News from Colorado

As of today, May 20th, I have been in Colorado for a month! This is exactly where I wanted to be and so far, I like it here at Vallecito Resort. Most of the other workcampers are real friendly folk and I have made some friends already. All good. The weather here has been back and forth -- the third day here, I was forced to trade my shorts and flip-flops for jeans and shoes! What a shock to this south Florida girl's system! But it's ok...I'd rather be here than suffering in the heat and humidity that arrived way ahead of schedule other places -- like Maryland and Florida!

Have been in training for my job in the office for a month, but still have a lot to learn. I work Thursdays and Fridays with Carol, who is a good and patient teacher. Worked with Sue a couple of days early on, but only a few; the problem is, I also have to work on Mondays with a woman named Pam who has proven to be a lousy teacher and a bitch!
So add to that the fact that I have met someone and not having 3 days off in a row is going to significantly effect our ability to spend more time together. The backstory on this is that just when I had about given up on Plenty of Fish, I changed my location to Colorado and a whole world of possibilities opened up. Bob contacted me and we began messaging back and forth in early May. He is just about 6 months older than me; fully retired; financially secure; and was widowed 2 years ago after a 43 year marriage. He is also an RV owner and loves to travel, but like me, has found that traveling alone is not a whole lot of fun. After kicking this around for a couple of weeks, I agreed that the only way to KNOW is to meet. Bob lives 600 miles away and I figure if a guy is willing to go the distance, he must be seriously interested in me. So he made a reservation here and drove down in his RV last Friday.

I was as nervous as a teenager, but once I met him in person and felt his calming presence, I just relaxed and enjoyed each moment. On Saturday, we drove up to Silverton and then on to Ouray -- one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! I was there with the now-X back in '95 or '96, but neither of us knew anything about that part of this gorgeous state other than what was in the tourist brochures. Bob is a native of Colorado and took me to places I didn't know existed! We had a wonderful day and I took about 50 pictures.

The next day, we went in the other direction to Pagosa Springs. It was a gorgeous day and it' a lot warmer when you are in a lower altitude -- PERFECT for experiencing the natural hot springs and pools there. I was like Goldilocks -- this one is too hot! this one is too cold! and I kept thinking that there ought to be bubbles like in a hot tub! We had a great time and think we spent about 2 hours soaking in that wonderful hot water in the sunshine!

We talked and talked the entire weekend and I couldn't help but hearing my heart asking if he could be THE ONE. But it's way too soon to tell. All I know is that for the remainder of his visit, we kept getting closer and closer and since he has gone home, we have been burning up the internet with messages back and forth and the cell phone towers with long phone calls! Part of me is scared to death -- the other part keeps saying GO FOR IT! Last evening, we talked about what this could possibly look like in the not too distant future. The fact of the matter is I don't NEED to be down here workcamping, but I made a commitment to Dave to be here until October 1st and I don't want to reneg for something that might not work out. But there's a pretty good possibility that I will be going north to Evergreen (where Bob lives) for the winter instead of to Arizona and another workcamping gig in the fall. Too soon to tell...and I have to keep reminding myself that I have a history of jumping in way too quickly (the whole thing with Tom) and NOT holding to the Four Seasons Rule. Needless to say, this is difficult, but I don't want to get into it with Bob just because we are two lonely people. That's simply not enough to sustain a relationship and I want the next one to be a HEALTHY relationship. Way too much going around in my head right now...

I have a lot of things on my Bucket List still to check off. Bob said he would be thrilled to visit all the National Parks I want to see even though some of them will be the second time around for him. I really like the idea of having my own "tour guide" and someone to experience them with me. And I would love for him to go to Maryland to meet my friends and family there and to SW Florida to meet my dearest friends Skip & Richard, too. Bob doesn't mind driving and while his RV is a lot smaller than mine, I think we could be fine in much closer quarters and as he said, "We won't be living in it full-time." Personally, I still prefer flying when the distance is more than 1,000 miles and we would have free places to stay in both MD and FL, but again, it's too soon to tell and I have been TRYING not to plan more than 6 months ahead.

So that's pretty much it for this Journal update. I HAVE finally gotten to see wild ELK after years of hoping! We drove up to Vallecito Lake one evening -- up into the San Juan National Forest -- and spotted a large herd grazing in a mountain meadow! Elk are very large and majestic creatures and I was sorry I hadn't brought my camera along! So I have checked wild Bison, wild Elk and Moose (which I saw about 11 years ago in New Hampshire) off my list of things to see out here in the Great American West.

Colorado has always remained the most beautiful state that I have ever been to and the climate is sooo much better than in Florida or Maryland in the summertime. The weather has been back and forth since I arrived and we just had two day of really cold and nasty stuff -- I had to brush snow off my car on Thursday morning because it was too cold and wet for me to ride my bike to the other end of this 16 acre park to the office! But that should be about the end of it. Weather at this altitude 7,700 feet can be tricky, but it's not like we're going to get a foot of it this time of year.

Big squeezy hugs to all my DS friends!