Nicholas Quirke was smiling, no, grinning with self satisfaction on Saturday 16th December. He had enjoyed an immensely successful day and was delighted to have got through the Rockies without incident. From the moment he had conceived his Odyssey through America during December, he had been beset by people telling him he was going at the wrong time of year, that he would be stuck in snow, particularly in the high regions of the mid west. it would be freezing cold and really dangerous. He had been nervous about the drive but so far he had not experienced any danger or hold ups and he was on schedule. He had to admit a certain disappointment that it hadn’t been more obstructive. Nicholas had a cosmopolitan start to his day in Denver and checked in a couple of interesting sights before starting his drive, taking in some of the city’s interesting architecture en route. The first stop, which he had discovered, and had intended for the delectation of Harvey and Cole and their friends was the International Church of Cannabis, a technicolor place of worship for Elevationists. Disappointingly it didn’t open till 1pm and he would be long gone. He was more successful with his 2nd effort at the Colorado State Capitol Building to stand on the steps that are exactly a mile high, 5280 feet above sea level. His final stop was for a tour of the home of the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Her name wasn’t Molly but Margaret, apparently nothing rhymes with Margaret so for the purposes of movie making it became Molly. A really interesting museum none the less, to honour a quite remarkable woman. Nicholas had a 6 hour drive ahead of him and if the scenery was going to be anything like that he had absorbed the day before it was going to take longer. From the moment he started climbing through the mountains he knew it was going to be safe and inspiring. One moment he was driving through clear Pine tree littered mountain sides and the next through the dazzling white peaks. He desperately tried to capture the claustrophobia of driving through a canyon but the GoPro (which he had fixed) wasn’t quite the right medium. When he passed a deserted train on the banks of the Colorado river his foot went down hard on the brakes and he managed to get a bit of the train in. Once past the Rocky Mountains the Landscape changed again and in the light of the suns last gasp he stopped to film and photograph the mind expanding vista he was experiencing. As night closed in Nicholas drove to his motel in Moab as the silhouetted  Crags and rock formations, visible but without detail became a truly eerie sight. He looked forward to capturing in the morning.