty kooky

Originally posted by lumberjim
I crossed wolf whatever pass. and i stayed in durango for a night. I have a really funny picture of jinx all fucking drunk on the porch of the motel we stayed in while we were there, too. If i can find it i'll post it.

jack daniels coolers, high altitude, and a little grass make jinx pretty kooky

Well, now you have the explanation for me as well, 'cept I don't do grass, just the Jack!

[blue]

Originally posted by glatt


I think the electrocuted/burnt thing may work against you. Cool people know how to treat electricity without getting shocked.

Besides, to be a nit-picker, doesn't "electrocuted" mean that you died of an electric shock?

No way man, cool means getting right back on that horse!

And for the record it was several electrocutions and a few non-electrical incidents with fire.

And yep, too nitpicky.

[blue]

How 'bout sharing, c'mon man where's the love?

[lumberjim]

blue, weren't you the one that fell out of the tree with the chainsaw?

[mrnoodle]

Originally posted by marichiko
Songline for Wolf Creek Pass

I used to live in the foothills south of Del Norte, one town away from South Fork. I wrote the little weekly papers for DN, SF, and Creede. Gads I loved that part of the world. I would be there to this day if they had paid me more than $265 a week.

Anybody live in the valley still? Update me

[blue]

Originally posted by lumberjim
blue, weren't you the one that fell out of the tree with the chainsaw?

Yeah, that was me....damn you got a good memory.

That wasn't cool tho....that was stupid the way I placed myself. The "cool" part was when I hopped right back up, and went to work (chainsaw kept running) on the part of the tree that fell with me (I was in pain & feelin like a dumbass, but I knew the wife was watching).

Come to think of it, she witnessed a couple of my electrical adventures too, and I pretended nothing happened even tho I knew she was freaking out. I get lots of good hot lovin by the way....must be the danger factor.

[lumberjim]

Originally posted by blue58

I get lots of good hot lovin by the way....must be the danger factor.

OR ....it could be your big hairy ass.

[blue]

Maybe, but just between us I suspect it's my huge penis.