Denver Bound
I was 15 the last time I was in Denver.
In case you’re wondering, that was a lonnnnng time ago.
Last time I saw Denver, it was to fly home after driving with my sister from Florida to Colorado to help her move in to her new place.
Just the two of us.
How my parents ever let me do that, I will never know.
Being a kid of the 80s definitely was different than today!
I was supposed to fly out of Telluride, but a storm came in and my flight was canceled. (Again, how did my parents let me fly cross country unattended???)
My sister did something I can’t even imagine today - drove me 6 hours across the state so that I could fly out of Denver and get back to school. How generous was that?
Y’all! That was my freshman year spring break!
AGAIN, what were my parents thinking letting their 15 and 22 year olds drive across the country before cell phones?!?!?!
Needless to say, this experience is WAY different.
We left St. Louis bright and early and our goal was to get as far as we could. Colorado was 14ish hours away and Kansas is a lonnnng state.
I thought it would be a boring drive and brought lots of books, but Kansas is gorgeous!
I had no idea.
I’ve never been to Kansas. Know nothing about Kansas. Never thought I’d visit Kansas.
I know the Kansas City Chiefs (thanks Netflix for Quarterbacks and Taylor Swift), but that’s about it. Oh. And Topeka. I know the name.
Embry kept asking if we were going to see a tornado and a witch. She also swore that we saw the wizard’s Emerald City…not sure if she was hallucinating or not, but I just let that slide.
But Kansas was beautiful.
Again, such a different kid of beauty that we don’t see everyday and that some might not appreciate.
But we did.
As we rolled along, I read my book about homesteading and looked out the window at the actual working farms that provide food for most of us. Appreciation of their hard work and of their beautiful farms awed me. I love the idea of farming, but their fortitude and grit is something on another level that I do not possess.
As it got dark, we stopped briefly to stretch our legs and make a game plan.
Colorado was within reach, but it’d be a longer day driving unless we stopped now.
Could we push through and get to within a stones throw of Denver?
If we could, that would mean a fuller day in Denver tomorrow.
Push on!!!
The kids were champs.
We crossed the state line with lots of cheering around 8 and pulled into Limon, CO - less than 2 hours from Denver - around 10.
It was a full day on the road, but Justin was a beast and the kids persevered. It’s not easy being stuck in a metal box for hours on end, but we all happily survived. Even me.
The best part?
We now had a whole day ahead of us to explore the Denver area!
Good thing we all slept well because we hit it first thing in the morning…
