I woke up to a warm morning at the Robbers Roost in Green River, Utah. My motel neighbors offered me the perfect breakfast of two juicy peaches from their tree back home.
After 80 miles of a bluebird morning, I crossed the Colorado border and entered the Western Slope of the Rockies.
I stopped at Grand Junction along the Colorado River, known by residents of Paonia and Crested Butte as GJ, or simply, town, perhaps because it hosts the nearest Sears. The plan was to stay in Crested Butte, a small mountain town I lived in for three years after college. I still had a few friends who lived there, and back when I was planning the trip I wrote Brian on Facebook to see if he had a place where I could stay. I heard nothing. So I assumed that I would end up camping in the outskirts. You could do worse than camping in this area--there are so many great spots, but it would be a chilly night.
However, when I checked my email in Grand Junction, and I got this meassage:
KEVIN - Sorry I missed this message. I am in CB tonight - maybe not tomorrow night. You are welcome any time! We have a guest room and live right in town. call my cell 970 793 2346.
I changed the number to protect Brian. A few minutes later Marilyn, another friend from CB wrote saying that she had room at their house. When it rains, it pours.
From Grand Junction, I rode to Paonia, Colorado (the town). Beth and I visited Paonia and Crested Butte nearly nine years ago, the period of time, we speculated, that our yet to be adopted Lab Aussie mix was born. So when It came time to name her, Paonia won out. Paonia, I think, is one of the most beautiful sounding names. Unlike Crested Butte, which sounds like a compound fracture coming out of your mouth. Her full name is Paonia Colorado. Naming your dog after a town and state can cause some confusining communication. For example, if I were to ask, "How's Paonia Colorado doing." You might respond. "Which one?" "I would say, "Paonia Colorado the dog, jackass" But deep down I would be curious about how the town was doing.
Paonia is guarded by Mount Lamborne, which is named because of a rockslide formation looked just like a newborn lamb. However, the thing about rockslides is that they slide, and it no longer looks like a lamb at all. More like a rockslide.
Kebler Pass, the road from Paonia (the town) to Crested Butte is a 25 mile gravel road that reaches over 10,000 feet. The aspens were just beginning to turn yellow, and the views were stunning.
I rolled into Crested Butte at about 3:00, walked around town, and sat down for some Mexican food and called home. "You sound out of breath." "I'm not out of breath." "OK." Why would I be out of breath, I was just walking around carrying my camera bag at 9,000 feet and I live at sea level. Oh, wait.
I unloaded at Brian's house, a perfect Crested Butte house, just one block from Elk Avenue, the main drag in CB. Brian and his girlfriend Karen made Dahl and heirloom tomato salad for dinner ... perfect. While Brian's daughters Braillyn and Piper ate spaghetti and quesedillas.
After Dinner Brian and I walked down to the local public radio station, KBUT, to meet up with my old friend Andrew, who was doing his longtime Friday Night Fish Fry blues show.
No comments:
Post a Comment