Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I had intended to make for Aspen, but at the turning at Twin Lakes I found a white barrier
barring the way and a sign saying that the highway to Aspen over Independence Pass was
closed because of snow. Aspen was just 20 miles away down the closed road, but to reach
it by the alternative northern route would have required a detour of 150 miles. Disappoin-
ted,Ilookedforsomeplace elsetogoforthenightanddroveontoLeadville, aplaceabout
which I knew nothing and indeed had never even heard of.
Leadvillewasoutstanding.Theoutskirtsofthetownwereraggedandshabby-there'sasur-
prising amount of poverty in Colorado-but the main street was broad and lined with sturdy
Victorian buildings, many of them with turrets and towers. Leadville was another gold-
and-silver-mining town; it was here that the Unsinkable Molly Brown got her start, as did
Meyer Guggenheim. Like Cripple Creek and Victor, it now catered to touristsevery place
in the Rockies caters to tourists-but it had a much more genuine feel to it. Its population
was 4,000, enough to give it an independent life apart from what the tourists brought it.
I got a room in the Timberline Motel, had a stroll around the town and a creditable meal at
theGoldenBurroCafe-notthegreatestfoodintheworld,orevenpossiblyinLeadville,but
atsixdollarsforsoup,salad,chicken-fried steak,mashedpotatoes,greenbeans,coffeeand
pie, who's bitching?-followed by a moonlight stroll back to the motel, a hot shower and a
little TV. If only life could always be so simple and serene. I was asleep by ten, dreaming
happy dreams in which I manfully dealt with pouncing bobcats, swaying wooden bridges
and windshields full of sticky insects. The heroine even let me see her with her clothes off.
It was a night to remember.
