Our Trip to Denver Part III

Oh what to do? We’re stranded in Topeka with no place to stay during a tremendous thunderstorm. Oh wait… my mom has the internet; she can find us a place to stay! Sure I could get a phone that has the internet on it, but I hate phones. I think the only good use for a phone is flushing one down a toilet. One quick phone call and a few minutes of surfing we have a place to stay in Grand Junction. Yes, it was that easy. The upside was they take pets; the downside was Grand Junction was about an hour away. It was already after 9 p.m.

Driving at night during a thunderstorm is something else. There was nothing as far as the eye could see but lightning every few seconds. Well that is what I could see through the rain. What a horrid, miserable state Kansas was turning out to be! I was already tired and I could only imagine Tim was much worse, he doesn’t fare well driving long distances. I’m pretty sure I’ve made that pretty obvious.

It was a long hour’s drive to the hotel. I wasn’t expecting much on such short notice so it was great that I didn’t get my hopes up. The place was a dive. It was a small extended stay where some people have obviously extended their stay. It was a good thing we weren’t. First priority was to check for bed bugs! Hey, even fancy hotels have them, better to be safe than sorry! The place checked out and the bed wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Plus there was another bed in a different room just in case Tim wanted to kick me out for snoring!

I slept like a rock, and we headed out early. We stopped to grab some fuel and coffee at a store near the hotel. The store was pretty busy and it seemed the clerks knew everyone by name. All I could think of was what a strange little place this is. We started out on the highway and decided to grab some breakfast at an IHOP in Manhattan. Yes I know, a little bit of a detour from Kansas right? Manhattan didn’t look much like the place it was named after, but they did have an IHOP. At least I can get a decent breakfast.

We ate quickly because amazingly enough Manhattan, Kansas is just a little over half way from Cincinnati to Denver. Kansas is a pretty big place to hold absolutely nothing. Shortly after we left the restaurant we started upon one of two things mentioning about Kansas. Off in the distance we could see huge white structures. The appeared to be long poles bent about 20 degrees almost at the top. Tim paged over the radio asking me what I thought they were. I told him it seemed to be a wind farm. That’s exactly what it was, and it turned out to be gigantic. Mile after mile of windmills we passed, it was an impressive sight.

After a little more driving we passed the second mentionable spot in Kansas. Tim wanted a drink out of the cooler I had with me in the van. We decided to pull off at the nest exit so he could grab one. We got off at the next exit and lo and behold, the exit off of Interstate 70 was a dirt road both ways. No lie! Tim took the opportunity to tell me that Kansas’ Welcome Center appeared on the map on the way out of the state. I suggested we visit it because we had visited the others. When we got there, it seemed small. It was marked as a Welcome Center on the map, but in actuality it was nothing more than a regular rest stop, and a primitive one at that.

The good thing was Kansas was almost behind us. Not long in the distance I could see the border sign marking our entrance into Colorado. I wanted to stop the van get out just before leaving Kansas, and try to set the state on fire. I didn’t though because I convinced myself that I couldn’t set the whole state ablaze with a lighter. Colorado’s state sign was large and made of stone and wood, very rustic, and oh look, they had a Welcome Center! How novel, a place to welcome people to your state!

Colorado’s Welcome Center was very nice. It had a large well manicured lawn, and many beautifully landscaped sections. There were several large signs detailing several things about the state. Inside was spacious with several pictures of the natural wonders of the state. There was a large wall filled with information on things to do and places to see. We wanted to stay and browse, bit we had to get back on the road.

Funny, eastern Colorado looks a lot like western Kansas. The climate was obviously rather arid. Everything looked very dusty and dry. We would routinely pass over small bridges marked with signs saying that the bridge crossed so and such creek. Every time I crossed the bridge I peered over the side to see… no water. Now I may be new to this state, but where I come from creeks are made of water. These are ditches where water may or may not be after it rains.

A few more hours of driving and the traffic began to get heavy going in the opposite direction. A little further a long and a plane flew low overhead marking that we were near the airport. Soon we I was able to make out the skyline of downtown Denver. Just beyond that I could make out the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. We made it! We merged onto Interstate 25 to head south towards Highlands Ranch where we were going to be staying. As soon as get got to the end of the entrance ramp we stopped dead in our tracks. We made it to Denver just in time for rush hour traffic. A perfect ending to our perfect trip!

The End

Yup that’s it, well my mom met us a little further down the road where she guided us so we didn’t have to drive the jammed highway to Highlands Ranch.