HAVE I FOUND PARADISE?

WHILED AWAY THE SUMMER IN A PARADISAICAL TOWN--- COLORADO'S EQUIVALENT OF BRIGADOON.  I didn't mean to stay the summer---but---Well, you'll see.

Salida, Colorado, population 5000, elevation 7000 ft--an old railroad town--reinventing itself as Artsy.

A river, literally, runs through it.

Kayakers play in "holes"--the most exciting parts.

Old kayaks on display--show their evolution  

lovely things decorate the town---houses like those in Disneyland.

Free concerts every week.

Look closely--bicycles not locked up

And yes Marajuana is legal. (report in today--taxes collected are double what was collected for alcohol)

Wild deer freely roam the streets

Farmers market every weekend

Surprise an old friend--Carol--she makes and sells those products. (remember her from the Quest for Community caravan)

Here's something new--a rolling art gallery.

with this philosophy---I like it!

And provacative paintings 

Every week a different festival--this one all about fibers--weaving, spinning etc--surprisingly interesting--a very large subculture.  Jeanne loved it.

Old car festival--my favorite--$23,000 would have bought it.

I think Chrysler mass produced these.

A few quirky folks around town--can you see the giant spider atop the luggage carrier.

a fence made of old bicycles

AAAhhh but the highlight of the summer was visiting with new and old friends.  That's Jim and Gayle in the green shirt and orange top--a couple extraordinaire whose healthy minds and lifestyle moved me to poetry:

ODE TO JIM AND GAIL

Jim and Gail ride the gypsy trail

and are famous for their leisurely ways.

The name of their Rig is the name of their gig:

Both are called Lazy Daze.

With no contrition for their lack of ambition;

season after season they play;

with no troubling sorrow 'bout yesterday and tomorrow;

but enjoying today and today.

A self schooled couple, smart and supple

who've earned their nomadic diploma

for their fine-tuned talents of finding the balance

midway between frenzy and coma.

And what terrific luck to get moonstruck

with a lovely mobile fox

Who's quite proud to live out loud

in a rolling thirty foot box.

Check out their blog here

Is this the picture of a contented man?  

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:  Paradise is of course not a place but a state of the head and even then comes and goes unpredictably.  Quality friends help a lot.  Beautiful, comfortable places help too.

Interesting happenings contribute;  Challenging projects also.  Salida furnished all the above.  I found myself posting more often---writing more poems.  I forsee a  time when everybody is free enough to search out the people and places most conducive to their creativity and well being.

(incidentally it was an incredibly inexpensive summer--camping is free, concerts, festivals mostly free, movies cheap.)  

TWO TRAVELERS MEET-- IN THE WILD

EACH CURIOUS 'BOUT THE STRANGER'S STYLE;
AND WISHING TO KNOW WHAT THE OTHER KNEW,
 DID A DOUBLE INTERVIEW.
BOTH BLOGGERS AND POETS, IN THEIR PRIME,
 ASKED AND ANSWERED ALL IN RHYME.

Meet Kim of Kimbo Polo
Travels the land alone and solo

Surprise! She wants to question me.

So we settle beneath my awning tree.

Turn by turn we answer and  ask

'bout things beneath the other's mask:

How nice to chat with a PHD

Hobnob with someone smarter than me

Kim:    well Randy--what did you do today?

Randy:  I blogged and blogged the day away.

            Writing my posts gives me reasons why

            I don't park my rig, lay down and die.

          

           What's your motive for writing your thing?

Kim:    Just the sheer joy that a blog can bring  

           I have this urge to write and write
           forever waiting for the muse to bite.



Randy: Well now you are a thing that's new;
           So today I think I'll blog about you.



Kim:   That might please your readers no end.
          but in those photos--make me look thin?

          And I think I'll also blog about you.
          Tell me your goals and what you do?



Randy: I write poems and travel to the new.
           Now tell me your goals and what you do.



Kim:   My needs are small, my goals are few:
          go round the bend---admire the view.

          You've been free for so long now,
          share with me the why, the how.



Randy:I had a good mind--never found where it fit;
          I'm a nobody---making-- the best of it.

          But you've climbed the heights of academe;
          can you find contentment in a drifter's dream?



Kim:  Contentment's  mine on the open roads;
          "afoot lighthearted"---you know how that goes.

          Would you ever settle down;  cease to roam?
          maybe build a fence 'round an earthbound home?



Randy:I've made my gypsy bed---now I
          will mosey 'round until I die.

          Does moving moving--on the whole
          polish your manner, your mind, your soul?



Kim:  All of the above, I guess
          since I pulled away from a life of stress.

          You think as we keep wandering this way
          we become more polished day by day?



Randy: Yes, -- like rocks tumbling downstream;
            the bump and bumble makes us glisten and gleam.

            Since those you meet are mostly strangers
            do you give much thought to risk and dangers?



Kim:    Stepping away from the TV news
           for good and forever changed my views.
           I find decent people whever I go.
           Don't you also find this so?



Randy: Yes, I find goodwill---up and down;
            seems every new place is Mayberry town.

            But tell me how you choose where to go
            and what's the sweetest places you know?



Kim:    Trip planning is my favorite art---
            I open my map--then open my heart.

            What guides you in your nomad style?
            what experiences do you find worthwhile?



Randy:  By far the richest thing I do:
            engaging folks the likes of you.
       

Kim:     Well this has been great; I love to talk deep,

             but I have promises to keep.

Randy:  The pleasures' been mine--thanks a heap;

             I have miles to go before I sleep.

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