Monday, June 30, 2014, we headed into the unknown. A few of us have lived east of the Mountain Time zone (Jake and Cooper were born in the Midwest), but it's definitely been a while and as a family, we had never driven this particular route we were taking east of Utah. We were excited to see new things and places.
Our travels this day would take us from Lehi, Utah through the entire state of Colorado and a little bit into Kansas where we would camp in Goodland for the night, just barely across the Kansas state line.
We were up and at 'em and out the door by 5:15am. Poor kiddos, barely awake and crammed in like sardines. This was most definitely the antithesis of "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed." JJ looks perky, but I assure you, he wasn't.
Here are some pictures of the last stretch of Utah shortly after the sun came up.
We entered Colorado at 8:30am. Three states down--only four more to go!!
About an hour later, we needed a potty break. So we stopped at this rest area with a small military memorial. Cooper's 4th grade class did reports on the individual states and the state he ended up with just happened to be Colorado. He was spouting off fun trivia he remembered from the Centennial State :)
We got to walk right up to the chopper. Pretty cool. (Not really sure where Calvin is at this point ...but he obviously made it back into the suburban with us!)
One of the gifts Kathy Tawzer gave us in her bag o' goodies was a magic marker set (that only colors on special paper). We gave that to JJ and he had a great time with it. Jared and I were reminiscing about how much we loved road trips with our family when we were younger. But back then...we were not forced to sit, locked into one position or seat, the entire time! We could lay on the floor in between the seats, under the seats or sprawl over an entire bench seat. We were free! In fact, when my family moved from Georgia to Alaska, I spent most the time hanging out in the cargo area of the van, listening to music, playing with cards and dreaming about boys :) But times have changed and it is so much harder for the little ones. Which is why we were so grateful even for little things like a couple "magic" markers and some sheets of paper to go with them, for they made a huge difference in breaking up the monotony.
Before we left the last rest area, we did some seat swapping. I went to the middle back behind Jared, Cooper moved over to Jake's spot on the other side of JJ and Jake moved up in the passenger seat. Thought we'd shake it up a bit, share the leg room--especially since Jake is as tall as me!
A couple hours after crossing the Colorado state line and we were getting into some higher elevation with mountains and cliffs.
And before we knew it, we were driving through Vail Ski Resort--which was interesting to see in the summertime. Beautiful country though, no doubt.
The drive through Colorado, mostly the mountain passes, were a lot more up and down and twisty-turny than I had expected. Jake and I had headaches from it.
We at lunch in Denver around 1:30 at Fazoli's--a fast-food chain serving up pasta dishes. We managed to stumble into a $5 lunch special with thirty minutes to spare. What a blessing! For some reason, we felt like we were eating "better" by eating Italian than greasing it up at a burger joint. And it was definitely a lot less greasy. We loved Fazoli's when we lived in Michigan and haven't been to one in over a decade. So we considered it a treat. Kids loved it too! There was something for everyone.
Jared got a soda to drink with his meal. As we sat down at our table, Karcyn decided she wanted to read the writing that was on the outside of his cup. She pulled it toward her using the far edge of the lid. It moved a little bit, but then tipped right over. Jared's 32 oz. soda went splashing all over the table in front of Karcyn, in her lap, all over Jared's right leg and shoe and of course, the floor. It was such a mess, we had to get up and move to a different table and apologetically alerted an employee. We wiped Karcyn off as best we could before our lunches arrived at our new table. Our meals were the perfect portion size and felt much better in our stomachs than a burger and fries would have. After we ate, Karcyn and I went into the bathroom to wash the sticky soda residue off her legs some more. I took advantage of the automatic hand dryer to dry Karcyn's shorts. Gave me flashbacks of when I was roasting her underwear over the campfire a few years back when a sneaker wave caught her off guard at a ward camp out on the Oregon coast.
As we left the area where Fazoli's was to get back on the highway, we took Highway 70 East. Jared asked me to call ABF to arrange the delivery of our moving truck because they aren't open on Tuesdays (weird) and we were arriving on Wednesday. He also had me call UHAUL to reserve a small trailer that we could hook up to the burb in order to take stuff to our storage unit. After I got off the phone with ABF and confirmed a 1-5pm delivery on Wednesday, Jared blurted out, "How'd we get on the 76??" Jared going on the wrong road, going the wrong way, was very unusual. But it happened. I wasn't paying attention because I was on the phone but it must not have been very well marked. So we ended up spending thirty extra minutes turning around. Not exactly what you want to do when you already have a ten hour day on your plate. The kids were being champs so that really helped!
The east side of Denver was very flat and open. It felt like we should've been in Kansas by that point already. But it would still be several hours before we had Colorado behind us.
About 4:30 in the afternoon we watched a storm build in the direction we were headed, including lightning.
It was around then, that Jared and I reconsidered our plans to camp out at the Mid America Camp Inn in Goodland, Kansas for the night. I started to Google lodging options to see what was available in Goodland that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. We found a Comfort Inn and I jumped out to see if they had any availability for a family of seven.
Around 6pm, I greeted the front desk clerk with a weary smile. I explained we were moving from Oregon and had planned to camp here for the night but the weather got the best of us. I asked if she had a vacant room for our family and said there were seven of us, but to give a more accurate picture of our situation, assured her that three of them were little people. (I always hold my breath when I mention the size of our family in these types of situations. Six people is usually the max in hotel rooms. I love all my children, but it really makes traveling so much more expensive!! Oh yeah, which is why we don't do it unless we're moving halfway across the country!) I braced myself for a two-room quote, but this gal, bless her, was able (or out of her compassion simply chose) to put us in a suite with a King bed, a pull-out queen and said they would bring in a cot. I quickly did the math. That would be six at most, but figured someone could sleep on the floor no problem. While I was mentally arranging the kids in their respective spots, she added that there's a recliner in the suite as well that could be used as an additional sleeping option and before she could finish her sentence, I blurted, "We'll take it!!" Amazingly enough, that only cost us $125. Even though we had planned to camp in order to cut costs, I was secretly grateful for a soft bed and warm shower--and indoor pool. I know Jared was secretly feeling the same way--especially as our driver whose sitting positions in the car were reduced to one all day.
We pulled around to the other side of the hotel and found the door that our room was closest to and parked there so we could unload our bags and food for the night. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Utah, we discovered that the rear lift gate wasn't working. It was losing it's "juice" that would propel it upwards and keep it up. That meant that it was, at the very minimum, a two person job to get bags and supplies out of the back of the burb and load them back in. Such a pain, but if this was the worst "mechanical" issue we faced in this 2500 mile trek through seven states, we'd take it.
After unloading the truck, we made a quick stop at the local Walmart to restock on healthy snacks for the road the next day. Some of the kids cashed in their quarters they earned by keeping their name clips up all day long and made their own special purchases. Then we needed to eat. While our lodging arrangements changed last minute, our dinner plans, would not. That's where costs can really add up. We still ate our Mountain House meals. Jared fired up his Jet Boil from his previous high adventure days with the young men and away we went. It was actually a super delicious, warm and comforting meal. Everyone had their very own pre-ordered, preferred dinner. Easy to make and easy clean up!
After we filled our stomachs and got things put away for the evening, we decided to check out the pool to burn off some energy and stretch our muscles.
Ahhh. The hot tub was divine.
Didn't take long for everyone to crash. Karcyn, Calvin and JJ were on the sofa bed.
Cooper was on the cot.
Jake was in the recliner and Jared and I had the bed. The longest day on the road in mileage (693) and traveling hours (13) was behind us.
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