Report from Colorado

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Once on the main road, we fared better. It was a relief to be sitting in the warm car and letting a machine do the work! Then, halfway to town, we came up behind a slower-moving auto. Larry tapped the brakes, they locked and we spun out. The Toyota started rolling. My arm had been around my son, but it didn't stay there. I hit my head against the window, and we were still.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Larry looking down at me from his seat. We were belted in and had kept our positions, but Eric was nowhere in sight. Then he started to scream, and I became hysterical. At last I found him . . . above my head! I pulled the baby close to me while my husband unfastened his seat belt and reached for the uppermost door. As he unlatched it, someone pulled it open from outside. Larry took Eric from me and passed him to waiting hands. My arm was hurt and I couldn't move it without pain.

When I raised my head through the door, I was astounded to see how populated the road had become. A Greyhound bus had stopped, along with about five cars. No one could believe that we had come through the accident unscathed. My arm was only twisted, and all Eric got for his spin around the senger compartment was a carpet burn on his forehead.

The next day we went to the parking lot where the Toyota had been towed and looked it over. In spite of a few holes here and there, it was still drivable.

By that time neither of us was especially fond of snow... yet we couldn't move down to the plains because buying the Landcruiser had taken most of our money. Larry voiced thoughts of going to Oregon where his family lived, but I didn't want to leave Colorado.

About this time we ran out of coal and couldn't afford another load, so Larry tried cutting more wood. His hands cracked from the cold, and he came back to the cabin with the chain saw covered with blood from his cuts.

In January I found that—despite precautions—I was pregnant again. That finished off my pioneer spirit. I could handle one baby under primitive conditions, but the thought of starting next winter with a newborn and any 18-month-old toddler was just too much.

During the month of February I fed us on $30.00 macaroni and cheese almost every night. We were under nourished (especially me, because I was nursing one baby and pregnant with another). Larry again brought up the idea of moving to Oregon and this time I agreed. One year after we moved into our dream valley, we packed our belonging in a trailer and left.

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