Mandy : Wednesday the 19th August

I started the day with a sleep-in, YEAHHHHHH. I had the great fortune to spend the morning with Judge Steve Pelican. A judge in Colorado Springs for over 20 years. We got to spend the morning discussing the different courts, some of his cases and other matters relevant to law. I was also fortunate enough to visit the USA Olympic headquarters and training centre. During the tour we continued to discuss legal matters and at the same time look at the different training facilitates for the different sports. Our tour guide was a past female weightlifter – but I can’t remember her name.
After lunch and our Rotary presentation we hit the road traveling East from Colorado Springs to Rocky Ford. This trip took us a couple hours. When we arrived in Rocky Ford it was a much hotter temperature than that of Colorado Springs. In Rocky Ford we were meet by J.R who was lovely and was early in informing us he had host Aussies before and was curious as to which teams we supported in the AFL. He was a CROWS supporter. Rocky Ford is a town probably of around 2 thousand people. When we had a quick walk around it appeared as if a lot of businesses had closed down and had been closed for a while. Its size reminded me of the town of Wudina, on the West Coast of South Australia, but it did not appear to have the same agricultural businesses within the town. However I have not spent more than 30 minutes walking around the town, so my authority and description of Rocky Ford is VERY limited. After being collected by my host - Steve, who happen to be the District Governor, Angela and I were on the way to La Junta (you pronounce it La Hunta). La Junta is not far from Rocky Ford (maybe 15-20 minute drive, but has a population of approx 10,000 I am told. On the way we drove past a little town called Swink, and I took extra notice of this town due to the insight Will and Libby had provided us in Denver. (Will and Libby we saw some to the items donated by Don Seamans – it was very cool thanks.)
In La Junta, Steve drove Angela and I around the town and we sure a few of the sights (eg the construction of the new school football oval, the baseball field, the old building in which the post office is now in, the schools and downtown La Junta.) We arrived at his house and meet his lovely wife Mary. Because we were sharing hosts again we resorted to the old faithful way of working out which rooms we would have – by tossing a coin. I again ended up in the basement. (For all those Aussie followers – the basement to-date has been a great place to end up with a room – nothing like our basements.) It was a relatively late night with Steve and Mary, but many interesting conversations took place.