NOSTALGIA IN COLORADO SPRINGS

“Home is where one starts from.”  T.S. Eliot

Carol writes:  We left Colorado in April 2015 and have been enjoying our vagabond lifestyle on the road in many new and interesting places.  Our first year of travels took us throughout the southwest in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and California.

We couldn’t help but feel nostalgic as we drove over familiar Raton Pass and crossed into the lovely state of Colorado to the place we had called home for over 25 years.  It was hard to believe we had been gone for a year…

As always, there was that thrill at our first glimpse of the majestic Spanish peaks.

We were happy to settle in at a great campsite at the Air Force Academy FamCamp, the very same campground we had called home for two months last year, right after we had picked up our new motorhome just north of Denver. 

We felt so lucky to have beautiful warm and sunny weather the day we arrived, for we knew the next day the entire Front Range would be jerked right back into the clutches of Ole Man Winter.  What a difference 24 hours makes when it is "Springtime in the Rockies!"

For the next week we underwent a frenzy of doctor visits as we attempted to complete an entire year’s worth of appointments with every medical provider known to us.  Thankfully, we both passed every exam and medical procedure our docs could dream up, and we were once again cleared to head out on the road for another adventurous year.  As we were hammered by two snowstorms over the next three weeks,

we were forced to admit that we had learned an important lesson about camping in April at 6700 feet elevation!  If we do medical checkups in Colorado Springs next year, it will be in the month of June!

The fun part about coming back for a visit to our former home was reconnecting with some of our very special friends.

We had missed happy hours with you, along with customary dinners of our favorite Colorado Mexican cuisine!  Bob and Corrie, Dick and Maria, Dan and Susan, Pat and Kathy, Donnie and Daphne—we had such fun seeing all of you again!  Each mini-reunion was a special memory that we will cherish.  This coming year’s itinerary will be broadcast well in advance in our blog, and all of you have a sincere invitation to meet up with us at the location of your choosing.

For no other reason than curiosity, we drove by our old house on Highview Drive.  The ole homestead had undergone some changes, not the least of which was a recently started big stand-alone garage in the side yard.  And so it becomes someone else’s little slice of heaven…

As for us, the departure day for our second year on the road will be just as the calendar flips over a new page to May. We will be leaving Colorado in the nick of time, for a new round of snow is forecast just after we leave.  We are headed east through the heartland of Nebraska, where we hope to catch up with some beautiful days of spring.

“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.  Hal Borland