We were up bright and early and headed down the road by 715. The main goal of today was to get through Denver before the worst of the rush-hour traffic. And we knew we had about a 500 mile drive to get to Fort Collins Colorado where we needed to be to meet friends for dinner. The drive was really quite beautiful. We drove through a low pass in the Rockies following the historic route of the Santa Fe Trail from Santa Fe, NM to Trinidad, CO. It is always striking as we think about not only cars and RVs and semi tractor-trailer trucks but also Conestoga wagons, oxen and horses making their way up this path. These two history majors often are drawn to think about those who came before us. With low mountains on either side, we drove through broad valleys with grasslands and Juniper trees. At times there were buttes extending out from the mountains. We were surprised that we did not see more cattle grazing but Dick did spot a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope.
As we neared the northwest corner of New Mexico, we began to see higher mountains and then a range of snowcapped peaks on the distant horizon. We drove over the Raton Pass into Colorado, our next state on this journey.
Driving north along the Front Range of the Rockies is always so interesting. The high snow covered peaks to the left (west) and the flat Great Plains to the right (east). We had this experience again just north of Trinidad, CO when we had the Spanish Peaks on our left and the flat grasslands on the right. We knew there was nothing significantly breaking up the slope of the land down to the Mississippi in the middle of the country.
And so we drive, we are being drawn further north. Drawn into the mountains, into the Rockies, into the higher elevations, into the coolness and pine scented fresh air. The Interstate highways are the quickest ways to get us to our destinations on these long driving days when we must cover hundreds of miles (today was over 500 miles). But we also look for the scenic highway's. The less taken roads, the ones that takes us by little towns, beside blue lakes, around funny corners, and finding beautiful settings. This is also part of our trip. And we love it!
We got to Denver by 2 o'clock. We scored! Although we did hit some slow traffic, we were able to get through the sprawling metro area and out the other side by shortly after three. That gave us enough time to go check into our hotel and have a little rest before dinner.
Wednesday evening brings a reunion with Heather, who was an AmeriCorps worker years ago with Patti when they both worked for the adult literacy program at a public library. Heather and Patti did amazing work with the families for literacy program and all kinds of great stuff for the kids. Heather and her husband, Aaron, now live in Colorado with their two children. The time with Heather and Aaron and their kids Annaliese and Ian was so fun. Highlights included getting to meet their four chickens. All of the home are supposed to be laying eggs of a different color. The chickens are too young and so no eggs yet.
We loved being coming reacquainted with these old friends. There house was set up to be a great place for the family. We appreciated the rope ladder in the front yard which became a perfect setting for a family photo.
And, dinner at the pizza restaurant included enough time for Patty to teach the kids a magic tricks and also share with them her book How Baby Coyote Learned to Howl. It was a joy to meet the kids and to be reacquainted with Heather and Aaron. Part of the joy of travel is to see old friends and to experience their lives today. Where do they live? What is work like? How are their families? What is meaningful to them now? It is great to see people again.
Then too soon it was time for kids to go to bed and Patti and Dick also to call it a night because tomorrow would be the first day hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
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