the great road trip of august 2010

first leg: albuquerque to colorado springs

the original plan was to work early and leave in the afternoon. then we managed to get the day off, so we were going to leave at about noon for colorado springs. well of course that didn't go according to plan. louie didn't even wake up until 2:30, and then decided that he just had to change the oil and the spark plugs himself before we left. 2 hours later, half spent in the auto zone parking lot waiting for him and the other half spent in arsh's garage in 98 degree heat, the oil still wasn't changed because he couldn't get the cap off, and the spark plugs still weren't changed because auto zone gave him the wrong kind. so, hot and sweaty and extremely crabby, off we went, liz following us up i-25. stopped for food in santa fe (mcdonald's) where liz decided that she likes coco suddenly and was going to take her as a road trip buddy the rest of the way. i was sad but didn't want to look like a freak, so i let her go. stopped for gas in raton, it was dark by that time and about an hour and a half to go. finally arrived in colorado springs where justin met us at a gas station and we followed him home. i went to bed early because i had to pick up kelly at about 5 a.m.

next day i woke up on time (surprisingly) and it felt wonderful to finally be driving by myself for the first time in over a year. it was cloudy and foggy most of the way, but suddenly i came through a pass and the clouds cleared and there was denver down the hill. made it to the airport just in time, she was already off the plane and we met in baggage claim. got breakfast (village inn), drove around trying to find a target, finally found one and louie called about five minutes in to say they were leaving. figured we had about an hour, maybe 45 minutes with justin driving before they arrived. nope. about 20 minutes later they called to say they had arrived at six flags. and that's when the adventure began... long story short, after taking approximately 17 exits, looping around various questionable parts of denver, sitting in horrible denver traffic, and getting rear-ended, we finally arrived. louie and i had been fighting all day, really not the impression i wanted to make with kelly, and i don't know why the hell they all didn't just go in like i told them to, especially since it's such a small park. whatever. moral of the story is that i could ride the lazy river all day, easily. when i win the lottery i'm having a lazy river installed.

the next day we were supposed to go to the zoo, but there was a cell phone fiasco and everyone was just dickin around, so kelly and liz and i went to the mall. came back, ate tacos, blah blah blah boring. another fight with louie, woohoo. at this point we had been fighting for about 3 weeks. and then finally, we left! sandwiches packed, car loaded, on our way to wyoming!

second leg: colorado to wyoming

kind of a long and boring drive to casper. pretty scenery, exciting to be in the mountains, started seeing antelope, but felt like forever before we got to grand teton. had to pay an entrance fee which i wasn't expecting but should have. it was beautiful. huge jagged mountains, stopped at a scenic overlook and saw an elk family, trout jumping out of the river and a family of river otters swimming. lots of mosquitoes. took some pics. it was getting towards evening so i wanted to hurry into yellowstone. lots of road construction. thought i saw a bear down by some water but louie was so crabby i was afraid to ask him to stop. saw lots of elk, some right up next to the road, did ask him to stop but by the time we got back there they were gone. started getting dark. drove past some hot springs, smelled like sulfur, saw the steam coming out of the ground. by that time it was twilight and hard to see, pictures stopped turning out. it was probably only about 7:30 but with all the trees and the sun behind a mountain it got dark fast. and suddenly there it was: a buffalo right in front of the car. literally, if he had driven up an inch he would have hit it. it was terrifying because it was so pitch black, i knew there must have been a whole herd around us but we couldn't see it. couldn't see anything, in fact, beyond the headlights.

turns out we were supposed to turn there, just past the buffalo. but we didn't because i'm dumb and didn't get a map of the park. so on we went, louie gripping the wheel and me holding my breath and scanning the sides of the road for more wildlife in our path. luckily we came across a gas station. turns out they were about to close, thank god we stopped then. i went into ask for directions and learned that we were supposed to turn an hour back. it was 10:00. so back we went through buffalo country (the kid at the gas station told me to be "extra careful" through this part because bison like to stand in the road. yeah, thanks.) finally made it out and got to cody at 12:30, took the last hotel room in town where we grossly overpaid and had to sneak coco in. louie was in such a horrible mood the whole trip to this point that i still hadn't really relaxed.

third leg: wyoming to south dakota

next morning we got on the road early, after sampling every single thing in the continental breakfast buffet. cody is a cute little town, i would have liked to spend more time there. or any time at all, really, since we were only there for about 8 hours total and 7 of those were sleeping. onward we went. still pretty, was for some reason thinking that we'd basically be leaving the mountains and heading into grassland so i was expecting a pretty boring day. surprise surprise, suddenly we're heading into the big horn national forest. big beautiful colorful rock, and huge mountains, and suddenly you can't see the mountains anymore and you realize that's because you're on top of them. moose! running across the road! and another in the woods! turned around just in time for the second moose to cross the road. kept driving, big open land with signs indicating that cattle herds roam free up there. around a bend, whole bunch of cars stopped, HUGE moose eating a tree by a creek. kept going, another 20 feet and another huge moose just laying there, right next to the road. louie starting to perk up. kept going, down the mountain, finally flattening out so i don't have to white-knuckle it anymore. come into a little town, don't remember what it's called, stopped for gas, kept driving a little bit until we were almost to i-94. stopped for lunch. overpriced but delicious. not sure if it was because we were hungry or because it was actually delicious. louie ate a buffalo burger. we were in buffalo, wyoming. ate buffalo in buffalo. hit the interstate, smooth sailing. went through sundance. same as the sundance film festival? i don't know. crossed the border and it was getting to be evening, so i decided we should just stop in rapid city for the night.

fourth leg: south dakota to... south dakota?

well, the continental breakfast was disappointing again, but we hit the road and headed for custer. first the flintstones, which apparently you had to pay to get in so we just took pictures of the outside, then crazy horse, which we should have just driven past but stopped anyway. then drove past mt rushmore. by that time we were all hungry. drove through bear country, which was probably one of the best parts of the trip. thought a bear was literally going to climb on top of the car. back on the highway, headed for wall drug. i was excited, but nobody else really knew what i was talking about. tried to get kelly to get all the billboards along the way, she got a few but not enough. woohoo! we've arrived! left coco in the car but it was hot and i was nervous. got some food. delicious. exactly what i had been craving the whole time. again, could have spent a lot more time here. as it was we were there for a few hours. carried coco around in my purse after i saw a little girl holding the smallest pomeranian i have ever seen! wanted to try a lot more of the food there too but of course didn't have a chance. finally back on the road at about 5 or 6, depending on the time change. i handed driving duty over to louie and promptly fell asleep. woke up when it was raining, storming actually, and the wipers weren't so hot. in hindsight we probably should have purchased wiper blades on day 1 instead of spark plugs and oil that we never used. huge storm. kept expecting to see a tornado forming as each lightning bolt flashed. luckily didn't. stopped at a gas station, literally in the middle of nowhere and definitely in tornado country. decided to go back 1 exit and get a hotel room. storm was moving same direction we were at the same speed, so we would have been in it the whole way. ate at the only restaurant in town where kelly and i had spaghetti that felt like it was made at home and served ourselves our own drinks. coco was actually allowed at the hotel, and we didn't even get charged for her. louie finally in a good mood. got up and left EARLY, actually early this time, because kelly had to work.

next leg: south dakota to minnesota

pretty boring. stopped in albert lea for mcdonald's lunch. kept on truckin. made it home at about 1:30. good thing we stopped, because we still had about another 5 hour drive ahead of us. home sweet home! felt good to be back this year. last year i think it was too soon. mom has lost weight. was surprised at the garden; she used to be so into it and now it's just all weeds. more on that later.

on the road again: minnesota to iowa to missouri to kansas

boring. slept most of the way. wish i could have stopped for bbq in kansas city, have to do it next time. thought the drive would take 10 hours (according to google maps), but actually only took about 7. weird. ate at golden corral and then hung out at the hotel for the night.


final step: kansas to oklahoma to texas to new mexico

another continental breakfast. this one described itself as "deluxe" but i believe they were referring to the hard boiled eggs that tasted like rubber. literally. louie drove. kansas was not as flat as i thought it would be. oklahoma felt like old west. hit texas, short trip to amarillo. stopped for mcdonalds. passed carhenge, which i didn't realize was there so didn't get any pictures. finally in new mexico, finally see the sandias and finally, finally home sweet home. i have to say, even after all of that adventure, new mexico is still one of the prettiest states i've seen.