My blog's been turning into a journal recently, but there's so much going on in my life right now that it's hard to have it any other way.
I just added a bunch of pictures to the photo gallery, including the shots of Kansas, the world's biggest state. (I swear) We were dodging tumbleweeds on I-80 in Kansas for at least 5 weeks that day. Luckily, I didn't take pictures of the world's scariest port-o-potty, which is at a horror-movie-worthy reststop in Indiana. *shudder*
Canon City (and probably most of this part of the country) is very different from New England in many ways. For example...
- The Dryness. When we visited over the summer to help shear al pacas, I noticed at one point that I had a bunch of tiny cuts all over both hands. It was a while before I realized that it was the dryness cracking my skin. Now, I've never been much for moisturizer, but I've found myself forced into it by my environment. Also, I find my mouth and eyes getting dry a lot, and I drink a lot more water. Even the inside of my nose dries out. Yeugh. I've got the monster humidifier I bought for the 1200 sq.ft. Colt Building room running 24 hours a day. But the air is allergen-free, and Linda loves that.
- The Altitude. It's not immediately obvious, but there have been a couple times I've felt inexplicably dizzy or light-headed, and I can only credit the 5000+ foot altitude here. Linda and I have at least once found ourselves breathing a bit fast laying on the couch. They say you get used to it - I'm already getting better after about a week here.
- People People in the midwest like to chat with total strangers. Weird. Not bad - just foreign to me - It takes some getting used to for a New-Englander like myself. Even four-way stopsigns are completely different. In Connecticut, I'd learned the four-way stopsign pattern: I pull up, three other people go, then I go. No eye contact, just watch the vehicles move. Here, people rely heavily on eye contact and gestures at a four-way stopsign, and the order in which you arrived at the intersection seems far less important. Weird. Also, people in such a small town as Canon City seem to be very focused on the town. In Connecticut, I rarely even bought groceries in the same town I lived in. Here, everything you need is within a quarter-mile. Weird.
- Miscellany There are no Dunkin Donuts here - where do I get coffee? There are however, many good radio stations - I could barely find one in the Hartford area. The tap water has a strong taste, although the locals say it isn't toxic.