After a great blueberry pancake breakfast, I bade Samantha and Steamboat Spring adieu and began traveling south to Leadville, Co. My plan was to visit High Mountain Institute and spend a few days camping in the high Rockies. My plan was thwarted. As I was down shifting into the town of Minturn, just beyond Vail, the cam chain on Lucinda snapped. She popped out of gear and drifted to a resting place just outside of a clothing consignment shop.

To fix her would mean opening up the engine and accruing an expense beyond her worth. Uncertain of myself and of my next steps, I pushed her to the trail head of Grouse Meadow, about 10 minutes from where her pistons fired for the last time. I stashed most of my belongings in the woods near the parking lot, packed what I needed to camp for a few days and took to the hills.

July 7- The view from my kitchen. I found a colorful meadow decorated with wild flowers abutting an aspen grove. I would call this home for a few days.

July 7- I used this as base camp to explore the surrounding hillsides, sketch, make photographs. It was a great salve for my woes.

July 11- I made the difficult decision to leave Lucinda in Minturn and carry on by bus. Caity Johnson is participating in a dance festival at Colorado College in Colorado Springs and invited me to join her for a weekend of performances. The festival itself comes out of a great commitment to craft and the expression of ideas through movement. I have seen a display of poetry and beauty and I am left in a bit of awe of the dance world.

June 12-I have been staying in the hills of Colorado Springs at the home of a friend of Caity's, Bill Starr. He is a photographer and lover of dance and his house has been a hive of activity while I have been here. He has kindly opened his doors not only to me, but to quite a few of the dancers participating in the festival.

On Monday, July 12th, I will leave Colorado by train and travel eastward. The loss of Lucinda has taken some wind out of my sails and seems to me an end to a marvelous adventure. So much has taken place within a relatively brief period of time and a slow conveyance eastward will allow me to see the country in another way and perhaps, to put the Kid to rest.