Drive home

Another snow report from Colorado.

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From: Casey Lynch [mailto:casey@durangorafting.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 9:58 AM
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Taylor Roth crew,

I want to share my drive home from Vail last week. I stayed a week in the field in Edwards, Colorado doing audit field work for The Heuga Center. Last Saturday morning I left Edwards and skied Vail for the first time (12” of fresh powder was wonderful). I was able to ski “Milt’s face” which was named after a friend of mine. I drove to Crested Butte on Saturday afternoon to stay with friends and visit my daughter who attends Western State College in Gunnison. (3 mountain passes, Vail, Fremont and Monarch) It was a beautiful drive and only one pass was really slick.

I skied Crested Butte on Sunday morning and started home at noon. This is normally a 4 hour drive. I made it to Ridgeway with no problem. I checked the highway road report and found out Red Mountain, Cole Bank and Molas Passes were all closed. Lizard Head pass was closed. I thought this might be the case when I started out so I was ready for a long drive. The next option was to take a back road through Norwood and almost to Utah. This turned into quite an adventure. The wind was blowing and it was snowing, I was driving down the middle of the road at 20 MPH and no body else was on the road. I pulled into Dove Creek and had to make my way around orange cones in the highway.

I pulled into the Dove Creek Superette (grocery Store) to get gas and a road report. The Sheriff had closed the highway in both directions and the highway would not open till the following afternoon. About 200 people were in Dove Creek, no motel rooms were available. 50 big trucks were parked all over the place around the Grocery Store. I have a sleeping bag and a pad in the car so I was in better shape than a lot of people.

I managed to find the Super bowl on the radio and grab some snacks. I was listening to the game when a couple of guys from Mexico knocked on my car window and wanted to charge their cell phone. I said sure and the guys gave me a couple of Tecate beers. These guys couldn’t speak a lot of English and my Spanish is pretty poor. These guys were talking on the cell phone and the game was fading in and out on a weak radio station. I kept changing stations trying to get better reception and asking the guys to talk quietly. It was a great game and one of the most interesting Super Bowl parties I have ever attended. I did manage to get the message to them that New York had won the Super Bowl.

The highway opened after the game and 2 and a half hours later after driving in a blinding snow storm I was home. I did get stuck in my drive way but I was able to plow 2 feet of snow with the car and finally get stuck where I usually park.

We had received 3 and ½ feet of snow here in Durango. Michael and I started shoveling at 8:00 AM. We shoveled for six hours here at the house and managed to clear off the garage pad, the roof and the travel trailer. Michael then went over to my sister’s house (Mo) and shoveled her roof. Michael met me at his Grandma’s house at 6:00PM and shoveled her roof. WOW what a storm. The attached photo was taken Thursday after the snow had settled. You can see my son Michael and my travel trailer in the background.

180% of normal snow pack is going to make next rafting season an adventure. I am excited and a little nervous.

I still would much rather live in Durango than in Southern California where I drove through the fires last fall. Now I am hoping for a calm not stressful tax season.

Casey

Casey D. Lynch CPA

Taylor, Roth and Company, PLLC

800 Grant Street, Suite 310

Denver, Co. 80203-2944

866-330-8109 (Denver office)

Cell 970-749-1388

Fax 303-830-8127 (Denver)

Fax 970-692-8293 (Casey)