Backpacking to Colorado<\/p>\n
A summer break was time for adventure.
\nEquipment rented and over packed,
\nthumb sticking out we hit the road.<\/p>\n
A semi truck cab bouncing wildly
\nacross the southern Dakota
\nbarely able to read the Burma Shave signs.<\/p>\n
Camping at KOA didn’t seem like roughing
\nit enough while we walked across the highway
\nto go dancing in the honkytonk.<\/p>\n
But the station wagon with a family of five,
\nhomeless and searching for work
\nthe tale to be remembered and told.<\/p>\n
And the bronc buster who drove us
\nsouth the next day traveled the plains
\nranch to ranch breaking horses.<\/p>\n
dropped off on the edge of a little town
\nno campground So we splurged a motel room,
\nprepaid with no refunds, no A\/C<\/p>\n
no hospitality returned with
\na gift, meat to spoil in the radiator
\nWe learn as we moved on.<\/p>\n
“Where you heading?
\nGet in you big dumb Norwegian.” he said.
\n“Your big square head gave you away. ”<\/p>\n
A short ride to the edge of the mountains.
\nThe foot hills fading green in the summer heat.
\nA book of poetry to carry his wife we receive<\/p>\n
Then the canyon walls so steep
\nyou cannot see the sky
\nriding in an RV for the climb.<\/p>\n
Living in the greenest green,
\nhiking JD’s land
\nuntil we’re chased away.<\/p>\n
Organic tuna melts
\nin the only restaurant
\nin town with no stop signs.<\/p>\n
More hiking in elevations too high for your blood.<\/p>\n
Then south to Coors
\nin Golden and
\nchili five ways in town.<\/p>\n
Denver ahead, a total let down.
\nRestrictions and lack of transportation
\npushed us back out onto the plains.<\/p>\n
Storms in the distance but dropped off at a Y,
\nno water, no ride, as hours go by.<\/p>\n
We walk to the house with the well in the yard.
\nNo one is home but rattles greet us
\nat the pump handle we let them lie.<\/p>\n
Finally as the sunsets a truck slows to us
\nand offers one in the cab and one in the back
\nas his oxygen tank lay on the front seat.<\/p>\n
I opt for the back with a half of bottle of water
\nInside, Bill drinks coffee from a thermos cap
\nMy hair blows as highway speeds are exceeded<\/p>\n
,into the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Backpacking to Colorado A summer break was time for adventure. Equipment rented and over packed, thumb sticking out we hit the road. A semi truck cab bouncing wildly across the southern Dakota barely able to read the Burma Shave signs. Camping at KOA didn’t seem…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44267,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44266\/revisions\/44267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}