Old bridge

The part of Colorado Springs I live in there's some trails that I've went walking on many times. In one particular place there's this decrepit bridge. Here's a few pictures of it from Mark Dabling Blvd. I'd always seen the bridge from the other side of the creek before.

I was researching the area tonight and why the bridge looks like does is probably the result of a flood that happened in 1935. Three bridges had been destroyed. The one that made the newspapers was a footbridge in a part of the park near downtown. This part of town, however, was part of Roswell which had been annexed by Colorado Springs in the early 1900's. 
   The main power plant for the city happened to be located in the center of Roswell. Around this area was a large number of coal mines that were dug into the bluffs and hillsides. I live a short ways from this bridge however and the ground consists of fill from the mines. This I researched once I found out about the mines as I didn't want my house falling into an abandoned mine shaft. 
   Apparently around Rockrimmon Blvd that's been an issue. There was also drainage issues where Nevada Ave and I-25 meets. Of course that intersection has about eight mines extending outward according to the Bureau of Mines map. I will note that directly across Nevada Blvd from where I live are some abandoned mine shafts. I'll note that not too far away you can see two of the beehive shaped kilns that was used to take the coal and bake it into coke for power plant. The power plant has been modernized but it's still there.

Here's a view of the bridge from the satellite in Google maps. As you can see it's in the left side of this image. Mark Dabling Blvd is to the left, and Mountview is to the right and points toward the bridge.

Now I'm really curious so I research further and I found this map from 1940. In the upper left hand corner is a block of city blocks that doesn't exist now. I think, though I'm not totally sure, that bridge was the access for the people living there who happened to be miners. I'll have to double check it at the library.

   That's enough of this little stroll through history. Have a great day. 

Oil changes

   I remember reading through the manual for scooter. It's started that you replace the oil at 300 km, 1000 km, and then every 4000 km from then on. I was wondering why because that isn't a very long distance.
   When I did the first oil change at 150 km I found out why. A screen functions as the filter so it doesn't really capture any dirt. It just kind of accumulates in what's essentially a sump. Anyway, it requires oil changes more often than what you're used to doing. I just passed the 400 km mark so I'll probably do one more oil change in the next few days.

Update

I haven't posted anything here for a while but I've been very busy these days. My garden is now ready for this year. The scooter is running well and I've been putting to use a lot. It's amazing how easy it is to get lost when you hadn't driven for 9 1/2 years. I'm helping Susan with some of her tasks too, and yesterday, that was her front yard.
Soon I'll be visiting the motorcycle museum here in Colorado Springs. That should be cool and it isn't too far from my house.

Road test tomorrow.

Today, it is snowing out. It should make it interesting for taking my road test tomorrow. It's been a long time since I drove last but I remember most of what I need to do. Most cars are pretty straight forward and the ones at that driving school near DMV are the easy to drive ones. If all goes well, as I think it will, I'll be completely legal to drive tomorrow afternoon.
   To my surprise last Thursday no reinstatement fee was required. Then again, maybe it shouldn't have surprised as all of the fines from being caught driving without insurance had been paid completely for a few years. Nicely enough the insurance on the scooter is rather cheap which I'll need it to be for a while.
   I still have to do the scooter registration which is coming up soon. Much more of the town will be within reach for me.

I have wheels

   As some of you know I lost my license a number of years ago due to getting caught driving without insurance. Since then I've relied on bicycles. The fines was $1500 and 16 days in jail was required. They are very serious about the issue here in Colorado. For a long time I had decided it might be better if I just didn't drive.
   Finally, I'm going to go get my drivers license and I decided to go the rather cheap route, a 49cc scooter which the trucking company delivered yesterday. This morning I got busy with getting it out of the crate it was shipped in. Once I got the large cardboard box off here's what it looked like.

   I had to dismantle part of that metal framework. The front wheel still had to be installed and handlebars attached properly. I will state there wasn't any assembly instructions so it's a good thing I have some mechanical aptitude.

   Here it is completely assembled on the driveway including the little trunk it came with.

The view of the scooter from the porch.

   So far I've tested it by trying to start it of which it kicks over. I'll have to get some gas later today when I'm out and about. It's a rather nicely balanced machine having sat astride it. At the least it's going to make my life a bit easier for getting to and from work.

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Now that I'm single

Sometimes during the last two months it’s been very difficult to get my life moving again now that I'm single. For me, in some ways, it would be easy to close myself off from the world and just hide away. I did set up a couple of profiles for a bit on a couple of online dating sites. I really didn’t like the whole process I soon removed them. It was proven to me rather quickly that it might not be worth the bother for some.

Even so I did meet one lady, Oksana, who has become my close friend and confident. Presently she’s planning on coming to be with me. I like her a lot. She’s really sweet J

One thing I've been doing is catching up on the movies I've missed of which there are many. I'm now very well acquainted with Netflix I have playing on my new smart TV. It's been fun even if a bit boring at times. Usually I have the laptop running too with at least one browser window open.

I’ve also managed to get out a little here and there with friends which have been a pleasant change for me. As soon as it gets a bit warmer I suppose I'll go on some hikes. The mountains are calling to me. I’m really wanting to get to the top of Pikes Peak for my birthday.