I was thinking we would save that for Kansas

We woke up at the crack of dawn in a tiny cabin outside of Kansas City. The cabin was chilly and the ground and car outside were covered in a blanket of fresh snow. Ideally we would have gotten up and taken nice warm showers. Of course, the night before we discovered that the shower wasn’t turning on. With no one to fix it and a long day of driving ahead of us, we decided to forgo the showers and hit the road. Hopefully we don’t stink too bad by the time we get to Joey and Olivia’s.

We hit the road at half past 7, only to find that the road was covered in ice and snow. Riding in a 4 wheel drive Subaru weighted down by clothes, bikes and hiking gear you would think that we would have an advantage on slippery roads. However, we were the ones that were sliding everywhere with mini vans and Ford Fiesta’s racing by us. From that point for the next hour or so we would be going 40 mph tops on the highway. We glided out of Kansas City and through Topeka, Kansas on I-70 where we were encountered by some snow covered rolling hills dotted with black cattle. From there the road was pretty straight and flat. We encountered the first stretch of interstate ever built just west of Topeka while Dwight Eisenhower was president in 1956 (about the most interesting thing we learned while in Kansas). From then on it was flat. Very flat, with yellow grass stretching to the end of the horizon in every direction, and blue sky filling the empty space above. There was hardly anything else as far as the eye could see aside from the occasional bales of hay (or, hales of bay- as I called it), oil wells gliding in and out of the ground, and fields of massive wind turbines.

We stopped in Hayes, Kansas for lunch. Nothing too exciting there. We then decided that it was time to break out the mixed CD that I got from Uncle Phil & Auntie Cindy. This was the pick-me-up we needed with some classic rock and oldies to jam to for the long stretch of unexciting highway.

We stopped off at a unique and tacky rest area called the “Oasis in the Plains” before crossing over into eastern Colorado. It was complete with a dog park (which Charley appreciated) and some fake palm trees among many other amenities for long distance travellers and truckers. It was the only sign of civilization we had encountered in quite a while. Finally crossing over into Colorado was exciting, knowing we were getting closer to getting out of the car and seeing our friends Joey and Olivia. Eastern Colorado doesn’t look much different than Kansas, that is, until you finally get a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains in the distance. We finally arrived into Denver at about 6 pm after a couple hours singing along to The Avett Brothers. Charley and their cat Koopa, weren’t fast friends as we had hoped. Charley settled in quite nicely though, and Joey made a mean chili which was the perfect topping to a long day in the car. Bijan taught Joey and Olivia how to play Settlers of Catan, his new obsession. Olivia dominated and Bijan is still bitter about it. It should be a competative couple of days.