Albuquerque to Colorado Springs and Beyond

I just did another post about the inward sojourn so make sure you read it after this below.

Before leaving Albuquerque we made a manditory visit to Trader Joes's. We do have our priorities. Our supplies from Nashville had been exhausted so it was time to stock up again and to buy gifts for our hosts along the way. We won't see another TJ's until we get to Phoenix next month. We couldn't possibly buy enough since we don't have much cold storage, but we did the best we could!!

So we bade farewell to Albuquerque and the saints there and headed north. When we got to Santa Fe we wanted to drive thru the old section so we got off the interstate and wandered into town. Lots of adobe and quaint shops and restaurants, but we stayed in the car due to the limiations of my injured foot. We kind of spontaneously decided not to go back to I 25 and opted to go thru Taos. It was the home of Kit Carson. Again, lots of adobe and quaint shops and restaurants. It was here that we learned that GPS's can't read your mind. We intended to go a particular way and thought that was what the GPS was doing -- but, of course, it wasn't. So we ended up doubling back through Taos to take the route we wanted to go. It turned out to be a very scenic but not very efficient route. We were following a stream down the mountain after miles of twisting and turning though the mountains. We were able to pull over briefly so I could put my foot in the stream but it was not cold enough to feel really good. We spoke vaguely of stopping to spend the night in one of the small towns we passed through but we decided not spend the money. So we pressed on to Colorado Springs. We eventaully got there by about 9:30 to the saints' house. They then took us to another home north off Colorado Springs in Monument so that I wouldn't have to navigate their stairs. We spent 2 nights with Ed and Pam Karned in their walkout basement and at a 7,000 foot elevation. All the next day I spent on a couch with my foot up and an ice bag on it. It looked pretty swollen and terrible by the time we got there so I was very thankful for a day to nurse my wounds. It was a turning point in the healing progress. That night they invited some saints over and we had dinner and got to know each other. It was a very sweet time of fellowship.

Wednesday morning we hit the road again and headed toward Grand Junction, CO. The scenery was beautiful, but Stan told me I slept through the most spectacular part of the trip!! At one point we were at 11,000 ft. We stopped for a picnic lunch in an historic little town called Georgetown which had been a silver mining town after the civil war until the early 1900's. I would have loved to poke around a little and go into some of the museums and houses but between my foot and time constraints, we couldn't.

We arrived in Grand Junction at the home of Eldon and Betty Case whre they took us to Golden Corral for dinner -- just like home! Afterward they drove us around the town of 48,000 in a valley that has been irrigated to become a major growing area for peaches. The next day we went fruitstand hopping and we bought some peaches and cherries to take to Utah.

The drive from Grand Junction to Roy, Utah (where we are seeing our nieces and Stan's Mom) is a vast, high desert with some incredible rim rock formations. It is hard to believe that people used to cross this region in covered wagons!! We are in Roy now and are having a wonderful time with the family. Kathy, our niece has 7 kids that she is homeschooling.

We leave for Montana tomorrow and to visit the family farms so I won't be writing until sometime next week.