Steamboat Springs

I was recently invited to Steamboat Springs to represent High Plains Food Cooperative and Prairie House Herbs as the keynote speaker for the annual meeting of the Community Ag Alliance.  Public speaking is not my forte.  I pondered about what to say, actually considered making some note cards with things listed I wanted to include in my speech.  As it ended up, I just stood up there and talked about how the coop got started and other things which were of interest to me that I thought might be helpful to the group as they considered whether a coop would be right for their organization's producers and allowed extra time for questions and answers.  Thankfully no one asked a question I couldn't answer!  Amazingly it turned out well and I received numerous compliments.

Since I really don't like driving anymore...the thrill is gone...I asked Jan if she would like to go along as the driver.  Her life is rather complicated now (one daughter graduating, one preparing to leave for Africa for the summer, an ex who has decided he no longer needs to pay child support, etc.) and I thought a break would be good for her.  She agreed and that made the trip most delightful.  We had accommodations at The Lodge, an upscale condo with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.  After my speech we went out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant and planned on doing the tourist sightseeing thing the next day.  When we awoke it was snowing heavily and the ground was covered in slushy white stuff.  So much for sightseeing!

The producers of the area were having an expo on Saturday morning so we attended that and then headed on home.  By then the roads were pretty much cleared off and the trip was easy.

It was a nice break in our routines.  And, as it turned out, a "last harrah!" for Jan for a while.  On Tuesday morning they sent her (and 17 other people) home from work because their jobs had been eliminated in the United States and sent to India.