The Great Divide

The Great Divide

I have been fascinated by the idea that there is a line one can draw down the continent that demarcates what is known as the hydrological divide of the Americas. That means simply that to the east of that line all the water flows east and to the west of it, all the water flows west. This line extends all the way from the Bering Strait down to the Straits of Magellan. That separation defines what water flows into the Pacific and what flows into the Atlantic. It’s predominant formations are created by the Rocky Mountains in the north and the Andres Mountains in the south. No other part of the world has such a long and well-defined hydrological divide. Europe is a mess of rivers running in three different directions. Asia has one watershed from the Himalayas that dumps into the Bay of Bengal, but then all the rivers of China fan out across the pacific and deposit their water in some combination of The South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea. Africa is a patchwork of watershed that have the Nile running uniquely north and the Congo running due west. It seems like those two major rivers squeeze out the sponge of Africa more or less entirely. The same is mostly true of Australia as well with everything seeming to flow in every direction from Aires Rock. But the Americas are different and it all looks so orderly and by design. East goes east and west goes west.

In a week, Kim and I will bundle up my daughter Carolyn and her family (John, Charlotte and Evelyn) into a rented minivan and we will head towards the Continental Divide. We try and find interesting things to do with the girls each year and this year I landed on the occasion of my youngest son Thomas and his wife Jenna’s move to Denver as an excuse for a roadtrip. This will be a road trip that recaptures some of the fun we had last summer when we all went to Torrey, Utah for a week at the Lodge at Red River Ranch with the whole combined fan-damily. This year we will start out the same way by heading first to Las Vegas so that we can have dinner with my sister Barb and her significant others. I never know whether that will include her husband Dave, her son Jason and/or his daughter Kaitlin. Whomever it includes, we will have dinner and then head out the next day to go again up to the Lodge at Red River Ranch for old times sake. That’s when the new part of the trip will start. We will head east across southern Utah on the Bicentennial Highway, which is one of the most visually stunning rides I know. It’s Forrest Gump, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Easy Rider all rolled into one. We will cut through Four Corners to go to Durango. I love the area and know it well from thirty years of motorcycle rides through the territory.

Durango is the quintessential western town with all the old Victorian architecture and the old saloons and train depots. From Durango we will not head north through the Alpine Loop through Silverton and Trlluride, as pleasant as that may be. Instead we will head further east towards Canon City, which is near Pueblo. The main reason for going that way in our approach to Denver is to see something different, which in this case is the Great Sand Dunes National Park and then Pikes Peak. I’ve heard about Pikes Peak for decades, but never had occasion to be in that area of southeastern Colorado. There we will meet up with Thomas and Jenna and begin a few days in Denver to do whatever they recommend and whenever their work schedules will allow. Carolyn and the girls will stay with Tom and Jenna, but Kim and I will be at a nearby hotel. It will be nice to see where they have settled for the moment and spend more than a heartbeat in Denver, which has always been a place I have only passed through on my way to one ski area or another.

When we are done in Denver and I have put Carolyn and company on the plane to New York, Kim and I will boogey to Salt Lake City (518 miles) to stay with our long time pals Deb & Mellisa. Our last day is currently scheduled for 717 miles of scenic Rt. 15 all the way from the canyons of the Wasatch, down the length of Utah to the Virgin Valley Gorge and Mesquite, Nevada, and whizzing by Las Vegas and through the Mojave, landing us a stone’s throw from our hilltop. If there ever was a mainline highway for me, it would be Rt. 15.

I don’t think I could design a better summer program than what we have enjoyed for the last two summers. To have our granddaughters with us for a whole month, coming in each evening to kiss us goodnight and being there when they wake up and come out for breakfast is priceless. We have budgeted the whole month of July for them and I think they enjoy the diversity of activities we plan for them. Last week was sort of the beach week and this week is the ranch week with them going every afternoon to a nearby horse ranch for a horseback riding camp with a dozen other young girls. They spend the morning with us at the house and the afternoon at the ranch doing everything from learning how to ride to learning how to muck out the stalls. Tonight we picked them up and all went to Hernandez’s Hideaway, a local Mexican restaurant by Lake Hodges, where their camp is located. Tomorrow we will pick them up and go to a restaurant in Carlsbad to meet up with nephew Will. Thursday is movie night for Carolyn, John and I to get to see the new Deadpool movie while Kim stays home having dinner and fun with the girls. Friday, our friend Yasuko will come over to teach the girls how to make origami animals. Every day is a new adventure for the girls and every day is a heartwarming new day spent with these two sweet girls and watching them grow to be wonderful young women.

Saturday will be our getaway day when I pick up the minivan and get us all packed up for the final week’s adventure to the Continental Divide. It’s not like we ride along for 350 miles per day singing camp songs (as much as I sometimes try), but just to be able to be with them and experience the Big Sky country out here in the west is a pleasure I’m not sure we could reproduce. We may represent three generations and under most circumstances that alone would be a great divide, but the beauty of these visits and these trips is that they break down all thee barriers and we just enjoy spending time with one another. What could be better?