After Denver we went back up into the Front Range and headed south until we reached Green Mountain Falls, where the ADT Coordinator for the Colorado section lived. Dick Bratton provided a home base for us when we arrived, which we needed while arranging our second trip back home. We had another wedding on Cindy’s side of the family plus I had a paid Elderhostel gig, teaching a one day course based on my book “Systems out of Balance.”
Dick was a prominent figure with the ADT organization when we met him, also serving as a publicist and supervising the building of a new trail out of Green Mountain Falls. He went out of his way to host and help the few ADT hikers coming through town each year. We stayed with Dick for a couple of days both before and after our trip home.
Dick served us gin and tonics soon after we arrived at his place. He only used Hendricks gin for these drinks, which he fancied because of their self-deprecating motto that they are the preferred gin by 1 out of 1000. Another expression of Dick’s humor was his tendency to take any of your ideas and immediately repeat it as if it was his own. His house proudly displayed his various interests, with badminton and skiing trophies, along with evidence of being a former airman, showman (and Dick could break out in song at any moment), his stint as mayor and, of course, his extensive involvement with the ADT and trail building.
The first morning we were there he brought us to The Pantry, the local food hangout, where I ordered and polished off a large breakfast burrito. Only after I finished did I learn about the Mother Lode, a pancake that you get for free if you can eat the whole thing … which I did. As we ate everyone came up to Dick to slap him on the back and ask how things were going with the town or the new section of trail the townsfolk were building for the ADT. No other town along the route had as much awareness and involvement in the ADT as Green Mountain Falls, all due to Dick Bratton.
After my caregiver days are over I hope to do a nostalgia tour of the ADT, this time using my pedicab and giving rides to our kind hosts across the country. Dick Bratton certainly would have been one of those hosts I revisited, except that he has since passed away. These days I am in the frame of mind of wondering how many others will pass away before I can visit them, or if my physical capability to do so via nonmotorized travel will atrophy before the chance arises.
We traversed the Front Range during peak foliage for the area, always a thrill even if not New England fall colors. The kindness continued when a couple with an inspiring story took us in. They had escaped to the mountains after a life impacted by Demver area gangs and prison and totally immersed themselves in their small town community. Unfortunately, they were heavy smokers and we did not relish staying with them, but their compulsion to turn around their lives by living for others compelled us to go along.
The couple reminded me of John Nicholas, the humble man we stayed with in Leadville who tricked me into accepting a twenty dollar bill. We met John in Leadville because he moved in to take care of his ailing uncle and remained there after his uncle passed away. Something about the humility of both John and the couple made their acts of kindness extra special. Perhaps in the back of my mind I apprehended that John’s commitment as a caregiver would eventually be mine.
Thinking about John brought an unsettled feeling. Outside of when we first met we had little interaction with him. His job as an operator of large mining equipment required early to bed, early to rise and be gone all day. We never said goodbye or thanked him for his kindness when we left. This lack of proper closure haunted me for weeks afterwards. Fortunately, we were able to thank the reformed and transplanted couple from Denver when we left.
When we left the Denver area Ky went back home for a week, but first she drove the support vehicle to a friend’s home in Colorado Springs. When we arrived at Green Mountain Falls we got a ride to Colorado Springs and drove the support vehicle back up to the Denver airport, where we flew home to attend the second of our two weddings. We appreciated Ky’s generosity in allowing us to commandeer her minivan in this fashion.
Everything about this second trip home went better than the first time. My relationships warmed with Cindy’s family and our son was doing better, alleviating two stressors on Cindy. My presentation at the Elderhostel also went well, as I was able to temper my descriptions of how our social systems are out of balance with the hope of kindness and community involvement we experienced first hand during our journey.
We arrived back at Denver on the same day as Ky and the three of us drove back down to Green Mountain Falls together. We had just a few more days in the mountains before beginning our long trek across the plains. Feeling refreshed and upbeat from our trip back home, could we now finish our mountain trek without being hit by a major snowstorm?
