knitabit

Field Trip, With Knitting

Yesterday I had the privelege of going along on a 600-mile road trip to visit the Fort Lyon Canal, headquartered in Las Animas, Colorado.

I'm not being facetious, it really was a privelege.

While many believe that Colorado's glory is found in its mountains, I'm a little partial to the plains, myself. There's nothing like the silence of the plains on a windless day, watching a hawk come up out of the brush with a mouse in its talons.

We drove about 50 miles along the bank of this 120-year-old ditch, largely unchanged since the day it was constructed save for the growth of the trees. The shareholders of this particular canal company have been more attentive than most in maintaining and preserving the canal and the way of life it supports. At times, we drove 50 miles an hour along the banks - the access road is in better shape than most of the county roads around here! Their company is solvent, their employees are well paid, and they're adding cool computer and radio technologies to monitor (and someday, to control) the water flows in their canal. And despite the meddling of big-money interests and the threat of water raids from the Denver municipal area, they're not only holding their own, they're getting the upper hand. Way to go!

I did some knitting on the baby sweater on the way down. But when I got to the part where I would have to pay attention to the chart, I had to put it away or else car sickness would take hold.

Comments

Although I love the mountains, seems to me you're right about the plains, too.

Besides, the plains are flat. People rarely drive off a mountain road on them.

Posted by: Patricia Tryon at January 22, 2005 05:59 PM