SHEEP ON TOUR – WESTWARD HO!

The traveling sheep of maaahem are on the road again…this time in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico

It seems to be a tradition every summer: we head west with the Sheep Incognito mobile gallery to bring smiles to the western side of the Nation…on the way, we tend to encounter a bit of bad weather, a bit of car problems, and adventures galore.

This year we decided to tone things down a bit: the weather was rainy, but not horrific.

The car behaved for the most part, except for the part where it blew a hole in the radiator hose coming down I-70 in pouring rain/snow. And did the same thing two days later. But, gracious car repair guys fixed it for free – another just charged us a minor amount to fix it. Both times, we were in the best possible places. So this HAS been better than in years past. We are counting blessings here.

We spent some time visiting Mesa Verde National Park, stopping at Arches National Park for some collection of new inspirational material for new paintings and art projects we have planned.
We discovered that in fact, sometimes staying on the trail can be life-saving (we almost fell off a cliff, after missing a crucial turning point in the hiking trail we were following…yikes!).

Living in suburbia, one really forgets how huge – and beautiful – this country really is…there is a LOT of space here, where in theory everybody can live in peace, without being bothered by someone else. It makes local shootings, racist killings, drugs, and crime seem even more pointless.

After a few days of desert meanderings, shooting more pictures than our camera chips could hole, we headed back to work…We made it to the Estes Park Wool Market – just as the show started, due to some interstate closures, a detour of 6 hours, and some torrential rain combined with a busted radiator hose. So thankful for show managers that are patient and understanding with this flock of maaahem than rains down on them every year…

The Wool Market was a fun one – we had great neighbors again, this time beside Theresa & Ron Miskin of the Buffalo Wool Co., purveyors of everything “buffalo-ey” in terms of fiber/apparel/fun things. We love seeing everybody every year – not being home does not let us build a “normal” social life, so on the road, encountering people we know is much like a family reunion – minus the drunk uncle dancing on the table (for the most part).

Because of convenience on the location’s part, and laziness on our part, we stayed in the same building to continue our stay in Estes Park for the Rocky Mountain Irish Festival. A festival that hopefully will turn into a huge event as the years go by – it’s the perfect pairing for us and the Sheep Incognito flock to be for the summer.

Soon we will head home, ready for other places, faces, and spaces – with lots of fun, exciting, sometimes scary memories in our luggage…our next stop will me Michigan in July – we are already prepping our fans and a/c systems to withstand the heat waves there. Bring a mop, when you come to the show…