We left Vail yesterday around 1 in the afternoon and finally arrived in Pueblo at 7. Of course this involved a stop in Denver but going from Vail to Pueblo is about as much of a 180 as possible in Colorado. I suppose Aspen to Pueblo might be a little worse but you get my point.
Now Pueblo, besides being the locale where Ali grew up, was the saddle making capital of the country in the early 1900’s. The old buildings are amazing but sadly nowadays, it’s a sad version of a once great Colorado town. It was so bad, we opted to get some food from the natural grocery store and head back to our hotel. I wouldn’t let the family walk down the street. To top it off, there was some festival going on which meant drunks and shady characters  on every street corner with police and their lights flashing everywhere. We knew it was bad when we checked into the Marriott and the girl at the front desk told me to park out front under a light so our car wouldn’t be broken in to. To top it off, Lori’s cold has moved to her chest and she wasn’t feeling well at all. Thankfully I’m pretty much better. We also had a thunderstorm that resulted in flash flood warnings and a lot of rain. Good news about that was it dispersed the drunks and potential car thieves. We haven’t been outside yet but hopefully our car is ok.
I told Tommy who warned me to make sure I was packing (carrying a gun) that Lori decided next time we head south of Denver, our last stop going south was the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs and then no stops until Santa Fe New Mexico, nothing in between. Probably a good plan!
Eddie and Lisa and the girls were two exits down the highway at the rodeo as Eddie agreed to join the roping team with his buddies. Lisa kept texting me as it went on and on. Finally around 10:30 it was over but they did win first prize! This means a little cash to them which is a big deal. I bought them a hotel room and they checked in sometime around midnight when we were asleep. We’ll see them soon downstairs for breakfast.
Then this morning we’ll drive to Fowler where they live, which is about 30 minutes east to ride some horses and visit with them. Then around noon, we’ll head home via Denver and stop for some more school shopping there before heading back to our little town that’s a world away from Pueblo. We brought them bags of clothes that they’ll share with friends in town as my old jeans are too big for either of them. More to come, hope you all are well. Our suite has only one bathroom and shower so I need to get moving before waking the boys. God Bless.