Our story began in 1987 in the small, mountain town of Durango, Colorado. Todd was attending Fort Lewis College, and was working during the summer months at an Old West photography studio on Main Street - you know the kind...dress up the tourists in western clothes, give them a gun and a bottle of Jack Daniels, prop them up at the bar set - or better yet, the bedroom or bathtub set- then get behind the old-time camera and take their photo, develop it a dark room, and surprise the customer with a beautiful, sepia-tone keepsake picture. A fun summer gig for sure!

One evening during a work shift, in saunters a mysterious young gal. Todd could tell right away that she was not like other girls with her aura of mystique. She walks right up to the boss and has a conversation with her. Intrigued, he asks about her, and finds out she is the little sister of the boss - visiting for the summer from out of town, and is going to start working at the studio. Well one thing lead to another over the next few weeks, and Michelle and Todd became quite the item! While not working, these two had many adventures playing and having fun like fishing, swimming and crossing broken bridges in the moon light.

Ok, so this is all good - but how does it tie into Telluride 1987, and almost getting on the bus? Michelle was a teen at this point, and to her chagrin, her parents, fearful of the hippie influences, denied her going along to her first show with her deadhead sister that summer in Telluride. Much more about her sister (Elizabeth) in the issues to come! The show and the summer came to an end and the love birds went their separate ways. However, the story did not end there, their love for each other did not fade away. After life's twists and turns and journeys experienced, many years would pass before they would find each other again. Stay tuned to hear more in upcoming issues...