Early last week Mr. and Mrs. Hudson traveled I-70 west of Golden for the first time in more than six months. We were pursuing no particular agenda other than leaf peeping and meeting a friend for an outdoor lunch in Minturn. This year’s autumnal display is likely as spectacular as ever but feels muted as haze and drifting plumes of wildfire smoke hang in each mountain valley. Just escaping the Front Range and refreshing our appreciation for Colorado’s spectacular vistas once prompted a friend visiting us from Pennsylvania to comment, “…your state feels like one giant National Park.” Amen to that!

We slipped out of surprisingly heavy weekday traffic at Copper Mountain to reach Route 24 outside Leadville and drove north to Minturn past Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division’s memorial at Ski Cooper. I was also curious to check out the mothballed rail line connecting Pueblo with the Union Pacific (UP) mainline near Dotsero. UP recently confirmed it is in conversation with two groups expressing an interest in reopening the track to freight traffic for the first time in a quarter century. The high-speed, Advanced Guideway System proposal connecting Golden and Vail is also enjoying renewed interest.

A group of billionaire New York investors has purchased tens of thousands of acres of farmland in southeast Colorado and is looking for a cheaper route to the ag export terminals on the West Coast. Developers of an oil fracking field in Utah’s Uintah basin covet a shorter route to Gulf Coast refineries. Local residents view this potential revival as an opportunity to connect the airport in Gypsum with passenger rail service to Beaver Creek and Vail. Even more ambitiously, it might be possible to extend this service south to Leadville and west into Garfield County for the workforce that currently commutes to jobs along I-70.

There was little indication Colorado is crouching and poised for “the most consequential” election of our lifetimes – a locution routinely revived every four years by both parties to energize their base voters. We couldn’t help noting a smattering of Biden yard signs and only a single Trump banner. This may merely reflect the fact that the local legislators are all Democrats and presumably better organized. Mountain town politics turned cobalt blue several decades ago – visiting gazillionaire condo owners may vote Republican when they return home, but their meals are served and their bedsheets changed by Democrats residing in Colorado year-round. Dueling neighbors facing across Main Street in Minturn are posting dueling Hickenlooper and Gardner signs.

Colorado’s pollster emeritus, Floyd Ciruli, remarked recently on the probable accuracy of a surprising poll showing the presidential contest neck-and-neck in the heavily Republican 3rd Congressional District. In this year’s primary and despite a decade in Congress, Republican voters tossed out Scott Tipton for gunslinger Lauren Boebert who campaigned on a promise to prove an even more devoted Trump acolyte than the reliably conservative Tipton. If Western Slope Republicans have finally had a belly full of their president, who won the district handily in 2016, they may not be ready to send a fanatical cheer leader to Washington. Diane Mitsch-Bush could follow in the footsteps of Betsy Markey who represented the bright red Eastern Plains as a one term wonder.

Our road trip prompted me to call an old friend and city manager, whose name remains better left unmentioned, to check on Colorado’s $200 million, record-setting marijuana bonanza in August. Pot shops in mountain resort communities have prospered since legalization, primarily buoyed by enthusiastic sales to tourists. Five or six years ago, these visitors provided 60-70% of total receipts. This summer there haven’t been all that many out-of-state visitors. Nonetheless, sales are still thriving.

No more humble-bragging about fleecing tourists – the customers crowding resort pot shops are largely Front Range day trippers escaping COVID-19 lock downs and too many ZOOM meetings. “We can’t explain it entirely,” my insider tells me, “but purchasers aren’t picking up a joint for their afternoon hike. Perhaps they prefer not to be seen parking at their neighborhood store and find it more discreet to replenish their stash here. That’s OK with us, we can use the tax dollars.” Is it possible that homebound boredom has us baking more than sourdough bread?

I close this recounting of our excursion to the Rockies by noting that nearly everyone is driving too damned fast these days. Yes, my six-month hiatus from the Interstate rat race may have dulled my reflexes, but I’m no shrinking violet behind the wheel (just check with Mrs. Hudson). I set my cruise control eight miles over the limit which usually earns me a pass from speed traps but isn’t nearly fast enough to keep from being passed by everyone else. Frustration? Anger? Risk? Exhilaration? Be careful out there.