Goodbye, Grand Junction. For 2 ? weeks we have appreciated the Western Colorado landscape: Pinyon pines, junipers, cliffs, plateaus and peach trees.

On one of my last nights in Grand Junction, I drove the winding road to the Colorado National Monument to watch ET on the outdoor projector at Glade Park Store. I sat on a tarp with my cardigan wrapped around my knees, shivering. It was a relief when a nearby couple let me borrow their orange sleeping bag. (Hospitality like this is not uncommon in Grand Junction.) I smiled as I sat alternating my gaze between the clear starry sky, the film and the community of families – children nestled in blankets, passing kettle corn back and forth.

Driving back down the mountain, my mind was alive with the landscapes and people that shaped the MobileBooth West experience in Grand Junction. For the first time in my life I have an appreciation for hiking. The people here recognized the beautiful convenience of having the Colorado National Monument at their doorstep. Whenever I asked, “What should I do here?” to test sound at the beginning of the interviews, most people would simply say, “There is so much to see!”

Here is a sampling of some of the faces and landscapes that formed the StoryCorps team experience in Grand Junction:

Paula Anderson and Doris Butler have been friends now for over thirty years - both heavily involved in saving family farms and orchards in and around Grand Junction, Colorado.

Traveling through the neighboring towns of Grand Junction, you will notice several small orchards full of peaches and cherries. You might spot neat rows of vineyard in people’s backyards and at the very foot of the Grand Mesa.

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Misty Matern and her 15 year-old son Comfrey Biafra Jacobs sit casually across from each other at the MobileBooth table. Before the conversation starts, Comfrey entertains both Misty and I with some beat boxing. When I press record, Comfrey is ready to listen to a story he knows very well: Buster the School Bus. Misty birthed Comfrey in this bus all by herself at 1:50 am on March 21, 1993. It still sits – charming, rusty, and visible from the highway - in their front yard in Palisade.

When Misty found out she was pregnant, she bought the 1953 converted Chevy Short school bus for $500 and left Denver for the countryside. The bus had orange shag carpeting and lots of olive green. “It was ugly, but I saw potential,” Misty says with a nostalgic smirk.

She parked Buster on Gold Hill Road and turned the bus into a home. “There used to be a bed that took up half of it, two closets in the back, a desk, a small stove and a small sink area which had pipes that ran into a five gallon bucket to catch waste water. There was also an outhouse.”

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MmmmÖProsciutto ham with melon, red peppers stuffed with mozzarella, lemon tarts and profiteroles. These are the delicacies that met our eyes and taste buds as we walked into the sunlit Il Bistro Italiano in Grand Junction for a StoryCorps celebration. Brunella and Ron Hall are the owners of this delicious Italian restaurant in the tree lined downtown. They opened their doors for supporters and friends of Colorado Public Radio who were all quite curious about this silver Airstream trailer on the Southeast corner of 4th and Main.

“How do you decide what goes on the radio?” “What an incredible job you have!” “Where do you go next?” “I have some great stories!” The room was filled with the exclamations and questions of curiously excited community members. Some of these were satisfied when Sara Esrick, our site supervisor, was introduced by KCFR News Host, Anna Panoka: “We are so excited to be in Grand Junction. People here have been so friendly!”

There were MobileBooth tours and good conversations about StoryCorps, Grand Junction and peaches. Yes, this area of Colorado is famous for its peaches. Peaches, stories and the Colorado Monument in our backyard: This is the life for MobileBooth West until August 23rd.