Travel and commuting - The Durango Herald

What to do when disaster strikes on vacation

Celeste Gray used to travel without a plan, which allowed her “plenty of room for spontaneity.” But when she found herself stranded in Spain on Sept. 12, 2001, she discovered the importance ...

DATE: May 22, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Photos: Grand but empty, Italian hotels await tourists

ROME – Like lonely grande dames, Italy’s luxury hotels lack company amid the coronavirus pandemic. Associated Press photographers have captured the atmosphere inside prestigious e...

DATE: May 18, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Pandemic upends life on isolated, idyllic Galapagos Islands

SAN CRISTOBAL, Ecuador – Before the coronavirus, sudden life-threatening ailments among tourists, fishermen and others on the Galapagos Islands were considered so rare that hospitals didn’t ...

DATE: May 16, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Is it possible to plan a ‘safe’ vacation during the pandemic?

Joel Smiler doesn’t want to miss his 50th wedding anniversary trip to Maui this September. But he’s not sure if it’s still a good idea. For Smiler, a retired veterinarian, Maui ch...

DATE: May 15, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Some people miss travel so much they’re ordering airplane food delivered to their homes

Frequently purchased as a graduation gift, Dr. Seuss’s “Oh the Places You’ll Go!” is taunting us, its singsong meter and rhyme piling on. It is a book about itchy feet and the wide-open road...

DATE: May 11, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Battered global tourism industry makes reopening plans

Six months ago, the global tourism industry was celebrating a record year for travel. Now, it’s decimated and facing a recovery that could take years. Tourism Economics, a data an...

DATE: May 9, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Isolated by oceans: Hawaii, other islands tamp down virus

HONOLULU – Flying to a faraway beach might seem like the perfect way to escape a pandemic, but for isolated Pacific islands, controlling the coronavirus means cutting off tourism. ...

DATE: May 8, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

How to protect your next trip against a pandemic

What if it happens again? What if coronavirus resurges this summer, just as you’re leaving for a well-deserved vacation? Or during the winter holidays? Travelers are looking for w...

DATE: May 7, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Q&A: Why some planes are crowded even with air travel down

Every once in a while, social media lights up with photos or video from flights that are nearly full, with passengers clearly violating advice from public health officials about social dista...

DATE: May 5, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Locked down in Nice: Stranded in France’s second most popular tourist destination

By Christopher Elliott The Washington Post Nice, France, is a city on hold. Its hotels are boarded up, its restaurants are shuttered and its residents are confined to t...

DATE: May 2, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Airline nosedive: American, United post huge pandemic losses

DALLAS – American Airlines and United Airlines lost a combined $4 billion in the first quarter as the coronavirus pandemic triggered a sharp drop in air travel, and the airlines are busy bor...

DATE: May 1, 2020 | CATEGORY: Travel

Travel destinations stay visible during pandemic

Tourism officials want you to dream of a vacation during your coronavirus confinement. They’re using everything from bingo to live webcams to keep you engaged. And they’re renovat...

DATE: May 1, 2020 | CATEGORY: The Travel Troubleshooter

Photos: Durango High School boys golf competes at stateDemons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Demons finished 14th after two rounds at Fox Hill Club in Longmont

Photos: Cowboy Gathering Social and Parade

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s