In November, 2018 the Western Slope Veterans Coalition celebrated its 1 year anniversary of the Jesse Beckius/Casey Owens center in Glenwood Springs. They kindly invited Casey’s mother, Janna, his sister, Lezleigh, his brother, Michael, and Harold, Casey’s beloved service animal and his step-dad, Donn, to share in the occasion and, perhaps, say a few words.
The plan was for Janna, Michael, Harold and me to leave Houston, fly to DFW to meet Lezleigh and go as a group to Grand Junction, Colorado. Good plan, and it would have worked but for a delayed flight in Houston. We arrived in Dallas just as our connecting flight was leaving. With Lezleigh on board. Faced with the prospect of waiting 10+ hours for another flight to GJ, the gate agent found a flight to Vail that left in just a few hours. Meantime, Lezleigh had arrived in Colorado and rented a vehicle. It was a bit of a drive, but she was able to come collect us and we were all at the hotel in Glenwood Springs by 10 that evening.
The next morning, we had breakfast at The Daily Bread, an excellent restaurant recommended by a friend of Michael’s. From there, we did a little shopping and sightseeing.
Since the WSVC event didn’t start until later that day, we used the time to drive to Aspen to visit some of Casey and Harold’s favorites spots, including downtown Aspen and Harold’s favorite dog park.There were plenty of folks and their dogs in attendance so a good time was had by all!
Back in Glenwood Springs, it was time to join the WSVC celebration, chronicled elsewhere on this site. It was also the 243rd birthday of The United States Marines so there was a lot to celebrate!
We checked out on Sunday for the trip to Grand Junction and the airport. On the way, while taking in the beautiful scenery, Micheal’s research discovered Rifle Falls and deemed it worthy of a visit. So we did. Now, bear in mind that so far in our trip the nights were 18 degrees and the days were in the 20s. Yes, there was ice around the falls, but they were beautiful. Michael and Harold trekked to the very top of the escarpment to look down on the falls. Very impressive, but my street shoes weren’t working for me. (!)
So, we all made it home safely, all the richer for the experience. It’s an amazing group of people and veterans in the Western Slope Veterans Coalition and we were honored to share the event. Thank you!
