This years installment of the "Rocky Mountain Run" marks my 8th year and 10th trip up this way with sole purpose of exploring and playing music. Honestly, I never imagined that I would do anything like this in the first place.
As a teenager we had taken a few trips to the ski-towns of Angel Fire and Taos, NM with one, seemingly particularly long, trip to Durango, CO. For the mountain calling I do blame Durango as that trip to Mt. Purgatory felt extra special. The mountain was bigger and the snow was better.
Snow covered peaks was all I had known, I'd never made the journey to the Rockies in the summer and had just always associated them with winter sports. I must say, from the first journey we made up this way and the first time I felt that cool summer breeze as we stepped out of the van in Trinidad, CO to walk into our first dispensary experience back in 2015, I was hooked on that Rocky Mountain High. That John Denver had it right.
Coincidentally, Trinidad is where I am writing this from and let me tell you how we got here to start this journey.