Delta Don and his wife Janet

Tuesday, June 27th - Had a wonderful visit with two of the most enjoyable people I've ever had the pleasure to know -- and they're relatives too.  Double Wow!  It had been over 25 years since I had seen them at my dad's funeral service in Denver though, I admit, I don't remember much back then as I was probably still in shock -- he had passed away on my daughter's 4th birthday (buried my mother on my son's 17th birthday so I never forget the dates but, the details are blurred).

I pulled my Jeep into Don and Janet's driveway (after a much shorter drive than the day before to Canon City) and I immediately spied what looked like a Cunningham out back roaming his yard with a can of feed in his hand -- called out to him and he waved me in.  After some big hugs, we sat down on the edge of his feed bins and he pointed out all the pigeon coops and told me how he tested the birds homing skills by releasing them on the other side of Grand Mesa (11,000 ft high with hundreds of lakes).

We walked around and I was reminded of my childhood home in Denver where we had pigeon coops and rabbit hutches in our backyard -- compliments of my dad's handiwork (my brother and I caught the pigeons).  Don showed/fed all his various chickens, cock, doves and other birds -- told me how he had to trap various varments trying to get at his birds (skunks and weasels and foxes, I think).  I saw all his garden plots with various vegetables surrounded by wood planks and he showed me roughly where their 4 acres of property ran -- pond included on the lower portion (grass too tall around it to check it out).  Soon there was a black cat following us and rolling around in the dirt in front of us.  We went into the house and soon discovered a number of other cats as we started talking about various things.  Soon, Janet made it out to get introduced -- didn't recall meeting her before but, that's my poor memory as mentioned before.  I really enjoyed being around her and Don and loved observing the repore they had as a couple -- wonderful to see.

Janet was a bit under the weather and attributed it to food eaten out the afternoon or evening before (maybe fish).  She gathered some Tums (my favorite choice too at those kind of times) and then excused herself to gather some strength to ride around the Mesa in their car.  Don drove us up to the Grand Mesa and we stopped at the Lodge to see what they had to eat -- place was for sale and no service to speak of so, Don wanted to drive on down the other side of the Mesa and get some lunch.

Don's very own cabin on the mesa

Another reason for going up to the lodge was to see the cabin that cousin Don had occupied 2 months of each summer when he was just getting started in the Forest Service (he may have been around 18 years old).  He said he worked on a study of the Pocket Gophers while he stayed on the Mesa so they could learn how to control them -- their tunnels were a major nuisance.  The Grand Mesa is a real gem of the western slopes with all its beautiful lakes and ponds -- a fisherman's paradise.  Saw a couple people in floating tubes on the lake next to the lodge and one actually brought in a fish while we watched and I took pictures of the surroundings.

The drive down took us to Callbran (thankfully a gas station too on the way) but, the place Don had in mind didn't have a restaurant so we went back to Plateau, CO.  They sampled shakes and burgers while I had a corndog and shake -- plenty of flies in the restaurant confirmed it was good food (lots of people too).  There was a sign in the restaurant that said "any unattended children would be given ice cream and a puppy" (LOL).

After lunch we looped around the valley of Plateau creek and onto I-70W through some wild looking cliffed canyon.  The Colorado River was running super high and was a big distraction to Don -- guess he hadn't seen the river that high in some time.  Then we went through the east end of Grand Junction and down Route 50 over the same concrete bridge I had taken over the Colorado River -- now another distraction for Don as he too couldn't believe how high the river was.

Megan, Jordan, Don and Janet

We stopped around 3:00 pm at their daughter Andrea's house and met Don and Janet's granddaughters Megan and Jordan (17 and 6 respectively).  Had a pepsi and a short visit there before heading to Don and Janet's to look over slideshows/pictures on my computer.  Janet brought up a box of old pictures that our uncle Gene had brought to them some years back -- lots of Don and Bob, their mother and Leo, Kansas house with grandma and two boys, one of the old house in Canon City showing the canal and Arkansas River, fields around -- heard the story from Don that the kids (our uncles, I think) used to float wood in the canal toward the house and pop-it out when it got near the house.  Some day would love to get scans or copies of some of those old pictures.

Don and Janet's son is named Donald (not a "junior") and I believe they said he is in the Pittsburgh area and has a solar panel business with a partner -- doing well, with Menonites buying panels for their homes and farms.  Andrea I think is a CFO, maybe for Kaiser Steel or Metals in Grand Junction and has only a half hour commute to work (from their beautiful house near Delta).

Had a wonderful dinner with Don and Janet at their house -- stuffed pasta (cheese and meat) with salad made with fresh lettuce from their garden and a little Rosemary added in with freshly grated cheese -- glass of white wine paired nicely with the feast (so much better than hamburgers or hot dogs from my little table top grill).  Plus the company made it that much nicer.  Thank goodness too, I didn't have to drive over any mountain passes or through those clouds of May Flies again on my way back to the campsite (still dark by the time I got back though).