On my first trip to Colorado in almost ten years, I got lucky every step of the way. I moved away from Denver, after 35 years, in 1996. Arizona seemed like a good place to go and so I've been here every since.
Last week a family member needed some help to move from the western slope to the eastern slope. Ten years of stocking up a big house did nothing for ease of packing this year. So after driving for fourteen hours and a good night's sleep, we bounded out of bed and commenced to loading this big, long truck. It was a beautiful fall day in Meeker, the wind mildly blowing.
After lugging furniture and boxes up and down stairs all day, we finally fell back into bed. In the morning, just a few more hours of work and we were on our way. Another great day to be in Colorado was happening all around us and although we weren't bounding quite as much as the day before, it promised to be an exquisite drive.
Look on the map, Meeker is in the northwest part of the state. Our destination, Rocky Ford is in the southeast part. The drive takes us through the high mountain regions of Beaver Creek, Vail and Leadville. From there, down the spine of the state to Buena Vista & Salida, following the line of mountains known as the Collegiate Range. There is no prettier drive in the autumn, but with a twenty four foot truck, hauling a flat bed trailer loaded with another truck, in a caravan with two other vehicles along, well you get the picture. That's about how far we got during the daylight hours.
Turning toward Pueblo, the sun went down and the road got a whole lot more windy. On we went, over hill and dale. Just another one hundred and fifty miles or so and we'd be home free! Hey, now this is a vacation! You may be wondering how I figured I got lucky, every step of the way?
Well, think about it. November, high mountains, long drive. Where was the snow? Where was the ice? Why wasn't there more traffic on a nice Friday? Yeah, many things could have been amiss, but none of them were! See? Lucky! And we made it, late Friday. Got a room, finished our project and headed home the next day . A complete round trip, no muss, no fuss. Barely a chiropractor's visit worth of trouble!
That's it, the trip!
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