As we set off on our travels in August, one of our early stops was Salida, Colorado to visit friends. It is beautiful country and a big part of what we are hoping our travels bring us:  seeing the country, visiting family, catching up with old friends and making new ones.

As we traveled through Colorado, it was recommended we stop in the town of Palisade, located in western Colorado. We were told, the peaches rivaled those grown in Porter, Oklahoma. Porter peaches are one of our favorite foods and we stock up on them every spring. Unfortunately, Palisade had a bad freeze in April that killed over 70% of this year’s crop.  So, after many phone calls, we found a farm that had some. These were freshly picked, and we were told they would be fully ripened in 3-5 days, just enough time to get to our family and friends in Seattle. We loaded two 25-pound boxes into our van and continued our journey.

I think I better back up for just a minute. Before we ever arrived in Colorado, we drove through New Mexico. In our first night in New Mexico Bob started seeing floaters in his right eye. At first, he thought they were gnats flying around inside the van. But he quickly figured out they were little specks in his eye.

He continued to see them throughout Colorado, and as we hit Utah, he was now seeing many more regularly.  He originally thought it was due to a change in elevation, so he wasn’t overly concerned as he’d just had a very comprehensive eye exam a week before we left town. Well… as a wavy, floating line developed to join the floaters, it quickly became a unanimous opinion to call Bob’s eye doctor in Tulsa.  His doctor strongly recommended we stop in Boise, the next city of any size, to try and see a doctor there. 

We made it to a doctor’s office late that afternoon. You know it’s not good when the first thing you hear from the doctor after looking at your eye is, “When did you eat last?”.  A quarter of Bob’s retina had detached, and the doctor wanted to do surgery right away. So surgery was scheduled for first thing the next morning after the required Covid-19 test, which was thankfully negative. The surgery required a gas bubble inserted into the eye to hold the retina in place as it healed. It also meant no traveling for two weeks. We found a nice RV Park and settled in to stay. Bob had to adjust his temperament to rest and recuperation and letting me do all the driving.

Back to those peaches. First, they tasted great, We have to say they were the best peaches we’ve ever eaten. But what were we to do with 50 pounds of peaches? They wouldn’t stay fresh until we made it to Seattle in two weeks. We couldn’t eat them all. So, the peaches met the eye staff.  We gave 30 pounds to the doctor and his staff the day after surgery. They were a big hit, and everyone continued to thank us on the follow-up visits. For the ones we kept, we ate them at almost every meal. Then as the remaining ones started to soften, I made peach jam and peach milkshakes. Not a bad way to finish off 20 pounds of peaches in two weeks. Even though none of the fresh peaches made it to Seattle, we were able to give them some pretty good homemade peach jam.

So, we close the books on another adventure where we saw family, friends, made new friends, found a new source for a food we love, and continue to go with the flow of plans being ever changing. Best part of all, Bob’s eye is fully recovered. A close second were the peaches.

Cheers,
Julia and Bob