Prologue
"You're serious?" I said, laughing, and taking another pull at my beer.
"Yes, David," he said, his voice familiar since our days as best friends in grade school, "I'm dead serious."
"I've got a good job," I said.
"Take a two-week vacation," he said, "it's not like coming to Colorado is a chore."
I laughed again.
"Okay, Greg, you win," I said, "give me a week to get things squared away here and I'll come out and visit your little corner of Nirvana."
"Hurry, man," he said, "I need the help."
I laughed again, said, "a week," and hung up.
The next morning I sat down with my boss and arranged my vacation schedule. I spent the rest of the week arranging to have meetings moved and making sure my latest report got into the boss's hands so he could review it while I was gone. I still had a couple of months before it was due.
On Saturday I set out on my trek across the continent. I was working in northern Kentucky at the time, never mind which agency, and so I had about a 1,200-mile drive ahead of me. I decided to give myself a break and take two days. I stopped overnight at some town in Kansas, well, at the I-70 interchange outside of some town in Kansas. From there I drove straight through to Denver, spent an hour taking a Magical Mystery Tour of nostalgia, visiting my grade school, middle school, high school, and the house where I grew up, before heading south on I-25.
At Pueblo I followed the little blue line on my GoogleMaps app, finding Colorado 96 west. I'm a native Coloradan, but this was new to me. I pulled out the sheet of written instructions he had sent me because Google Maps insisted I had reached my destination based on the fact that I was pulled over in front of a mailbox on a numbered road.
I followed the road another two miles and then turned off on the lane, well, turned off after coming back and finding it after missing it the first time, and followed it for the directed 4.7 miles. Right on cue, I turned into the small lane. A hundred yards in was a gate which I opened with the combination he had sent.
Another two miles, this time through a woods of mostly Aspen trees, and suddenly, like something out of a movie, the scene opened up before me.
And it was spectacular. Colorado is a pretty state, and growing up here, I had seen a lot of very pretty places. But this was absolutely spectacular. The word that sprung to mind was "meadow." The little valley was a mass of pastels of wildflowers in bloom, with a couple of brilliant red patches providing contrast. In the middle of the meadow, where the little lane terminated, was a group of buildings that I took to be The Farm.
I stopped and looked. God DAMN but this was a pretty place.
I pulled up to the little parking area in front of what I took to be the main building. It was the largest, but also located in the center of a sort of loose semicircle of buildings. I caught a glimpse of a pool between buildings. I was surprised there were no other vehicles in evidence but figured they'd be in one of the larger buildings. A couple of them looked big enough to be adequate parking lots.
As I got out of the car a woman came out of one of the smaller buildings, "cabin" I thought. She had on a pair of tennis shoes and not another stitch. She was short, I guessed about 5'4", and round, I guessed an easy 250 pounds. Her grey hair screamed "retired" and "Medicare card." She was cute in the round way of some older women and when she gave me a casual wave, fingers moving individually, and a happy smile, I returned both.
"You are most definitely NOT in Kansas anymore, Toto," I said to myself.
I walked to the main building, following her in, admiring the view as she walked down the hall.
"DAVEY!!!!!!!," I heard and turned in time to brace myself.
Greg had been my best friend since about third grade when his family moved into my neighborhood. He was still bigger than me, blonder than about anybody, and had that smile that required a smile back.
He wrapped me in a bear hug, squeezing hard enough I couldn't draw breath.
Oh, I could have escaped, but not without hurting him, and I didn't want to do that.
So I hugged him back and hollered, "put me down you fucking gorilla."
He laughed, but did put me down. Then he did the holding me at arm's length thing and looked me up and down.
"Shit man," he said, "you're pale. I have got to get you out of that office job."