Hitched and Rolling

Day 5 – Denver, CO to Breckenridge, CO

We woke up outside of Tyler’s house and went inside to greet him for the morning. For some reason its always fun to spend time with a friend in the morning of a work day, maybe because its so rare that we are hanging out with friends in that setting. Worlds colliding or something. Tyler was getting ready for work and doing some work calls and Bre and I each got a shower, but we were all generally loafing around in the kitchen and living room. Tyler didn’t have to be in person at his office until around 10 so no one was in a huge rush.

About a decade ago when he moved to Colorado, Tyler started a construction company called Frient Construction. Legend goes that he started with a rented Penske truck and a single saw that he bought off craigslist. I am still a bit hazy on the details because since that time he has started an additional pair of sister companies, but basically Frient Construction does concrete cutting mostly, and his other companies do related but distinct activities like paving (parking lots, roads, airport runways) and a specific kind of dirt excavation used to find pipes and utilities in the ground.

I am generally fascinated by small businesses, and I also usually think its fun to see the places where my friends work, so I was stoked when Tyler invited us down to his office park to check it out and take a tour. We drove separately, with Bre and I stopping for a coffee pit-stop along the way. Much to her pre-caffeinated dismay, Bre accidentally called in her pick up Starbucks order to a drive-through-only Starbucks. Due to clearance concerns, she was forced to walk through the drive through line which I found funny and she did not – but at the end of the day she got what she needed and we kept moving.

We met Tyler over at Frient Construction HQ and got the tour. Right off the bat it seemed like a really laid back work environment, and there were a lot of smiles and good mornings from everyone which, being that the culture was built by Tyler, does not surprise me in the least. Tyler is an incredibly fun and welcoming guy, always looking out for others and being authentic, and frankly his work environment seemed to echo that. It was cool to see.

Tyler showed me a lot of the heavy duty equipment that they have at the headquarters and let me sit on the steamroller which was fun. Duke dog enjoyed the tour as well. I even got Tyler to pose in his office for a photoshoot. Though he would never admit it, around his office park he is known as the Steve Jobs of concrete cutting and related niche construction applications.

After we went and saw Tyler it was almost time for lunch, and Bre wanted to do some van-administrative activities at Costco, which just-so-happened to be a short drive away. We both went into Costco and left Duker in the car, a standard with which he is slowly but surely becoming more comfortable. We got some steaks for dinner, some fruit, a big soft blanket, and a small variety of snacks. We then found a nice city park on google maps and took Duke to play some fetch. Now that is is daylight the mountains clearly affirm that we have, in fact, made it west.

After the park and a quick lakeside lunch, Bre and I did a couple more errands before heading over to my buddy Harrison’s house for an afternoon walk and dinner. Harrison and his wife Taylor just had a baby a few weeks ago (their first) and so it was great to see them and hang out. They have an awesome set up with a big grill and a beautiful fire pit. Harrison started learning guitar about a year ago and has made some incredible progress in that time, and so it was really fun for us to hang out and jam by the fire. We cooked up the nice big Costco steaks with some smashed fingerling potatoes and a delicious arugula salad. Bre got to hold the baby which is likely the highlight of this entire trip for her. 

After a few hours hanging out by the fire we said our goodbyes to the Archer family and climbed back into the old chariot for a 2 hour jaunt up over the mountains to Breckenridge Colorado where our friend Bean lives. It was a bit sketchy going over the mountains as it started snowing, but slow and steady never fails. We arrived at Bean and Jenny’s new house and got the tour before hitting the pillows in their guest room. Another great day on hitched and rolling.