A Fire Mountain Friendship

I am quaking, sweating, crying and terrified in the backseat of a Toyota 4Runner riding along a narrow ridge with 600-foot cliffs on both sides. There are no guardrails, no shoulder, barely a road—just an asphalt path. How did I get here? This is insane!

After that momentous tour, Gail put me on her Christmas card list. Gail is president of the Southern Colorado Bead Society and specializes in paper crafts. Here are a couple of cards and Christmas ornaments she made.

We stayed in touch, becoming Facebook friends. She kept me apprised of their adventures—diving in Honduras, traveling in Italy, hunting elk... They do it all, usually with their rescued beagles.

Last summer, I took a road trip with my friend Katie. We had no destination in mind—we just drove around looking for interesting places. I suggested we put my self-proclaimed micro fan club, Gail and her family, on our itinerary. We were off for Cañon City, Colorado—and anything interesting we saw along the way. Lots of cool stuff is between Grants Pass, Oregon, and Cañon City, Colorado, including Arches National Park and the World's Largest Watermelon Slice.

It was with some nervousness that we descended upon Gail's home. After all, we had met once on a 1.5-hour tour five years ago. I don't really know this woman and she doesn't really know me! She met us at the front door with hugs and kisses. We got hugs and kisses from her beagles Annie and Roscoe, too. We were at home immediately.

We must be sisters from another mother. She introduced us to her husband Dave and showed us to our rooms. Yes—rooms. She prepared separate rooms for each of us, complete with welcome gift baskets. She sacrificed her craft room temporarily for our visit. Later, her mom and sister and their husbands came over. What a party! We couldn't stop talking. Turns out we have lots of shared adventures. We could have stayed a week and not run out of stories to share.

When they found out Katie and I wanted to take pictures of unusual sights, they became determined to find us the most interesting pictures in the area. We visited Bishop's Castle, a prison museum where I got a picture of a gas chamber, lots of dinosaurs, a big rooster, the world's largest rocking chair and Estes Rocket factory and went whitewater rafting in the Arkansas river. Wow!

The most memorable—and by "memorable,” I mean “causing PTSD”—was the ride down Skyline Drive. I am afraid of heights and did not choose this side trip. I was just an innocent passenger. Once you get on this road, you can't get off safely until you reach the other side, 2.6 hair-raising miles away. So that's how I ended up having a panic attack in the back of a 4Runner. You just never know where a Fire Mountain friendship will take you.

We spent three days with Gail and her family. Every minute was memorable, most of them were fun, and now I know I am not afraid of heights—I AM TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS. But I did get to see real dinosaur footprints and took a short fossil-hunting expedition in the place where Roadkill, the stegosaurus skeleton, was discovered. He now lives in the Smithsonian. I also learned about jumping cactus. They are crazy little plants. If you touch one, the segment lets go of the mother plant and attaches to you. If you jump in pain, or just startle, you end up touching more, and soon you are covered in jumping cactus bits. Be warned. I barely avoided them. They are everywhere.

Thanks, Gail, and all who made this such a wonderful trip. I predict more road trips in my future, but I am staying away from cliffs!

Happy Beading!