April 22-23 -- The first two days

 

Apr. 22:

Today was filled with Weber State graduation, finishing up packing, and getting the car in tip-top shape for travelling. Since this blog is about the road trip, I’ll spare you the details.

Around 5pm, Zack and I set off southeast down I-15. After a couple of brief detours to grab something left at home and to drop off a library book in SLC, we ventured on towards I-70. A good deal of the driving was done in the dark, so we were probably passing some exciting things, unbeknownst to us. We decided to stop for the night in Grand Junction, CO, finding a cozy parking space in the corner of the lot of Wal-Mart to camp.

 

 

Apr. 23:

We woke up for this first full day of the road trip around seven this morning to the sound of a buzzing alarm, prolonged by my inability to push snooze without doing a few math problems (yay for android apps!).  Since it was Saturday, doughnuts were a must. We found a home-style bakery (with the help of android once again) a couple of miles away, and bought ourselves a tasty breakfast.

After breakfast, we hopped onto I-70, and drove east from Grand Junction. Not long after we left, a thick fog enveloped the area, dusting the area with a fresh blanket of snow. Every once in a while, the fog would be lifted just enough for us to see a mountainside of snow-tipped evergreens.

Though the snow did hamper our gas mileage for the stretch, we made it out to the other side without any major problems.

 

The drive through the canyons of I-70 was filled with sights of the forest, rivers, and plenty of tunnels (if Zack is driving and we go through a tunnel, he’ll honk the horn without fail).

After a while, we descended out of the snow, and finished the drive towards Boulder.

 

At about 12:30pm, we arrive in Boulder. Upon getting there, we were able to get a good view of the city from the top of a five story parking garage.

 

We then made our way to the center of town, where we met up with Mr. Harris (our 10th grade biology teacher) and his girlfriend, Erica. For the next couple of hours we had the blessing to get to know Erica and catch up with Mr. Harris over a delectable lunch of a chicken salad croissant (in my case) and a club sandwich (in Zack’s case), paid for by Mr. Harris (thanks again Mr. Harris!).

Following lunch, we walked around town and talked for a little while until it was time for Erica and Mr. Harris to go. Because of the continuing light rain, we decided to set off once again down I-70 (this time with me driving). Over this stretch, we travelled through the remainder of Colorado, as well as a good deal of Kansas. Tonight we decided to sleep in Wichita, KS--once again in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

 

 

Interesting Observations:

-First off, we’ve seen some pretty strange signs this trip, including: “Warning: This is a correctional facility. DO NOT stop for or pick up any hitchhikers.” and “In case of flash flood, climb up.”

-So far this trip, we’ve travelled about 1,100 miles, not bad for a day and a half of travel.

-Coloradans must be much more political then Utahans (that or there is at least a greater spectrum of beliefs). We passed quite a few landmarks with political names, including things like Republican Creek, and stretches of road cleaned by the Democrats of Colorado and the Colorado  Republicans (names of these from memory, so may not be exact).

-It’s a good thing most of this trip is freeway driving (no changing of gears, phew). ‘Cause if cars could be murdered, I would be a serial killer. I probably killed the engine more times then I turned corners today.