Road Trip - We're Not In Kansas Anymore

So, last night we checked into a HOLIDAY INN across the road from Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Who knew it was not in Kansas but in Missouri. Anyway, Meryl and I decided we would add a couple of hours and miles to today's drive. We figured we would drive through Denver and head on down to Grand Junction Colorado.

So we hit the rode at 7AM and headed west on I70. It was 15-20 minutes we were in Kansas, and began our big trek. Seven(7) hours later we were crossing into Colorado. Kansas you may have heard is flat. That does not tell you the truth. The eastern end of the state has some rolling hills, but by the time you are mid-way you realize the only time you are climbing any type of grade, it is for an over pass. I mean it was flat!

And another thing, it seems in the middle of these farms and cattle ranchs, at every cross roads about every 10-15 miles, there is an Adult Book store. And in the field behind each of these stores there is a billboard with a Bible quote about the evils of porn. As we were driving past one of these stores, the truck driver in front of us nearly ran off the road as he read they give a special discount to truckers with a certain type of license.

Anyway, we finally crossed over into Colorado. which is just as flat as Kansas on its eastern border. it then became rolling hills, which is what it was as we drove into Denver. Meryl was driving at that point. We had decided to switch every 2 hours, which was working pretty good. Then Meryl decided to drive through Denver. I think the 75 MPH Speed Limit had something to do with this.

WELL, the western side of Denver is right into the Rocky Mountains. She did pretty godd until we came to a down grade that had warnings for the trucker to put it into their lowest gear, that the grade was 7%, and winding. And we are in a rain storm at this point. About midway down I heard Meryl saying "oh, S**t!" As if answering her prayer an exit appeared and we were off the hill. At the traffic light at the bottom of the exit she asked me which way to turn, and I replied "I don't know. I've never been here before." Lucky, my door was locked because Ithink she would have left me there if she could have.

We changed positions and I took over the driving for the rest of the trip. All I can was is that I70 from Denver to Grand Junction is possibly the most beautiful road I have driven on. The roadway hugs the sides of canyons formed by a creek, then the Eagle River and then the Colorado. Denver is known as the Mile High City at 5,340 feet above sea level. The roadway climbed to 11,300 feet where we went through a tunnel and then began decending a 6% downgrade, without the rain this time. Beautiful.