"Mommy, look what followed us home. Can we keep it?" It looks as if we now have a real power boat in our lives -- a little Bayliner Contessa 2850 cabin cruiser for poking around on the lake when there's no wind or when we want A Boat For Sleeping On.

A couple of weeks ago, we drove to Pueblo, Colorado to visit Mike and Debra and their boat, Just Chillin'. We had fun during a first-time-ever visit to Pueblo Lake then, and also noticed when we got there that quite a few sailboats were out, as well of course, every sort of powered craft.

Bow view. Today we exchanged a bank check (and not a huge one; boats these days can still be extremely affordable) for the boat, trailer, and paperwork. We rendezvoused at a convenience store and fuel stop on the northeast side of Alamosa, chosen for its huge back lot with lots of room for trucking...and for a boat hand-off today. I also boarded the boat with the now-ex-owners to make a quick run-through of equipment and systems. Once we were hooked up, maneuvering required a bit of getting used to, especially when getting into position to fuel the truck.

Yes, we warned people that a boat was going down the highway. The route back from Alamosa, Colorado, was scenic, climbing over the ten-thousand-foot La Manga and Cumbres mountain passes. It was also quite quick despite towing a big load; apparently almost all the Labor Day weekend holiday makers had reached their destination. Earlier in the day, en route to Alamosa where we met the boat sellers for the hand-off, we been stuck in the mountains behind livestock hauling trucks that were loaded with flocks of sheep. It's the time of year when livestock are starting to be brought down from the high pastures.