DAY 20

"Silverton Hillside" 

11x14" Oil on Canvas

The hills are alive with the sounds of rustling aspen leaves, icy streams rushing by in the last run off of winter snows, cries of a raven soaring overhead, and the mighty thunder of the forests. We drove some very narrow and scary mountain roads with sheer drop offs in second gear all the way, snaking up, down and around these twisting treacherous two lane highways from Durango into the old mining town of Silverton with its infamous train ride. After lunch we continued the roller coaster ride into Ouray (prounced oo-ray). The roadside sign might give you some indication of  bone chilling leg of this journey. Silverton must have gotten its name from others arriving from over the mountain range, who probably also yelled out in jubilation, "hooray we made it!" I have never felt so glad to arrive anywhere. I even had to close my eyes around all the hairpin turns, sure must have worn my guardian angel out with all my petitions for protection.

We are now in a luxury 8 Star RV Park in Montrose, CO that has all the hookups for water, electricity, and sewer ...Whew, we are living high on the hog now!!!  There is an amazing Aspen right outside my side of the bed/4" thick mattress who sang to me all night with the voice of what sounded like, an Indian rainstick as light rain softly danced on the canvas overhead. We'll stay here again tonight before continuing on toward Grand Junction and Jackson Hole, WY.

I wouldn't have been able to blog on this trip without the help of my very cool energy charger which I found at Radio Shack before we left Conroe. I can charge my camera, computer, and cell phone all at the same time in the extra cigarette lighter not being used by the GPS!!! I wonder why cars have cigarette lighters anymore? They need to be re-marketed as techy- booster bars. Another great device has been a $12 compact flash read/write drive. I can download all my photos onto my computer in an instant while riding down the highway, and have them all Photoshoped, named and filed by the time we arrive at our next destination. Its so very time efficient, leaving me time to paint once we get the pop-up cranked up and the sleeping bags rolled out. It's the not-so-simply things in life that allow us to enjoy the simple things? ... sounds like an oxymoron to me?