Vandrea Does America: Day 68 (Monday 8/27/12)- Fort Collins, CO

Morning started with a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday, which brought me to wakefulness in a great mood, especially when Isaiah told me about the banana creme pie he had purchased and that I could eat it as early as I wanted. With one exception my mood remained happy for the rest of the day.

I should get the reason for my being upset out of the way now so we can get to the good stuff. Isaiah treated me to a Birthday coffee. I don't know which is less healthy-eating dessert for breakfast or washing it down with more dessert. As I waited for my "coffee" I witnessed what I felt was deplorable. Waiting in line was a Hispanic woman and out of nowhere a White man jumped directly in front of her to get his coffee re-filled. When she mentioned the line and how he had bypassed it he yelled at her and added, "there is no pleasing you people" (Yes, we people who wait in line). As if the presence of this particular man would bring pleasure to anyone. I took this as a racially charged statement and was outraged. Though I should mention I am disappointed in myself that I did nothing to act and help the situation. I hope this was a learning lesson for me and that should something like this happen again I choose to speak up and at least comfort the woman. Isaiah and I had some discussion around the appropriate reaction to employ on the man in this scenario, me of course wanting to dump ice water on his head and Isaiah, always the pragmatist, warning that this action could only make things worse. Now on to happier times.

We stopped briefly in Cheyenne, WY mostly to say we did. We did go the Sierra Trading Post outdoor stoor. and then headed to Fort Collins, CO. Our friend Frankie (we met him and his brother in Yellowstone) goes to Colorado State University and they have an excellent Occupational Therapy program, so we had two reasons to be excited.

After searching out information about the OT program and getting to know the campus better we met up with Frankie. The university (and campus) is huge with over 26,000 students and lots of open space, so after a long walk we chose a place to rest and were shocked when Frankie walked up and told us we had managed to pick a bench right outside his classroom.

We then took a tour of Old Town (the model for Disneyland's downtown) and made a few stops along the way. We did a lot of walking but Frankie's wet shirt (see picture) is not due to sweat. One of our stops was a fountain. We all got varying degrees of wet. Isaiah-his toes. Me-a sprinkle. Frankie- shot in the head with a water canon. As Frankie was now soaked we stopped in a cool thrift store for him to try on mittens. These and a sampling of other children's clothing.

Next was "Good Times." At Frankie and the cashier's behest we tried Strawberry Cheesecake custard ice cream and Wild Fries. Yum.

Our exploratory walk and the one preceding it caused for some serious soreness as my cheap thong sandals rubbed off any discernible skin from the top of my foot. At the thrift store I found what at the time seemed like a wise investment-a pair of high heels. I was desperate for some shoes other than the chaffing sandals and the price and fit of the heels were right. This decision resulted in the biggest blisters of my life.

We lucked in to a free concert (well maybe luck isn't the right word) and managed to sit through most of it. (Stereotypical southern rock. Good gruff vocals. Solid double lead guitar. Like musically nothing has happened since Lynyrd Skynyrd. The type of music that's great for outdoors during the summer. You need the right combo of chemical imbalance, mild heat stroke, and a Frisbee to truly enjoy it. As one of their songs said "Its a southern thing, you wouldn't understand." )The most interesting part of the concert was a man with a horse head. A four-year old with a pink cowgirl hat approached to get a better look and maybe to pet the horse. She seemed to be permanently traumatized and we saw, as it happened, her love of horses turn to aversion. Her father was too busy to notice, too busy spitting chew at Frankie. By this time the lead singer was even bored and left, the band continuing to play away, as if the singers presence had ever deterred them from soloing.

We were headed back to our van to wind down for the night, instead we ended up joining a soccer game with Frankie, his girlfriend and about 20 others.
　

There were several reasons this was disastrous.

I hope it is now clear why I spent some time complaining about the condition of my feet. Having no appropriate footwear between us and wearing my nicest Birthday outfit, Isaiah and I jumped right in...barefoot.

Also there was the fact my professional soccer experience did not extend beyond a half season in 4th grade (I was paid in oranges. The only motivation for my participation in the sport).

There was the altitude, which made me feel I was breathing in invisible razor blades and exhaling fire (which would be cool, but that too was invisible).

Though I have no idea what the final score was I can say with pride I made a goal (possibly the slowest moving goal ever, but still) and Isaiah defended with some serious grit. Though we weren't actually good and other than the one goal the only thing I contributed was some skilled shit talking no one could say we didn't play with heart. Frankie on the other hand was incredible as goalie. If was as if he were in several places at once.