NOTE: Sorry there are no pics and videos. They have currently all been lost on the great hard drive crash of 2011 :(

With the bright lights and glitz of Vegas memories now faded and the canyons of Utah in our rearview mirror we finally rolled into Bree’s homeland – Colorado. *Travel Note: journeying East across Utah on Hwy 12 was probably one of the most scenic/beautiful drives I’ve ever taken. I highly recommend it. And remember, this is coming from a guy who’s driven both the 405 from Irvine to Long Beach AND the 91 from Riverside to Tustin. So I obviously know beauty. Just sayin’.

Anyways, ever since meeting Bree she’s told me about living in Durango and how much she loved it and how much I would love it too blah blah-blah blah-blah (just kidding buno you know I love listening to you talk) and how we had to go there etc etc. Well, news flash… we now live in an RV and are pretty much just randomly driving around the country so seems like now would be about as good a time as any to check it out. And so we did.

One of Bree’s numerous jobs whilst living and schooling in Durango was at the WalMart so that was our first stop when we got in to town. Not only did we need a few things but Bree wanted to see if any of her old work friends (I think I’ll call them WalMartians) still worked there. She threw out a couple of names to the nice WalMartian hanging $6 juniors dresses and was coming up dry but then she struck gold. “What about Pam Cook, is she still here” Bree asked. The lady didn’t know her last name but she did know there was a Pam working there – they confirmed using a height comparison as the lady held up her hand to her shoulder, Bree confirmed (evidently it’s impossible another Pam was this size) and we headed over to jewelry. We came around the corner and (cue George Michael music) WHAM – BAM – IT WAS – OUR PAM. Oh joy oh joy. They had a wonderful reunion moment, hugs were exchanged, the other WalMartians were talked about. It was just super warm and fuzzy. Yay WalMartian Reunion 2011!

After a bit of this Bree informed Pam that we had no plans for our time in town and we were just gonna crash in the parking lot and play tomorrow by ear. Pam was so super sweet and offered to let us park in front of their place just a few miles out of town and we graciously accepted. Um, power, water, flat driveway. Duh, WINNING.

Pam and her husband Dana were so so so wonderful and welcoming (thank you guys so much!!) it was a great way to start off our time in Durango. We hung (and ate) with them for a few days and then Bree got in touch with one of her old BFF’s and (you guessed it) fellow ex-WalMartian workmate, and evidently total partner in crime (back in the day) when they used to go out every night except Sundays and Tuesdays (???seriously lushes???). I judge not. But really – I guess these two were quite the pair (they told me they called themselves Barbies – as it sounded better than Bar Flies – um, I agree… lushes). Anyways Leslie offered to have us come stay on her and her husbands (and numerous other family member’s) ranch for a few days. Um, yeah, we are IN for some ranch living Leslie my wifes exWalMartian Barbie (Lush) BFF. We live in an RV so we were feeling pretty overdue for some ranch living in the Colorado countryside. Sounded right up our alley. It again was so super nice of them (them includes husband Jeff and kiddos Tyler and Maci – sorry if I spelled all of your names wrong) to have us stay with them. Thank you guys!

 In a word, the ranch was sweet. It was 1200 (or so) acres of beautiful country land between Durango and Ignacio where Leslie (Leslie’s nicknames for the family in ( ), Jeff (my husband), Tyler (brother), Jeff’s Dad (brother), Maci (Mo), all “ranch”. The ranch has been in Jeff’s family for something like 4 generations or some crazy $%^& like that. So they raise cattle mostly and then sell it off to the Chinese or others (evidently Americans don’t buy their beef as it’s too expensive – they said we get most of our beef from Brazil and such – who knew). They have a band of horses roaming the property (they were outside our window at 6am first day there as noted by Henery’s and Cali’s early morning barking). And the newest additions were the chickens and the new chicken coop. Can I get a Woot woot. Sorry, I guess I should say can I get a Cluck Cluck.

Do not fear that we did not get some chicken time in because oh we dids get us some chickens time in. Tyler and Maci saw to it that we were introduced (repeatedly during our stay) to each of the chickens (big shout out to Road Runner) and made sure that we held them and gave them a proper hello.

Tyler also showed me his new .22 that dad had gotten him and we even got in a little target practice with the ol’ bb gun (after informing Tyler that I was in no way shape or form interested in “gittin us” some prarie dogs). I wonder what they’d think of the city boy who does catch and release on insects and wrangles flies outside instead of swatting them.

We hung at the ranch for a few days and had a blast with the Barnes’. Our last day in town we went into town for burgers and wandered around the main (touristy) part of town – Main St in downtown Durango. Stopping at the original Rocky Mtn. Chocolate factory (Bree worked there too) and checking out the shops etc. Durango was indeed a gem of a Colorado mountain town. It was fun to meet Bree’s friends and get to see where she spent her college years. Another great stop for Operation Tally-Ho! We’ve moved on to (and out of as of today) Colorado Springs but I’ll let Bree recap that in a post coming soon.

Tally ho…

WalMartian Wannabe,
Matt