Happy Halloween!

So we zigged and zagged a bit here in our itinerary. My good friend Katelyn had recently moved to Fort Collins with her boyfriend Nathan and we had promised her that we would come to visit. So North out of Pagosa Springs we headed. We planned on making the trip in two days but Lead Foot Lynn got behind the wheel and we got from Pagosa Springs to Fort Collins in one (long) day of driving.

On the way we stopped in the tiny town of South Fork CO at an organic market and restaurant. This restaurant was a diamond in the rough. We were in desperate need of good food after our amazing soak in the springs.

(Peace of Art Café - 14475 West Highway 160 - Del Norte, CO)

We wolfed down a chicken, red pepper, onion, mozzarella melty sandwich and learned of a better route through the mountains than we had been planning on taking. We chatted with the cook, the owner and her husband about our grease car, we even got a few tips on what might have been causing some recurring truck issues. Just as we were about to leave we were ushered into the fresh produce aisle and were personally introduced to the hand picked local tomatoes, the farm fresh organic eggs, and the local poultry, we also indulged in a few new teas. Almost $70.00, and a few new friends later we were out the door.

The drive over the hills, through the afternoon was beautiful, again, words hardly do the beauty of this amazing country justice but here are some samples.

We called Katelyn thirty minutes before our arrival with a request...Chinese food. It seemed that after our super healthy day of eating we needed the grease, and so did our truck! We arrived, hugged and chowed down.

We stayed with Katelyn and Nathan and their adopted dog Louis for a week. During that time we pimped out Josh's bike, made many amazing family dinners, raked leaves, carved pumpkins, handed out Halloween candy, took Louis on walks, rode our bikes a lot, talked a lot and laughed a lot. Oh yeah, and we got the watch the Red Sox sweep the Rockies. We went out to a bar for game three and felt horribly out numbered. But Katelyn wore her Sox hat bravely and quoted stats for anyone who dared to call her a fair weather fan.

We ended up being there during the work week so both Katelyn and Nathan were busy during the day, no problem. Nathan owns a bike shop so Josh and I took it upon ourselves to hang with Nathan at the shop almost every day and persuaded him to come out to lunch with us. Nathan also did some sweet custom work on Josh's bike. Nathan bought the bike shop a few weeks earlier and had made himself quite at home with new paint on the walls, new (vintage) cruisers, and a whole new way of doing things. While Josh and I hung out we watched him greet customers, make them feel like part of the crowd and then tend to whatever issue they might be having. We watched him fix flat tires, install new break lines and install new seats. It is always fun watching someone do what they are really good at.

On that note while we were there we got to watch Katelyn sketch a three canvas piece of artwork to hang over their couch in the living room. After what seemed like hours in the art store we happily left with the materials needed to make their living room look like a gallery. For hours Katelyn poured over what to draw, when the decision was made we watched her carefully, painstakingly measure then sketch a beautiful scene. We left before the color went on it but I am hoping for a picture of the final product (hint hint).

On Halloween we carved pumpkins in the living room and handed out candy to the witches and goblins who dared to knock on our door. Katelyn had originally thought Josh and I had gone overboard with the bags and bags of candy...but no, we had to send the last of the trick or treaters away without any candy. Even though they could have tricked us and smashed our pumpkins they didn't and our grinning orange friends were still there in the morning.

We parked in front of their house until the cops asked us to move, then we squeezed the RV into their tiny driveway. It was such beautiful fall weather in Fort Collins and it felt like we had just gotten settled when all of a sudden there was snow in the forecast and Austin TX was beckoning.