33 Years Ago…..

Thirty three years ago, my boyfriend at that time and I decided we wanted an adventure. I was 22, he was 27.   We were both from the East Coast….I had traveled some in my young years because my father and stepfather were in the Navy……he had spent his entire life in Virginia.  I was from the coast, he was from the Piedmont area.  We met while working together at a hotel in Williamsburg ~ at that time known as the Best Western 1776.  He was a waiter, I was a desk clerk.  We met….dated….and fell in love.  After a period of dating, we moved in together and planned our adventure.  We saved and scrimped, only taking money out to buy our transportation for the adventure.  Finally, the day arrived…a new year had come, 1977.  It was time for our adventure….time to leave.

Thirty three years ago, I went to my mother’s house to have dinner for what I knew to be the last time for quite a while.  I didn’t say anything to her about this adventure, simply told her we were going to Blacksburg for a visit…be back soon.  My mother was one who worried, and I didn’t want her to worry.  That evening, we packed up our old green van….the van that was equipped like vans were in 1970’s.  There were curtains on the windows and a mattress in the back with shelves and cubbies to store our belongings.  We didn’t have much, but what we had was packed in nicely.  The next morning, we headed off for Blacksburg, Virginia to stay with an old friend.  It was an amazing time….we visited places I had never seen before….we explored Blacksburg and the surrounding areas, roamed the Blue Ridge Mountains daily and found many, many beautiful and wonderful places.  Please excuse the quality of these images….they are, after all, thirty three years old…….

After about three weeks, it was time to leave Blacksburg……..I took this the evening before we left from the balcony of our friend’s apartment.  I was a fan of sunsets way back then….

Our next stop was Clifton Forge, Virginia.  What a magical little town that was!  And it was just that, a little town with a clock tower and very few stores.  Homes dotted the surrounding hills and mountains.  An old friend of my boyfriend lived there and invited us to stay with them.  Clifton Forge is very close to the West Virginia border.  It was bitter cold while we were there….in fact, it had been a particularly hard winter that year if I recall.  Again, we relaxed and explored for about a month….when March finally arrived.  We had thought that March would be a good time to embark on our adventure…..and for the most part it was.

This image was taken at Bald Knob….it was windy and cold ~ but you probably picked up on that by the way I was dressed!  🙂  The moutain range you see behind me is West Virginia. 

We once again packed up our van and headed out for our adventure…….headed west…..destination ~ Denver, Colorado.  The Mile High City and the Colorado Rocky Mountains.  Our adventure was beginning…..through the mountains of West Virginia and the rolling hills of Kentucky we traveled.  When we got to Missouri, we encountered rain….it was pretty intense at times, but nothing we couldn’t handle.  It quit briefly when we arrived in St. Louis….almost as if it knew I wanted a photo of this….

When stopping for the night we discovered that the rain we encountered was once a horrible blizzard in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.  We decided that we would venture on, we were not trying to break any speed records and figured the roads would be passable by the time we go to that location.  You would not have known what we were going to encounter by these images……

But we finally begin to see how bad it really had been.  There were snow drifts on each side of the highway that were so tall you could barely see over them.  And there was dead cattle all over the sides of the road and in the fields.  The snow was so deep, you could not tell where the fences once were.  Many of the cows must have crossed over and gotten stuck in the snow, just like this one…..

We drove for miles with similar images…..the loss to the cattlemen must have been devastating after this storm.  But soon our eyes were focused on something else….something we had longed to see in our five day trip.  At first, it appeared to be clouds on the horizon…but as you got closer you could tell ~ it was the Rocky Mountains.  And what a beautiful site it was too.  Sadly, my old image doesn’t do it justice.  This was taken about 30 miles from Denver…..our first glimpse…

We were excited beyond words…..we had made it!  A year of planning and saving had been so worth it.  Our new home…..new places to explore……new people to meet…….Colorado…..

Oh…..by the way…..I did finally tell my mom what was going on.  I called her from Kansas and told her I was moving to Denver.  You see, as I said earlier, my mother worried about many things and I thought what she didn’t know wouldn’t cause worry.  By the time I called her, she only had to worry for about 350 miles….not the entire 1,500.   🙂  Me ~ sitting pretty our first time in the Rockies……

I could say the adventure ended once we arrived…….but it had just started!

To be continued….