Durango, CO: Travel Writers' Crossroads

I am on Christopher Elliott's weekly E-mail list and regularly check his travel site, Elliott.org. Imagine my surprise when his Monday message was headlined, "Hello from Colorado! -- Elliott's E-Mail/March 11, 2008," and when the message began with:

"FIRST Random thoughts about the week in travel

"Hello from Colorado! This week's newsletter comes to you from the
southwestern corner of Colorado, where I'm on assignment for Skisnowboard.com.
You can see pictures of Purgatory (the ski resort, not the place of temporal
punishment) and later this week, read more about this must-see part of the
country. Plus, I've got updates on the illegal cruise surcharges, a column on
the greening of travel, and a brand new troubleshooter."

It so happens that I am in Durango right now too, doing a food story. I shot him an E-mail, he responded right away, so we cell-phoned each other. I managed to catch him at the tail end of his breakfast at Carver's Bakery & Cafe. We traded travel writer-isms for 15 or 20 minutes before he went off to Mesa Verde National Park and I started the process of packing up to go home to Boulder.

With communications what they are, ships like us don't simply pass unknown and unseen anymore.