These rock formations are called the "Coke Ovens" because they resemble lime kilns.

May 23? Maybe, but the weather today on Loveland Pass outside of Denver looked like December 23 -- rain and sleet. We can't seem to shake the bad weather, no matter where we go.

We did make it to Grand Junction in time for lunch and another rain storm, but by mid afternoon it started to clear and we decided to head up to the Colorado National Monument and Rim Rock Drive. It's a 23-mile drive that takes you up 2,000 feet above the floor of the Grand Valley of the Colorado River. The "Scenic Highways & Byways" book (finally got to use it) says the drive "offers a tour of soul-aching beauty."

It was very nice. Soul-aching? Maybe without the rain that started halfway through the drive, Or maybe it's like a leg cramp that comes in the night after the activity. I'll let you know.

We did enjoy the drive, the scenery and the narrow road with no guard rail and a long drop down to the valley floor. Wait. Kathy hated that part and wanted me to drive on the other side of the road: "I'd rather hit an oncoming car than go over the edge."

Amazing what natural forces can do in 200 million years with rock that can be 1.5 billion years old (love the National Park Service brochures).

The other change in our on-the-road life came with the discovery in the new truck of the USB port -- not on the dash but in the console in the middle of the front seat. I must have missed it in the owner's manual, more than half of which is taken up with information about the electronics -- and not a word on how to change the spark plugs.

This discovery has made it possible to resume listening to my iTunes library and we went from "Habanera" by Nana Mouskouri to "I and Love and You" by the Avett Brothers today -- 121 songs. Only 1,820 songs to go.

This will take a while since the new truck came with a year's subscription to Sirius radio.

We were back on Sirius today, listening to the POTUS program marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Lots of memories there. The program also tied the Vietnam War in with what is going on today: All in against ISIS in the Mideast? Or should we stay out?

 I liked this assessment by Michael Steele and Rich Ungar: If there is no clearly stated moral reason for going to war, better to stay out and avoid the muddle that will result if you go in. Clearly stated reason for Vietnam? I can remember how the answers for why we were there shifted with the years: Domino theory, to save a democracy from communism, maybe there was oil there. . .

Clearly stated moral reason for going to Iraq? WMD, Saddam's connection to 9-11. Neither of those panned out.

But Steele and Ungar (or was it Christian Appy, author of "American Reckoning: TheVietnam War and our National Identity," which sounds like a must read) made a very good point in saying that the result of our muddles has made us reluctant to go to war when there is a moral reason for doing so, and the fight against ISIS might be one of those.

Then we switched to the Rural Radio station's Market Day and found out soybeans dropped 12 cents a bushel yesterday. There's only so much bad news a person can stand, and we switched to my songs.