Hitting the Road

Saturday, Sara and I started driving from Durango Colorado to Long Island, taking it slow and visiting relatives along the way. Last night we stayed in Limon, which is fifty miles or so east of Denver.

Highlights: the strangely beautiful landscape east of Wolf Creek Pass; the saddening devastation of spruce forests in the vicinity of the pass, the work of pine bark beetles, which thrive as the climate warms; the etherial beauty of black angus cows against bright green grass of meadowlands; leaving the mountains behind and entering the great plains; driving through a windmill farm –– we slow and open windows, hoping to hear the whirring blades; can’t, but they are majestic. I wondered what Don Quixote would have thought of them. The blades don’t sweep close enough to the ground to hack at them with a sword.

The brooding dark clouds. Rain, driving rain; hail, near darkness an hour before sunset. We pull over and wait till it lets up, though we’re only half a mile from La Quinta Inn, where we’re booked for the night. When we got there, a couple of dozen people are hanging out in the lobby, seeking shelter. We are under a tornado warning! All in all, it was a satisfying day.