Free is Always Better

Mondays are often hard as for me it is the first day after the work-weekend. In the Step-Down unit we see many sick people, some old and some way too young. Perhaps the greatest thing is to be around someone when they receive bad news. When someone receives good news its not hard to be a nurse but when the news is of the other sort, that's when you have to be truly on your game. Focused. You have to be There for them. I am starting to crave the freedom of walk/running or on my mountain bike as the work-weekend draws to a close and I am starting to get antsy. Exercise is becoming my antidote.

Today Sam and I set out for a new adventure. We headed down to Chatfield State Park. Chatfield in a piece of land with a 1,450 surface-acre lake that gathers its water from Deer Creek and Massey Draw among others. It was originally a 720 acre ranch belonging to Isaac W Chatfield in 1879. The rivers flooded several times over the years and in 1965 13 people were killed by the flash floods. The Army Corps of Engineers built a large dam in 1967 as a flood control device.
We drove into the park to be greeted by a sign on the Port of Entry saying "Today Free" That was nice and it saved us $7! We picked up a map and headed to the car park next to the swim beach. There were quite a few people there and many of the vehicles had out of State plates on them.
After pulling out the Diamondback and putting Sam's buggy together, we put on our helmets and readied ourselves for the ride. With Sam securely strapped in and with some toy cars, some milk and a snack on board, we set off to the South side of the Res.
The trails in the park have varied surfaces but the majority are concrete paved and well maintained. As we were following the reservoir edge, the route is relatively flat with some gentle up's and downs. We followed the main bike trail down the side of the res and then turned east over the Platt River bridge. The trail then headed off into some areas with mature trees and climbed towards a section of the res called The Heronary. Blue Heron's visit the res and supposedly nest there.
We came upon an area that is a large fenced boat storage and next to the park headquarters, was a great find. There is a small cabin built of trimmed logs with a sod roof called The Slocum cabin. It is set overlooking the lake and looks much as it probably did when it was built in the 1880's. The cabin was moved to it's present site and historic Mountain Men and Women days are celebrated there.
After scoping out this photo opportunity, Sam and I continued around the res. Off to the west we had been noticing regular lightening and we had been keeping a weather eye. When one bolt shook the prairie just to the South of us, we headed for cover and found it at the RV park shower and amenity building. From here we watched the front fly through. Sam got to meet a gentleman who now travels the country with his wife in a very large RV. They snow-bird to Arizona and the Pacific North West each year. Sounds like a decent life.
After the back of the main storm passed we mounted up and started to retrace out route. Around half way I noticed the chatter had ceased behind me. I glanced back to find Sam sound asleep. As it hadn't taken long to retrace the 4.5 miles to the car I continued towards the dam on the north side of the res.
After climbing to the dam wall height I was happy to find a rough but paved road along the top that ran for about 1.5 miles one-way. We came back along the top and then headed for the car. Just as we were almost back to the car park, Sam woke up after his nap. Must be nice!
Well the whole trip (excluding the 25 minutes lay-up due to the storm) took us 1:40:25. We covered a really healthy 14.77 miles at an average pace of 6.47 minutes/mile. As I said, pretty flat. The Garmin claims 2822 calories burned. Now, with the flatness of the site and towing Sam I would like to claim most of these. :)
Sam really enjoyed it and told his mom all about it when she cam home tonight. A great sign as it tells me he really is enjoying sitting behind the sweaty hippo who is riding up front.