When Sara answered the ad for a bookkeeper in a small town outside of Denver, she had visions of working at a ski resort and enjoying the clear air in the slow short summer months. It would be a different life than the one she had in Florida, and she was anxious to start a new career and a different life.

Being computer literate, Sara spent a lot of time researching the Denver area and thought she understood the existence she was moving into—mountains and new views and colder weather.

When her mom died and the bank repo'd the small house, Sara felt she’d needed a change. She had a decent job and could afford to rent or maybe buy a modest condo, but she felt lost and just needed something different. She went through all her mother's papers and found that her mother had spent so much on charities and given all her retirement income away for years. 

The bank was right in taking the old small house, as mom hadn't made a payment in months. She hadn't even opened the last few notices from the bank and other companies that demanded payments. Sara did pay off some of the accumulated debt, and that wiped out Sara's small savings.

With nothing left but some old furniture and mom's out-of-date clothes, Sara moved into a month-to-month apartment and nodded her head at all the sympathy from her fellow workers. It was definitely time for a change, a significant difference. She turned to the Internet and looked for out-of-state jobs.

There were legitimate large sites where one could put out a resume or where companies advertised for employees with criteria for certain positions. There she saw a need for a bookkeeper, experience necessary, in Benson, Colorado.

After days of Internet chat, phone calls, and email contacts, Sara had a new job with a thirty day trial that included that she pay her way to the site, but if it didn't work out, she’d be paid for a return trip to Denver and three nights at Ramada.

Fortunately, both Tampa and Denver were big airports, so there were direct flights. Sara knew how to travel. She went with one bag she took on with her and shipped everything else she wanted by FedEx to get there the next day with a hold at the FedEx office in Denver. There would be a small additional charge, but she could either pick it up there later or have it sent on to another address. It was cheaper than the new airlines' baggage charges and better than the possibility of lost luggage.

Having three charge cards with large open balances, she intended to buy clothes that were suitable for the weather in Colorado once she was settled. It was all worked out in her neat rows of thoughts, just as she liked her life, just as she liked numbers.

The new so-called best American Airport in Denver started to warn her things were not going smoothly. This enormous development, underwritten by US taxpayer funds, required a lot of walking, with many shops that were either not open or not being used by the travelers. 

Compared to the many tourists, visitors, and passengers moving through Tampa, this Denver space seemed lonely and even had echoes. Oh, it was attractive and clean, but still not used to its full purpose. It took as long to walk, ride and walk and retrieve luggage, and walk to get the transports into Denver, as half the airplane ride from Tampa. Oh, and don't forget the special long ride into Denver since the airport was originally built far away on farmland.

As was known to happen, traffic, homes, and businesses had grown out towards the airport, but most travelers were heading to the downtown area, like Sara. From there she could get a cheap rental with the GPS that would lead her up to Benson.

It was Tuesday, and all businesses were up and running, so she made a quick call to her new employer to let him know she was coming in. Now her neat plans got worse. Malcom informed her it would take her most of eight hours to reach Benson. He didn't recommend driving in the mountains at night, so he thought she should wait until morning to start.

Parking her rental car at a chain motel, she ate the free breakfast the next morning and even took a muffin in a paper napkin with her. At the desk, as she checked out, she requested two bottles of water and was pleased when they did not add it to her bill. Nice.

The beautiful clean city of Denver was soon behind her as she headed up into the mountains. For the first couple of hours, the road was the standard four-lane highway, but as it began to move around and turn in sharper curves, it became a broad two-lane highway with strange pull-overs every few miles. She needed to do some research on what she was seeing after she got located and brought up her laptop.

Her employer, Malcom Brown, had told her he’d obtained a room for her in the only long-term rental in town. He said there were Bed and Breakfast homes and rooms above the bar, but he didn't recommend it. He assured her Mrs. Rokowski would take good care of her. Evidently, Mrs. Rokowski owned a long-term rental.

Sara had stopped by a local FedEx office before starting up into the mountains and gave the address of the room to forward her packages. Now on the narrow highway with the switch-backs, she wondered how a FedEx truck could make the same trip.