The Colorado River runs through Parachute...and continues west to Grand Junction

On the Way Out series

Vol. 6

Part 1

I rolled down another Western Slope country road today. I didn't have to venture far. I was on the backside of Battlement Mesa and the Colorado River weaved left then right and then left again through the town of Parachute. . .one moment the river was on the south side of I-70, the next moment the rushing water weaved to the north side of the interstate.

Yes, the sound of the river was forever present. The Colorado River was void of debris and the two-lane asphalt highway I was on was void of potholes! It struck me how can that be? Look at the highway below. I have yet to find a pothole! Of course, I haven't ventured to the big cities of Denver and Colorado Springs.

I need to check with the pothole police. Where I come from we have potholes that'll shake your car and your teeth. Somebody is doing something right up here in the high country -- 5,280 feet above sea level.

I left the smooth country road and headed east on I-70...now only a half hour from the big city of Grand Junction...with a population of 70,000 residents, 10,000 of them students at Colorado Mesa University with farming, fruit growing and cattle raising as the main three economic activities in the area.

And there's the beautiful bustling downtown area, just like I remembered the first time I was there 55 years ago. There were a few more shops and restaurants along Main Street, but not much different from when I arrived in town, at the age of 21, to be fitted for a Frontier Airlines uniform.

I picked up the fancy uniform and drove the 113 miles back to Moab, Utah and went to work the day after Christmas in 1966.

 

Today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky from Parachute to Grand Junction and back.

I'm still awaiting the first snow. I can wait a little longer.