Friday evening of our road trip found us in Gunnison, where a motel room had been reserved. I didn't see any "no vacancy" signs lit up in town. We had seen lots of mountain scenery on the way there. We asked a local about reasonably-priced places to eat in town and got this reply: "I don't know much about that, I'm too cheap to eat out." Then she suggested the Old Miner Steakhouse because it had a salad bar. Which, by the way, is what I had.
We ate one meal at a restaurant each day of our trip, but none the meals were brag-worthy. I think I'm getting picky in my old age.
It was in Gunnison that I realized we were getting further from home with ever mile traveled, and we really needed to be heading back. There was a highly-rated museum down the road from our motel that I suggested we see next morning. I was sure it opened at 8 AM, and we'd get on the road toward home after we did that. However, the next morning we loaded up by 8 AM and headed out, pulled up at the museum, and found I had mis-read the sign: It opened at 9. We didn't wait.
We spent some time at Monarch Pass.
Cliff told me to go right ahead and ride to the top and he would gladly wait for me.
As I was carried up by a tram, I noticed a hardy soul was walking all the way up. Later at the top, he came up the steps panting from exertion.
I couldn't even see our car from the top, thanks to the curve of the mountain.
Wow, I could see forever!
On the way back down, I turned and took a picture of the tram going up.
In the car once again, we were following the same road east that we had traveled coming west. However, because of the scenery, I didn't find it tedious. Cliff couldn't believe my next planned stop was at the Colorado State Fair, but he kept most of his thoughts to himself. I assured him it would be a brief stop. We didn't attend our own State Fair this year, and I haven't had a nice, greasy corn dog in ages, so this was my chance to get one. I was also curious to see what their fair was like. I've only been to three other state fairs: Missouri, Iowa, and Virginia. Yes, Virginia. I have friends who live there, thanks to the Internet.
It was fun, watching the kids cool off on a very hot day.
I saw some lovely Jersey cows, and even got to milk one (sort of, since she'd had kids trying to milk her all day and wouldn't "let down" her milk).
I had never seen this setup before! Looks like fun.
The Iowa State Fair is my favorite of the ones I've visited, but of course my childhood memories would influence that opinion. My parents and I camped out there on three or four occasions. I loved it!
That was how we spent that day of making our way toward home. It looked like we'd be able to route our trip through McPherson, Kansas, and pay my sister a visit. But first, we needed to find a motel somewhere, because McPherson was too far for Cliff to drive after the day we'd had.
I'll tell you about Scott City, Kansas in my next entry. Here's a hint: Speed trap!
Cliff was having a lot of back pain when we set out for Colorado recently. I noticed that a couple of the motels we chose had chrome chairs with padded, but solid, arms. Both of us sometimes need something solid we can put our hands on to push up out of a chair, and I made a mental note to perhaps purchase a chair for Cliff that might be more back-friendly and easier to get out of. Our couch has sort of a recliner on each end, and Cliff has put plenty of time sitting on his end of the couch; I bought a separate recliner for myself, but he was happy with his spot on the couch.
I know from his past back-episodes that recliners haven't always been good for Cliff; he tried mine when I first bought it and only stayed in it a few minutes because it hurt his back. Also, as is typical for many of us, he spends more time sitting than he used to, and that's where he sits... on his recliner end of the couch.
While vacationing, and with Cliff's glass back constantly in mind, a picture-memory came to me from the fifties:
When Kennedy was President, pictures of him in a rocking chair were all over the news. He had a lot of physical problems, not the least of which was his back. His doctor prescribed the use of a rocking chair to ease his pain. It must have worked well, because he eventually bought rockers for Air Force One and all the Kennedy estates. While I was googling for information, I discovered there is a company that makes Kennedy rockers. Their website is kennedyrockers.com
"Cliff," I said, "We need to buy you a wooden rocking chair."
I'll leave it at that. You don't want to hear his answer.
I kept insisting we'd buy a rocking chair when we arrived home, and at some point he said, "We have a rocking chair sitting on the back porch. Bring that one inside."
Well, I had to start somewhere with this plan, so I brought my morning-coffee-on-the-deck chair inside. It used to have a back cushion, but that disappeared along the way. We replaced it with an ordinary bed pillow. Cliff mentioned, about the third day into our experiment, that he sure would like to be able to recline and relax; so I said, "I'll have Alexa set a one-hour timer; go to the couch and be comfortable for awhile."
He took my suggestion, but soon, before half-an-hour had passed, he went back to the rocker.
I eventually want to get a regular indoor rocking chair, but I can't order one online as I'm accustomed to doing with everything, because he needs to sit on chairs and try them out before we buy one. We both hate to shop, especially for furniture. We went to a furniture store in Richmond yesterday that doesn't even carry wooden rockers. Maybe Nebraska Furniture Mart has some, but Cliff hates going over there.
I hope my wicker, outdoor-type rocking chair is up to the task it's been given.
