"Steed Jnr's First Outing" a Colorado Travel Page by johngayton

Hi all you guys out there! Let me introduce myself, my name is Steed, Steed Jnr. that is. I don't know if you know my old dad, Steed Snr., through some of John's other pages and so just in case you don't I'll give you a bit of background:

My Dad is John's favourite umbrella and has been for many years, even before we discovered this site. Whenever it rained my dad and John were pretty much inseparable and whilst it is a sort of "master/servant" relationship they are also close friends and confidants - well when you consider that they went everywhere together when it was raining, sharing the same space 24/7 then obviously they have to like each other - not that dad ever had much choice in the matter.

In human terms I am only just under 2 years old, but in umbrella terms 1 human year is 10 umbrella years, and so, though math is not my strong point, that makes me in my late teens. John bought me from Timberland when he realised that dad's useful years were coming to an end and since then I've had a bit of a sheltered upbringing, spending most of my formative years just hanging about unopened, in fact my price-tag wasn't taken off until about three months ago.

I shouldn't really "Whoooo Hoooo!" here since it was only the fact that dad had a serious accident last December that allowed me to take his place as John's number 1 umbrella. Dad's accident was one which all umbrellas eventually have, and whilst we are young we can usually recover, but dad is over 7 years old and, being somewhat frail, will never be the same again. You can only get blown inside-out so many times before a full recovery is no longer possible.

Poor old dad, it was one of those typical moorland December nights with the rain being driven horizontally through the valley, and John decided to take dad with him to The Ruggle. Well dad did his best, getting down the hill in one piece, the hedges providing some protection from the worst of the weather. But as they got to the bottom, rounding the bend by the river, an almighty gust caught them, turning dad totally inside-out, breaking several of his ribs and irreparably ripping his very fabric.

John considered having him mended, but the damage was too great, and so furling him comfortably John decided to retire him, hanging him in his usual spot, never to be taken out again. John is being kind, allowing him a nice peaceful retirement. Most people would have just thrown him in the bin and forgotten him, but at least dad has somewhere warm to hang and a bit of company from time-to-time.

In umbrella terms 2 years old is quite a late age for your first unfurling, but it happens to us all eventually. I have mixed feelings of it, I remember the sense of anticipation, knowing that the next sign of rain, John would take me out with him and open me up for the first time.

It must have been the first week in January, the sort of night that was my dad's last. I remember the trepidation I felt as John took me from my hanging place and unfastened my restrainer. As he opened the front door I felt my first gust of wind, the first touch of the cold horizontal rain and then suddenly I was unfurled, my youthful springs bursting me open, my fabric snapping taut as my ribs extended for the first time. I remember the wind tugging at me, testing me, seeing whether or not I was up to the task.

Here was my first challenge and I desperately needed to survive it, it would have been so ignominious to have been blown out so young, I would have probably been thrown straight in the dustbin had I succumbed.

But joy, oh joy, I was up to the task, my makers had done their job well - going down the sheltered road of Century Hill allowed me to acclimatise and on reaching the open turn of Webburn Water the wind and rain were no longer my enemies but rather the reason for life itself!

And so here I am, having been tested and not found wanting, off with John for 2 weeks, firstly a week in Colorado, then back to England for a week in Essex - boy am I excited!

As I have said before I've had a pretty sheltered upbringing and so going on holiday for the first time is kinda nerve-racking, all these new experiences to come, new places, new weather systems, and above all new people to meet (the only people I have met so far are the bunch of drunks John hangs out with back on The Moor!).

We arrive in Denver after a 10 hour flight, slightly delayed, and John's moaning because we haven't enough time for a cigarette before we have to get the shuttle out to Keystone where he is visiting a friend. Well, let him moan, this is all great as far as I'm concerned, I've heard the tales down at the pub about how friendly these American brollies are and so am looking forward to getting a chance maybe to hang with one or two.

We arrive at Keystone late that evening and guess what? John's friend has a rather cute little lady umbrella :))))) Talk about striking lucky! The weather here is all snow, and so I am not really needed for this leg of our trip, John can do his own thing, leaving me to do mine!

This is the first time I have ever seen snow but my new lady friend is used to it and so she takes me sledging, whoooeee this is fun! "Gotta keep close together to keep warm." She says.

Hey, this suits me!

The only minor hiccup here is that whilst we can get down the hill we can't get back up again and have to get John to do that for us. After a couple of runs however he gets bored with us and refuses to take us up the hill again - old misery-gut spoilsport that he is!

I don't care, there's plenty of other things to do with a beautiful young lady brolly - I'm sure we can find something else to amuse us ;)

With John refusing to take us up the hill again,we think about taking a little drive out somewhere, maybe find somewhere scenic to park up and enjoy the views! Unfortunately neither of us can drive, so that put paid to that idea.

"Never mind," She says, "Have you ever been in a hot tub?"

I don't need to be asked twice, and off she leads.

This was a bit of fun too! This is where I came into my own because once we were in the tub, submerged up to our necks in the hot water, she had to hold on to me seeing as I was the only one with a hooked handle. That meant she had to really press up against me all the time. HeHe!

We enjoyed a luxurious soak, just hangin' and chattin' and doing the sort of things umbrella's do in the tub when no-one's watching.

The afternoon passed pretty timelessly and before we knew it the sun was setting. I was a bit concerned that John might be worried about where we were and so we decided to have a quick shower to wash off the chlorine and get back.

There were two shower rooms by the tub, but it seemed a bit wasteful to dirty them both - what with me being all environmentally conscious and all that!

Once again being the only one with a hook had its advantages!

It was a long day, the first day I have ever been out without John, and we had had real fun. I was pretty exhausted by now, especially seeing as I had had to perform most of the supporting stuff - not that I was complaining of course!

We were supposed to have separate bunk beds, but neither of us could climb the ladder to the top - and thast's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Good NIght All, Sweet Dreams!