The Hunt

[tracker7]

Meant to post this a couple of nights ago - Tuesday - but something ate the post and the draft vaporized, too.

Christ, Colorado is incredibly beautiful. Uncle Charlie's place is at about 5300 feet, overlooking a broad valley and surrounded by the Rockies. You can see Pikes Peak from his yard. I love my state, and it is a pretty place, but Colorado is just something else entirely.

We had a great visit. Several hours talking, a very good lunch. Kaiser got along with their dog after his initial freakout. Charlie gave me a box of manuals and whatnot from his railroad career. Charlie's feeling good about his cancer treatment, too.

We went through Colorado Springs - saw an Army Genset locomotive at Fort Carson. More utterly beautiful terrain. Got into Kansas, and we spent several hours tearing along I-70 in high SE-to-NW winds. Sustained 45MPH, gusts to 60. The endless wind turbine farms were taking advantage of the weather; I wondered how much power was being generated by the storm. We made it to Hays, Kansas around sunset. Comfy hotel room, worse weather to the southwest of us.

Weather Wednesday morning was much better. We left Hays pretty early and got to Lenexa around noon. About 90 minutes at LMP, then I took us to Fred's Trains in Olathe and holy cow what a hobby shop. I was good, but there was a UP Geep that tempted me mightily. Back on the road, heading towards St. Louis with plans to spend the night around there somewhere.

Not far from STL, Dad mentions that we could be in Louisville close to midnight. I know a suggestion when I hear it sometimes, so we decided that we would press on. Stopped by the house to see if some legal documents had arrived, refuelled out on Blankenbaker, and then we headed for Liberty.

I slept until nearly noon today. Got a few last items out of the Yukon and into my Mariner, and then headed back to Louisville. Unpacked, started laundry, watching more Evangelion. I'm feeling alright this evening.

I'm so glad we took this trip, and that when Dad was waffling about Abilene, I told him that I wanted to see the place. In a way, my history began there; I may never see it again, but now it's more than a spot on a map for me.

Comments

[atolnon]

All of that made me miss road trips. I remember coming down from the mountains in CO at a steep angle at sunset which took my breath away but I was too busy not crashing into other people at 45 degrees and 20 over the speed limit to take a shot of it and I'm sort of only left with impressions. Drove through the city and into a motel and the next day was cold winter and I sped across flat terrain at 80 mpg not realizing I'd exceeded the speed limit because of the lack of landmarks or other cars until I was pulled over by a state trooper.

I would have liked to see the area in the summer or fall.

[tracker7]

I would have loved to have gotten pictures of Raton Pass, but I was in a similar state - driving a full-sized SUV through a construction zone at sunset. Beautiful, but a little treacherous.