THE RETURN OF NELSON PRUITT

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On July 5th we departed Mesa Verde after a five night stay. Getting the truck and trailer over Wolf Creek Pass was a bit of a chore. I had to accept the fact that there will be times when the transmission will remain in first gear. The trick was to put it in first gear, keep the RPM between 2 and 3 thousand and take it easy.

We arrived at the Road Canyon Campground at a reasonable time and had camp set up in short order. The price was right (free). We stayed 2 nights. On the morning of the 7th we made the short trip to 30 Mile Campground where we had reservations for a week ($14 a night).

30 Mile Campground is located on the Rio Grande River just downstream from the Rio Grande Res. Dam. Just as we finished setting up camp a compact car pulled up. It was Nelson and wife. He insisted that I listen to some Bluegrass music with him for a while. Afterwards he suggested we walk down by the river as he wanted to “cool off”. We did and he did. We talked about Noodling, toothpicks, cigars, music and so on. After a few hours he and his wife loaded up and drove away. I turned to my wife and said “Well, I guess that’s the last we will see of Nelson Pruitt”. She hesitated and said “I wouldn’t be so sure…… I gave him your card." I said “The one with my name, phone number, address, and all that on it?” She said “Yep, That’s the one. And one more thing, if you ever expect to be even marginally successful as a writer, do something about your quotation marks. Pick either the American of British style and stick with it.”

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