A Wild West legend; Things no one warns you about when moving to Colorado; High-elevation fried chicken; Wolf update; & More

[00:00:05] Alright, cool. Welcome to the OutThere Colorado Podcast. Once again, I'm Spencer, here with Seth. Here, present, accounted for. And once again, we've got some pretty interesting Colorado stuff to talk about, but as is tradition, what do you do this weekend, Seth? The weekend catch-up. The weekend recap. Weekend edition. On a Thursday, though, so. Yeah, we are recording late. Testing our memories. I was gonna say, my memory is fading. I did a nice hike up Iron Mountain. Oh, nice. In beautiful Manatee

[00:00:35] Springs. I grilled out. And I think that covers it. It sounds like a good weekend to me. Yeah. Yeah. I was at a wedding at Phantom Canyon on the third floor. Awesome venue. Yeah, Phantom Canyon, a little brewery in Colorado Springs. So, really enjoyed that. And then went out to watch the Pacers lose at Urban Animal, one of our favorites. That's what I did. I watched the finals. Yeah. Real sad about that. Yeah, sorry, Indiana man. Sorry, Hoosier. I know. I'm even, even,

[00:01:05] over a decade removed, I still feel for them when they lose. It was a great run. That was a hell of a run. I didn't see that coming, nor did I see Halliburton going down like that. Wow. What a heartbreak. Indeed. Indeed. But digging into Colorado things, Seth has been beaming over here. So excited to tell me about a certain Colorado character that is the namesake of a very popular trail in Colorado Springs.

[00:01:32] You just want to dive right into that. I do just want to dive right into that. I'm excited to hear about it. I mean, after, after you tell me about Rattlesnake Kate previously and how fascinating that was. Yes. Really curious to hear about Captain Jack as well. Yeah. Captain Jack might even top Rattlesnake Kate as far as maybe the most interesting woman in Colorado history that I've read about that I've become familiar with. Tell us more. I'm familiar with the Captain Jack trail. That's right. Yeah. So maybe we start there. Yeah. One of the, one of the,

[00:02:01] one of the best mountain biking trails probably in the state, I would guess. Yep. Definitely in the Colorado Springs area. Yes. That's in the, in the mountains here, kind of around North Cheyenne Canyon Park. If people are familiar there, uh, in Colorado Springs, uh, kind of around high drive, which was a historic scenic route, carriage route where Captain Jack, that's Ellen Jack, uh, ended up in her later years in the mid, uh, early, what? When did she get here?

[00:02:31] She gets here? And sets up a tourist stop along high drive. Um, and she lives there until her death in 1921. And I mean, that was a colorful scene on its own. There she is at her cabin high in the woods with her cats, with her burrows, which she went around the mountain seeking treasure.

[00:02:54] She was still, that's how she built her reputation as a miner. And she made mining claims around the mountains there, but mostly, or well, unsuccessful mining claims. She just kept going after it and running around with her burrows, but it was the tourist, uh, destination where she decided to kind of finish out her very entrepreneurial, very colorful, colorful life. Live there with her cats, her burrows, and also her big parrots.

[00:03:17] Parrots. If you look up in the front. Oh yeah. Big colorful parrots, of course, for Captain Jack. And if you look up pictures of her, you'll find her in like this cowboy hat, like a candlestick fixed atop the hat. Nice. A pickaxe in another hand, and a pistol in another hand. Um, which is just a great way of capturing this woman, right? So she's doing postcards up there. She's taking pictures with tourists up there.

[00:03:43] Kind of looks like she was selling liquor and or beer and trying to fend off police while doing that without a liquor license. Uh, just one of many, many legal courtroom battles. She, uh, she, uh, fought throughout her life, which I wasn't aware of. I was aware of the pictures of her, but I wasn't aware of just, um, the battles she thought, fought throughout her life, which you can read all about.

[00:04:13] And this great newish book came out in 2023 Colorado's Mrs. Captain Ellen Jack, mining queen of the Rockies. That's what she called herself. It's a great book by Jan, Jan, Jane Bardal. And, um, got to talk with the author and, um, that book more than any other, you know, tried to parse out fact from fiction with this larger than life character.

[00:04:39] Fortunately, she left behind an autobiography with an amazing name, of course, uh, called The Fate of a Fairy. That's what she called her book that Captain Jack wrote. Um, and we most definitely can't take that book, uh, as total fact. Right? It tells a lot of crazy stuff. Um, but again, fortunately we have this newish book from this, um, historian who very much dug through documentation

[00:05:07] and everything else she could to really track down what this woman's life looked like. Um, and what did it look like? Incredible. Um, she's born in England. Ellen Jack is, um, long story short, she winds up in New York, uh, apparently on a ship where she meets a captain named Captain Jack.

[00:05:31] Jack. A man's name, his last name is Jack. That's where she got her name. Got it from him. Um, he goes on to die. Um, he was a union, uh, served in the Navy for the Union during the Civil War. Ellen Jack writes of meeting Abraham Lincoln. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. She writes of getting a ring, uh, from the enemy, um, General Lee. Dang. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't.

[00:06:03] But most certainly it would seem she dealt with a lot of tragedy. So, and we know that in that time, I mean, there's a lot of sickness, especially on the East Coast, a lot of disease sweeping that part of the country. And her husband dies. Um, it appears three of her children died. And so it's easy to imagine that a woman like that, as I was talking to a historian, might look at the West as a place to restart her life. Right? And in her book, The Fate of a Fairy, amazing name for an autobiography.

[00:06:33] She tells of a gypsy queen, um, uh, foretelling her destiny as a great treasure seeker as a child. So, she's fulfilling that destiny out West. Winds up in Gunnison in 1880. Opens a boarding house and a restaurant. Tells of gunfights. Tells of fighting off, uh, Ute people. Tells of a poisoned tomahawk scarring her forehead. Dang.

[00:06:56] She had a scar on her forehead. She very likely was not struck by a tomahawk. She very likely did not fight, uh, Ute, uh, people. But she very evidently got herself in a lot of gunfights, um, in and out of jail and courtrooms for that. Marries another man, a hard-drinking man who dies. Marries another man, reluctantly, who by all accounts is not a good guy. Comes after her money.

[00:07:22] Marries another man, she establishes an extremely successful mine. She strikes it rich in a mountain around Crested Butte called the Black Queen Mine. And this becomes kind of her source of fame and fortune and also her source of people coming after her. Men left and right coming after this mine and claiming rights. Um, and she fought left and right by all accounts trying to fend off and keep this mine, which she didn't.

[00:07:48] It's kind of a neat window into, like, um, a slice of, like, the mining history that we don't think about. Like, a historian told me, like, um, you know, we think of, like, the miners getting rich. But she said, um, you know, the truth is the people who got rich were the miners mining the miners, i.e. attorneys, right? And if you're a woman at this time, right, late 1800s, you're probably even more of a target.

[00:08:12] And if you are a feisty, one way of calling her, woman, like Captain Jack, you're probably even more of a target. So it's easy to surmise that anyway. Um, anyway, she goes on to mine in URA. She goes on to far western deserts. It looks like around Arizona, Nevada, Utah, until she misses Colorado and comes back and winds up in Colorado Springs, which is this booming tourist town where she recognizes, I can be my own character, right?

[00:08:40] I can use my story and become a character of a time that no longer is in this quickly vanishing wild west, right? So she sets up on high drive. And she does more crazy stuff up there. These, uh, she writes of, um, her mining claims being called Mars, Mars 1, Mars 2, Mars 3. She says that was her planet, which is known to be a sign of strife and war, which seemingly encapsulates her life pretty well.

[00:09:10] You know, just always in battles. And at the end, she loses everything, it appears. She files for bankruptcy and seems like she dies a poor woman who was formerly rich. And, um, so there's tragedy there. But, um, by all accounts, she, like, loved it on high drive. Like, that was her place. Dang. The newspapers even reported that, uh, like, that contributed to her death. It got washed out. It got flooded. And she couldn't go back there. And so, apparently, heartbreak. You know?

[00:09:37] Like, after this life of losses, that was, like, the last loss that she seemingly couldn't take. Um, but that's where her story ends. And I just rambled, and I could keep rambling because it is an amazing life. Yeah, man. That is fascinating. That's fascinating, man. Another one of those Wild West characters where it's, like, larger-than-life stories and just what's true, what's not. Yeah. The gunfights, though, you said that seems to be very true.

[00:10:03] And Sawatch, if you know where Sawatch is, looks like Saga Watch. She wound up in jail there for drawing a gun on a man. We definitely know that. But, um, she writes of, uh, shooting a guy at the Black Queen mine. Hmm. Um, yeah. It's interesting because, like I said, it's, like, it's a window into, like, mining. It's also a window into, like, you know, she was far from the only woman who was working.

[00:10:33] Right? Women at this time. I mean, women built the mining industry, I would argue, as we know it. I mean, in terms of these towns were supported by women. She wasn't the only one with a boarding house, you know. Mm-hmm. She wasn't the only one tending to men who were sick. Um, she wasn't the only woman making a living. That's for sure. But, uh, there probably weren't too many who were as audacious as she was. That's a good term. You know?

[00:11:00] I mean, she, uh, she went after it, for sure. Well, dang. The Rocky Mountain News called her the epitome of the sublime and the ridiculous. I like that. Which I thought was probably the best way to put it, yeah. Yeah, well, hey, fascinating story. Um, you're gonna be publishing something on that. Yeah. Later this summer, I think. Later this summer, so. People have to keep their eye out for that. As if you could want anything more about Captain Jack.

[00:11:28] Hey, I'm curious about that autobiography now. Yeah. Sounds like a good read. It's a great read. Yeah. And it's full of, like. Well-spoken, articulate and everything. Yeah. And it's full of, like, um, pictures. I mean, there's, you know, there's definitely pictures of her that, as they say, pictures tell a thousand words. And, like, you look at pictures of this woman and you're like, yeah. She's nuts. There you go. Just like Rattlesnake Kate with her dress of rattlesnakes. Yeah. The famous picture I mentioned with the candlestick hat and pickaxe and pistol.

[00:11:56] It's like, she's, like, up against a rock, if I'm recalling that right. Or there are pictures of her up against a big boulder. And that boulder is still up there on high drive. Oh, dang. Yeah. That's super cool. Might have to go track that down then. You can go find her ghost or her fairy, as she called herself. Fate of a fairy. Fate of a fairy. Well, hey, moving on to another topic that's kind of related, seeing as her long story brought her to Colorado. This one's kind of a fun one we were talking about the other day. And I thought it'd be worth touching on again here.

[00:12:26] Things that nobody ever warns you about before you come to Colorado. I've got a list of 12 on the site, but I'm going to go over a few of my favorites while you're sitting there thinking. Or standing there thinking. Seth stands during our podcast, I sit. I sit writing and I stand talking. Yeah. I sit all day, every day. Unless I'm out there doing something. All right.

[00:12:54] So my favorite one that nobody tells you or warns you about before you get to Colorado is that your nose is going to bleed. Oh, okay. You're talking like the adjustment. Yeah, the adjustment. Like someone moving to the state, right? Yep. Or just visiting the state. It's a dry out here. Yep. Your nose is going to bleed. You're going to be sneezing out blood, you know, like when you wake up. See, I did not have that. Oh, it still impacts me, man. Really? Yeah, sometimes. You know, sleeping with the windows open.

[00:13:24] Yeah, producer Tim over here giving us a nod. The native? Yeah. You still have that? That's how it goes. His body is not adapted, he says. All right. So here's another one. So people don't really tell you that no one, it seems like no one is from Colorado, actually, aside from Tim. Yeah. I asked Tim the other day, what percent of people do you think are from Colorado, Seth? What would you have to guess? Wow, we know this. That number's out there. Yeah, that number's out there.

[00:13:54] Percent of people who live in Colorado who say they are from Colorado. Yeah. I bet it's higher than I would think. I'm going to say 40%. Dang. Tim was real close, too. So it's 42%. Yeah. 58% of residents in Colorado, based on data from 2023, are from out-of-state. That's interesting. Transplants. How that compares with other states? Colorado's high on the list. Is it? Is it? Okay.

[00:14:22] Places like the Midwest, a little bit lower in general. Like people stay there? Yeah, people tend to stick around the Midwest. Except for you and me? Yeah. Yeah, right. And then obviously, you know, you have your states like Texas now and Florida that kind of grow in certain ways. But yeah, no, Colorado is pretty high in terms of its number of transplants. Here's another one that really kind of surprised me when I moved to Colorado is how crazy the drivers are here.

[00:14:51] And I think it's a number of factors. We have fast speed limits. We've got fast speed limits. We've got mountain roads, winding mountain roads, right? So those are two kind of factors there. Yep. But I think it kind of boils down to this massive amount of people that are not from Colorado. It's all these like driving cultures mixing, you know? That's what I think. Yeah. That's what I've always thought. Very much segwaying from everyone from everywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. It's like being in Indiana, right? People go the speed limit.

[00:15:19] If you're going five over, you're like, you're the jerk on the road in Indiana. Whereas in like, you know, New York City. Yeah. Probably not taking that approach as much if you're driving. But yeah. No, I think it's that kind of that mix in cultures for sure. Yeah. What's something else you got here, Seth? Well, I've heard of people more than the bloody noses. I've heard, and this is not me.

[00:15:45] I know it sounds like I'm like, you know, trying not to expose myself. But the flatulence. I've heard of high altitude flatulence. Mm-hmm. Often happens during those 14er hikes, man. Yeah. Yeah. I've not succumbed to that either. I mean, I flatulate like any average man who probably doesn't have the best diet. But I don't think it's because of the altitude. It could be. Who knows? Yeah. Elevation's on my list.

[00:16:14] Like, some people can't even fly through to like Denver Airport because of the elevation there if you're kind of hypersensitive to that. Yep. But really, yeah. Around like 8,000 feet is where most people start to really get impacted. Yeah. And that does seem like the most important warning for sure. Yeah. And you're right. I bet people move here probably not thinking about it. Yeah. And tale as old as time of people like going out to Breck for a ski trip. You know, just like a weekend long ski trip. Going up the mountain on the lift.

[00:16:42] All of a sudden being like, whoa, this is a different world up here. Yeah. And then also getting back down to the bar and being like, wow, these beers are hitting me pretty hard. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe speaking to that, is that another one? I don't think I knew how awful I-70 was. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:28] Right. Whether it's a landslide or a wreck or a blizzard or just crazy weather in general, slowing down traffic. It could delay you quite a bit. Is Colorado windier than other states? You know, I don't know about that, but it feels windier than other states. It does. It feels windier. And I have lived in the windy city, Chicago, which it's not called that windy, but it does get windy. Yeah. It's the politics, right? Right. And what?

[00:17:58] I've lived in... Four different states, something like that. And I feel like... Like, I have definitely said my least favorite weather in Colorado is wind. Mm-hmm. You know? Oh, yeah. Right. I agree. 100%. Yeah. A windy day, like, it can turn a, you know, blue sky, sunny day. Yeah. 70 degrees to just being an awful day. You don't want to be outside. Like, I have been in the Midwest to say that I hate it when it's freezing. Mm-hmm.

[00:18:25] I've been in the South where I've said I hate it when it's hot, obviously. And humid. Ooh. I've been on the East Coast where I've said it's very humid. Mm-hmm. I want to talk about that. East Coast humidity is real. Ooh. Complain about that. But here, I think I complain about the wind. Yeah. The most. I would have to. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And that's another thing that I had on my list of things that people don't really warn you about is just the wild weather in Colorado. Yeah. Every state has their, you know, they're like, we have wild, unpredictable weather. But Colorado is like a different level of wild, unpredictable weather where it's like

[00:18:54] in the span of a week, literally, roughly. Absolutely. I've covered a story about someone getting stuck in snow and as well as a snowstorm delaying a rescue. Yeah. We've had Denver hit record-setting temperatures, kind of teasing triple digits there. Yeah. We've had hailstones fall. Hail. We've had lightning strikes that have, we've had this story a couple weeks ago, people getting struck by lightning on the top of 14 years. A sudden storm rolled in. Yeah.

[00:19:23] The monsoonal rain that just dumps. Yeah. Pretty wild. Like, there's a long list of weather hazards that you got to deal with in Colorado and it can just seem to change on the drop of a dime. Like, I'd venture to say a lot of people that visit Colorado, you know, they'll look at the sky in the morning and they're like, oh, it's a pretty day. It's going to be pretty all day. And then it's not. Yeah. Now that's interesting. The afternoon rains. Mm-hmm. Especially, you know what, when you're booking or scheduling or whatever, that wedding, that

[00:19:52] beautiful wedding with a mountain backdrop, no one warns you that it's probably going to rain in the afternoon. Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. Especially in springtime, right? In summer. So, and with that, I think fire anxiety is a real thing. Yeah. That no one warns you about. Yeah. You know? Yeah, the wildfires can have a big impact out here, too. I lived in Manitou Springs for a while, right? Mm-hmm.

[00:20:21] And what I came to see is like that matchbox, you know, like knocking on wood when I talk about this. But yeah, when it was hot and windy, like, and I saw tourists in those hills smoking a cigarette, like literally. Right. Yeah. Like, yeah. Top of the incline smoking a cigarette. I had anxiety about that. Yeah. Yeah. Hot and windy. Yeah. So that kind of comes to mind. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. It's anywhere.

[00:20:47] People just also outside of Colorado, I feel like you don't tend to understand the wildfires that happen here. Right. How big they are. Right. The impacts on outdoor recreation even. The smoke. The smoke. Yeah. It's like a lot of people probably land in Denver in the summer and they're like, why is it so hazy? Hazy. Yeah. What's that coming from? Where's Coloradans? You know, like. Yeah. You know, it's fire somewhere in the West. Now, hey, there's another one. No one warns you that the Denver airport is in Kansas. Also. You are not landing in the mountains.

[00:21:15] Or that like that whole eastern side of the state, if you're driving to Colorado. Right. It's like you don't hit the border and you're at a mountain. Right. You got to keep pushing through those plains. Also notorious for bad weather on those plains too. So I've been caught in some storms out there and they're terrifying. Yep. Yeah. Here's a good one. You can't really expect air conditioning in a lot of Colorado. That's funny. That's true. That's so true. Everyone has air conditioning. Right. And, you know, Midwest, everyone has air conditioning.

[00:21:44] A lot of the world or a lot of the country, a lot of people have air conditioning. Colorado though. So true. Like no. No air conditioning. Because it wasn't always so hot when they were building these homes in the 60s and 70s. Yeah. Yep. And I mean, you're kind of left to like, or at least the last decade I've been in Colorado. It's like you find the coldest part of your house during the day. Yeah. And then you leave your windows open at night. Yep. And pray that it gets to 70 degrees. Yep. Yeah.

[00:22:10] In my old house, I've got one of those window units, you know. Yeah. That's the trick. I call it the chili bin. There you go. Yeah. Usually you can get that in like, you know, one room where you're like, okay, this is the room that's going to be cold. Yeah. But we're good to go. That's a good one. Yeah. So here's one. You can't really expect a fancy nightlife in Colorado. Sure, you can find it. In like Denver, there are places where you can get fancy.

[00:22:40] You can go out. Same thing with Colorado Springs. But it's not like you're like going out on the town like in like New York City. You know, it's like people aren't dressing in suits when they're going to bars. Right. They're wearing flannels. You don't see the ballers. Yeah. Yeah. They're wearing flannels. They're wearing jeans. I love it. Yeah. Pretty much any place. I love it too, man. I absolutely love it too. That's a good point though. Yeah. Yeah. I've definitely had like buddies. I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

[00:23:07] And I've definitely had buddies from the big city of Chicago who have ideas of frills and whatnot. And they describe Denver as like a small town. Yeah. Yeah. Very true. And people in Denver complain about Denver being a big city. Yeah. We were talking about this coming onto the show. Yeah. And like I said, there are places for it. But. Yeah. You know, it's generally. Generally speaking, you're not going to see suits when you're out of bars. Compared to big city. Even if you're in like Aspen or Vail, you know, like places that are known for kind of attracting wealth. Mm-hmm.

[00:23:37] People still using that more laid back approach to their nightlife, we'll say. Yeah. That's interesting. Oh, yeah. Here's one. So talking to kind of backtrack, talking about the cigarette being lit on a red flag day. Right. Colorado is extremely protective of the natural landscape and wildlife. You know, it's like how many times are you on a trail where like you'll see like someone visiting the state, going off trail, getting yelled at by locals to get back on trail. Right.

[00:24:07] Or like feeding animals, trying to pet deer, things like that. Yeah. Getting yelled at by locals that are like, hey, don't do that. Yeah. What are you doing? Wildlife patrols. Yeah. That's true. So. Yeah. Yeah. That's about my entire list. That's a fun list. Yeah. Fun list. Fun to chat about. I could make a fun video. Looking back to when I moved to Colorado, I had no clue what I was getting myself into, right? Yeah. It was just like, oh, I know there's mountains out there. I can go mountain biking more.

[00:24:36] I can try to learn how to ski. Yep. And yeah, a lot of things though. A lot of things that surprised me. Yeah. That's interesting. It doesn't make me think about what I didn't know when I came here, but it feels so long ago. So long ago. Dude, let's dig into this one, Seth. Yeah. Next. So our weekly food recap here. Oh, yeah. America's highest fried chicken. Yeah. I just went to Otto's. Otto's is awesome. I've stopped there several times. You have. Yeah.

[00:25:06] You know about it. In Alma then. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I bet there's people listening who have been like me, driven by this. They call it a cart. It's a year round cart. It's forest green. Trailer? Uh, yeah. Yeah. Kind of like a food trailer thing. Just sits there. Yeah. It's a pod. Looks like a pod. There. Yeah. Yeah. 10,500 feet of elevation about, right? Where they sling some killer fried chicken sandwiches. Mm. So good.

[00:25:34] And a really cool story. I met the, uh, I met the owner who goes by Otto, real name Brian. Nice. Yeah. And, uh, just a freewheeling, uh, high spirited ball of energy rolls up in his sweatpants and sandals and t-shirt and long hair. What's up, man? You know, like we'd known each other for a while. And, uh, yeah, he was just filling me in on how this all started back in 2019.

[00:26:05] I mean, you know, easy to picture him as, as another ski bum living in Breckenridge, shacking with buddies and, uh, playing basketball, loves basketball and, uh, describes how he, how he met his partner, Jordan. And, um, he, uh, he's living in the house and, uh, they decided to, the landowner decides to sell the house. He goes, and he just goes all out.

[00:26:31] Uh, looks for land to build a home, finds a spot to build a home kind of up the road toward, uh, the reservoir there. What am I thinking? Blue, blue river, blue lake. Yeah. Is that where that hotel is? Yeah. I think he's kind of around there. Not Montgomery reservoir. I don't know. Anyway, around there and continues driving on and sees this cart and finds a way to get the cart and came from the food industry, worked in the food industry all his life.

[00:26:56] And yeah, here he is just taking care of people and people meaning employees and also the customers like me. Holy cow. That sandwich was awesome. Which one did you get? I'm looking at the menu right now. The special? What is that? With the dill sauce? I'm recalling. The dill sauce, I'm recalling. The dill sauce is on. Yeah. And it's like a dill sauce. Dude, nice. This Dabber's Delight looks delicious too. Yeah. Yeah. Freshly fried chicken breast, fried egg topped with melted cheddar and a fried hash brown on a honey buttered brioche bun.

[00:27:25] He's a big believer in the honey and butter. He's from South Carolina. That's fair. Yeah. They also have other food too. So usually when I... I got the Philly cheese. That's what I usually get. Yeah. That was awesome. That or the Cuban. Apparently the breakfast burritos are super good. And to put into perspective too how much people like this place, it's 4.9 out of 5 stars on Google reviews. Yeah. That's about as good as it gets. You'll never find a 5 star place on Google reviews. And even still, I mean, Otto's the guy who sees... He lets those bad...

[00:27:55] I got the sense he lets the bad reviews about pricing get to him. You know? You know that chicken sandwich is like 15, 16 bucks, right? Yeah. And they use high quality chicken. He was saying like no antibiotic, no hormone, you know? Mm-hmm. They source like the flour that they use for breading from this little bakery in Denver. Oh, nice. You know? I mean, so it's easy to imagine why the prices are like that. And also, I mean, he takes a lot of pride in, like I said, in taking care of the employees. He talks a lot about that. And every restaurant owner talks a lot about that, right?

[00:28:24] But then I look back at the cart and the dude making sandwiches has this big Otto's tattoo on his arm. You know? Like he got the logo in Otto's. That's what I was telling Otto. I was like, you can talk all you want, but you got a dude with a tattoo of your... You know? Yeah. I mean, I believe it. That's a good owner. Another guy drives up in a car that like Otto bought him. The car. You know? I mean, yeah. So it's a cool thing there. Nice guy. Yeah. And they just...

[00:28:53] So 22, 23, they opened another location in Fair Play. Oh, nice. Yeah. Very cool. I did not realize that. Right on the main street there. What is that? 285, the highway? Yeah, yeah. Dang. I didn't have a clue. I think they opened it in 22, he said. And he was funny because we met him at the cart and he was like, you don't got to go in, but you got to go to that other location in Fair Play. There's a big ass mural of me just on this huge rooster on the side of the busiest highway in Colorado. That's hilarious. So anyway.

[00:29:23] Yeah. It's a good support. But it's a perfect spot if you're going up to... Don't drive by autos anymore. Yeah. Perfect spot if you're going up from the Springs to Breck. And I guess now there's a good spot along or close to I-70 too. Or... 285, right? 285. Yeah. Sorry. 285. Yeah. Yeah. 285. Excuse me. I got I-70 on the mind after we were talking about I-70. Yeah. You shouldn't clutter your mind with I-70. I know. I'm trying to get it out of my head. But yeah. No. I love it too. I'm happy to hear that that's a good situation there. Never knew the story behind it.

[00:29:53] Seems like it. That's cool. Yep. Got to stop at autos. That is our weekly food recommendation. Yeah. We always come up with some food. Awesome chicken sandwiches and some cheesesteak. Yeah. Which I recommend the cheesesteak for sure. Did you say you got the Cuban too? Yeah. I've had the Cuban. I think I've had this, the hot strami too, which is a hot pastrami with a pickle slaw. I think that's what I remember there. I've stopped there a few times.

[00:30:21] It's not an every time thing for me because usually I'm just ready to get back. But it's always like post-ski day. That's when you go. Yeah. So I was surprised. He says like, the way he put it was like in the winter they break even. Really? Like he says summer is booming and winter it's like, yeah. And I was like, really? Like ski traffic? You don't? Yeah. Well, hey, I could. I mean, what I just said there, right? It's like, I'm ready to get home. Yeah. I think that's it. Yeah. It's like you've had a long ski day. Maybe more people do drive by.

[00:30:50] And you got weather concerns. And it's cold outside. You're not sitting. And no one wants to stay at a car outside. Yeah. I think that's a big part of it. And like they open, I think it's like at 8 or they have opened at like 8 a.m., which is kind of, I mean, you're trying to drive through and get to the hill around there. And they do have breakfast. They do have breakfast burrito. Yeah. That's what I was saying. Sourdough griddler. I thought you'd be crushing on the breakfast burritos in ski traffic. Well, now you got Fair Play, too.

[00:31:17] So maybe a little bit less susceptible there to those cold days. Yeah. He's got the brick and mortar inside. So there you go. Anyway, that reminded me that I need to stop at this place for sure next time I'm there. Dude, I almost just want to just drive over there, you know? Mm-hmm. Just wake up any given day and make it the mission to go up there. Do a little hike or something. I haven't explored Fair Play that much either. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:46] Tim and I were talking about that with kind of the connection to South Park, the show. Yeah. And people don't realize there's a Stark's Pond there, which is a location in the South Park show. I didn't know that. And there's a pond named Stark's Pond in Fair Play. Huh. At least on Google, that's what it says. See, yeah, there's a lot that I'd like to do on Fair Play. A little historic recreation of South Park City there, too. Right. Maybe not a recreation. In the town, like Fair Play, it's like, I haven't pulled off and hung around Fair Play. Yeah. It looks really historic. Yeah. I need to pop up there.

[00:32:15] They do the Burrow Festival. Yeah. Right. At some point. That always looks fun. Yeah. It's one of those weekends where there's like burrow racing. Yep. Where people are just trying to like wrangle these burrows. Right. Which is in Cripple Creek this weekend. Ooh. Anyone looking to do something fun. There we go. Yeah. Well, hey, what? It's almost 4th of July, so we definitely need to briefly talk about this. Yeah. Firework laws in Colorado. Pretty strict. That has very much changed in just the past 10 years that we've been here, hasn't it? Yeah. I think this- Feels like it anyway.

[00:32:44] I was looking at some of the stuff that they've published recently, and it's- You know, I mean, we're both from the Midwest area, and it's like- Shoot fireworks. Shoot whatever you want into the air. Or shoot any 4th of any month. Yeah. Roman candles. You got the bottle rockets. Both of those illegal in Colorado. So pretty much like the breakdown is, and this is at the state level too, so it's very,

[00:33:10] very important to note that a lot of local municipalities have much stricter laws. Like you can't shoot fireworks at any time in Denver, for example. And the laws vary every single place you're at in the state, and some of them extremely strict. Perfect. There's a good resource, if you want to Google it, Colorado Legal Defense Group. Kind of has a breakdown in this article about what's legal in Colorado, what's not.

[00:33:34] But essentially, anything that's like leaving the ground or exploding is kind of that big barrier of what's illegal, just statewide in general. Some of the stuff that sits on the ground, smaller explosives, or not explosives, but with smaller amounts of, you know, whatever you call it, gunpowder, whatever's in there that makes it do something. Some of those are legal. Things like sparklers are illegal in some places.

[00:34:03] But yeah, like kind of anything that goes in the air in general, not legal. And obviously we have the wildfire concerns. We have, you know, we got disturbing wildlife concerns as well. So those are two of the big reasons why things are so strict. Including our dogs. Yeah. Yep. That have to do with Colorado being a dog-loving state. Very good point. Very good point. Yep. Yeah. Firecrackers, illegal. Cherry bombs, illegal. Mortars, illegal. M80s, illegal. So yeah, I mean, there's a lot of these really popular fireworks around the country

[00:34:32] that you cannot do. Yeah. Cannot use in Colorado. Also illegal to be shooting fireworks off in local parks. Yep. Golf courses, state parks, national parks, city streets, most public spaces. So yeah, very restrictive in Colorado in terms of fireworks. So just something to keep in mind with 4th of July. And when you introduce the topic, for some reason my mind went to like public displays. You know, like towns doing these shows. You just don't see as many of those over the years. Yeah.

[00:35:01] It seems like towns have really shifted. And it really depends on the year too. Like depending on how much moisture we've got in the state. Yep. You'll see a lot of these mountain towns, like they'll have it planned kind of. And then be like, ah, never mind. Call it off. Like two weeks before, call it off. The drone shows are taking off. Yeah, those are pretty cool. I don't think I've ever seen a drone show. I've never seen one live. I just see the videos. They look cool. A little bit less bang. Seems like literally. But yeah.

[00:35:29] So I mean, pretty much if you guys are going to be doing fireworks this year in Colorado, the reason we're talking about this, you can look up all these rules and in way more in depth online from sources that are probably more reliable than we are. And we're very reliable. We are reliable. But people that know more about laws than we do. People should trust us more for fried chicken. Yes. Yes. I will stand by a fried chicken recommendation from Seth any day.

[00:35:59] But yeah, find this stuff online. Track it down. Make sure if you're buying fireworks, you're getting them from a licensed dealer. That dealer should, hopefully, at least know some of the laws. And you'd be able to ask them a little bit on that too. But yeah. 4th of July around the corner. Be safe. Happy 4th of July, everybody. Do not start a wildfire. Seems like a good way to. Yeah. Please. Seems like a good way to go out, man. Going out on 4th of July. 4th of July. I'm out of things. What else we got? Do we have? Oh, I got one more.

[00:36:29] Fire away. A promise. There we go. A promise that I have made to our listeners to always work some sort of wolf news. Oh, we can't go without a wolf update. This one's brief. Yep. Wolves. The most recent map was just released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, shown where wolves are moving around. Obviously, a lot of these wolves have collars on them. They use those to track these wolves as they're moving. These maps are released, accounting for kind of roughly the previous month.

[00:36:58] And basically, it highlights what watersheds the wolves are in. So that's an important distinction to make. Just because a wolf is detected within one of these larger watershed areas doesn't mean they're present in the whole thing. But if you look this up online, or I'll try to do my best to kind of just ramble about it here, wolves way closer to the Denver metro area, going into Jefferson County, kind of in that Lakewood area.

[00:37:28] And again, this is just the watershed, but Lakewood. Heavily populated, just south of downtown Denver. Golden-ish? Yeah. Yeah, golden-ish. Apparently, at some point between May 27 and June 24, there was a wolf in this area. So be curious to see how this continues to shift, kind of, as these wolves just expand their territory in Colorado. Also, wolves close to Boulder, too.

[00:37:57] One of the watersheds actually reaches across US 36. So interesting there, also. Ever closer to the population centers. Ever closer. But yeah, I think that's about all I got for today. Got some exciting stuff that we've kind of saved for next week, too. We always have little teasers. A little bit of Blucifer chat next week. A little bit of some wild tales from Pike's Peak next week.

[00:38:24] From a man who's been up there for 50 years. Yeah, and honestly, this is going to be, that's going to be one of those chats probably where it just stretches on, because there's so much to talk about. He had so many stories. We come into these things thinking we can cover a lot, and then I talk about Captain Jack for like 20 minutes. I found that conversation fascinating, Seth. Glad you did. I think our listeners will, too. We'll see if anyone, I'm sure everyone else tuned out by now. All right. For the three people still listening. Yes. That concludes our show for the day.

[00:38:54] Until next time, I'm Spencer. I'm Seth. And we will see you out there. Heh heh. Thank you. Thank you.