You Can''t Get Lost - Liz in Albuquerque - September 24 - October 4

 Yep, a new trip.  This is going to be kind of a quick down and back.  Jaye has asked me to come down for a visit and Liz had decided she wanted to have a quick visit also, so I decided to go crash the party!  Only having a few days between getting back from Yellowstone and heading down here, I'm pretty much driving straight down for five days and then back and visiting along the way.  Unfortunately, I'll be just missing the Albuquerque Balloon Festive.  

On the way back, I'm going to try and see college friend Bill Russell, who I saw on the Southwest trip last spring.  Next, I'll see my first graduate student, Jeff Groom, in Gunnison.  Then swinging past Jay and Kathy Puckett before getting home.  Getting home in time to fly to Boston.  I didn't think I'd been that bad, but there doesn't seem to be any rest for the wicked.  

I had a busy week after getting home from Cody, including trying to keep the blog going.  To be honest, I knew that I had to leave on the 24th to get to Albuquerque before Liz, but for some reason, I kept thinking it was next week, not this one.  So it was Thursday morning that reality hit and I made up the route map and schedule.  Then it seemed that everything was a scramble to get together the food and clothes.  I relaxed a little when I realized I really didn't need all that much food.  Only one night on the road before I got to Albuquerque (Monday being at a brewery with food trucks) and then I would be covered would be covered at Jaye's.  That left only the night at Raton and I'd be at friends houses the next two nights.  

Clothing, however, was another matter.  For some reason, I really couldn't get my head around temperatures and clothes.  I packed four long sleeved shirts and two short sleeve shirts.  And worse, I had pulled out two pairs of shorts and they must be still lying on the bed.  When I got to thinking about that on the way down, I decided as Sally and I would say, " There's always Walmart." 

Saturday, Sept 24th

RVTripWizard, my trip planning program, said it should take 3:45 to drive to Colorado Springs.  I knew better than that.  It took almost 5 hours because of traffic between north Denver to Colorado Springs.  I hate driving through Denver even in the car.  

I'm staying tonight at a Harvest Host brewery, Smiling Toad Brewery in Colorado Springs.  It's a small operation and you park in their smallish parking lot.  They request that you get there before 5:00 before the lot fills with customers.  I planned to leave at 11:00 and actually got away at 11:30,  so I got here a little before 4:30.  I'm glad I got here a little early so I could snake the trailer back into the space.  It took a while, back and forth, until I got it straight.  

As I'm writing this, UW is playing Brigham Young University.  BYU is ranked #19 in the nation.  The score at halftime is 14-10 with BYU scoring with four seconds left.  We lost, not unexpected, but it was fun that they were so close through the first half of the game.  

For dinner, I had a food truck Shrimp Poor Boy and two(!) glasses of beer, that the brewery called "God save the Queen King ale".  Not many photos today.  Probably not many tomorrow either.  That's good.  I'll be able to catch up some more on the earlier blogs.  I guess I should indicate the ones that are in draft form so you don't have to keep checking.  

Did that.  Good idea. 

Well, this one is done.  Finished.  Kaput.  Good night.