People too

Now I've mostly shared the gorgeous landscapes round here, but that doesn't mean we've been hermits (although that was kind of part of the point of this exercise). At Natural Bridges, we shared a campsite with this great couple from Eugene, Oregon. It was a pleasure to have some younger people to speak to for a little while. It sounds like Oregon is just amazing, but of course there is the rain. Bunches and bunches of rain.


In Durango, we ran into the Durango Cowboy Gathering and listened to cowboy poetry and stories in the Strader Hotel on Main Street. After one of the shows, we went to the French cafe, had some wine and croissants and met one of the cowboys. He said he'd been to Chapel Hill several years ago and appeared on UNC-TV on a folkways show as a "cowboy ambassador".


I have to add the French cafe hostess too. She was just adorable, a freshman at Fort Lewis ("the College in the Sky"). She loves horses and wants to be an adventure guide when she grows up. I hope she does.

And in Walsenburg we got way off the tourist path and met these two. They're not a couple and in fact didn't even know each other. A possible future? She was our waitress at the Alpine Rose Diner on Main Street. Kept our coffee cups full.

He told us all about Cuchara the tiniest village where an old couple owned everything and kept St. Bernards in all the doorways in town, the Spanish Peaks and the campsites 10,500 feet up which we had almost to ourselves. Steinbeck said if you want to know what's happening, have breakfast in the local diner.