The fourth day in our cross-country journey started with a
revelation—Mom solved the mystery of her malfunctioning eye that had plagued
her the day before. “Sissy (most of my family calls me Sissy or Sis), I figured
out what was wrong with my eye,” she said as soon as I was rolling out of bed. “I
forgot to put my contact in my left eye.” Turns out her eye hadn’t “quit on her”
after all.
We started the day with a jaunt up Pike’s Peak, which boasts
a 14,115 foot elevation and the highest gift shop in the country. The drive up
to the summit was as scenic as you can get, with bird’s eye views of lakes and
towns, deep green forests, and smaller hills and peaks. There’s a pull off at a
reservoir, with zaffre blue shimmering waters, dotted with the occasional boat,
lines hung overboard luring in lunch. Signs line the roadside with pictures of
the wildlife and plants you can expect to spot on your drive up. We saw a few
yellow bellied marmots, and though there is a Bigfoot Crossing sign (erected
due to the numerous sightings in the area), we didn’t spot the hide-and-go-seek
guru.
The drive to the summit can also unnerve you a bit. With
hairpin turns around the edges of the mountain and no guardrails lining the
road, the thought of your vehicle tumbling miles down the face of the mountain
does cross your mind. Mom, somewhat weary of heights, strongly urged Merle to
keep the car straddling the yellow line when the drop-off was on her side. She
also had a bit of trouble with the altitude, getting a bit woozy and
light-headed. She wondered, “was it the altitude or the weed that John Denver
was talking about in ‘Rocky Mountain High?’”
The best meal we’ve had on our trip came from Taco Navarro,
in Pueblo, CO. A small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant, its specialty was street
tacos and they were some kind of good. I also met a rugby fan there. He saw my
USA Rugby tank-top and asked if we were playing nearby. He had seen 7s on TV
and was hoping that the local college had a team—good news for our sport and
its growing popularity.
The second half of our day was more scenic driving through
the southwestern part of Colorado (the San Juan Mountains were a pleasure) and
northeastern part of New Mexico. We saw an elk ranch (my dad would have enjoyed
that), old steam engines, cows that roamed freely, some venturing into the road, and found out
where all of the buffalo have gone, all three of them—in some lady’s yard in
New Mexico.
In this part of the country, our conversation shifted to topics
like the difference between a mesa and a butte, what exactly is an arroyo
(another name for a wash), how the landscape was becoming more desert-like
(like the “Mosabi” [Mojave] desert, in the words of Mom) and how some of the
smooth rocks resembled driftwood (isn’t is funny how Nature mirrors itself).
All in all, we did more sightseeing on Day 4 than any other
day thus far, and it was wonderful. The view from the summit of Pike’s Peak was
breathtaking and the ever changing landscape of the drive through Colorado and
New Mexico was wonderful to behold. There are some who would say that the magnificent
view from Pike’s Peak proves the existence of a higher being. I say it’s proof
that the Universe has wonders for us every day—that there is a hidden jewel, a
bit of a miracle in each rising of the sun. Sometimes it takes a mountain to
show us that, but if we look closely, we can find little miracles everywhere,
even in the yard of an old lady in New Mexico, where there are three beautiful
buffalo quietly grazing.
More on our awesome adventure tomorrow!
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