Day 21 - Heading East

This is the first day of our journey home. Originally, I had planned on taking a scenic route home in order to enjoy some of the other states that we haven’t seen yet. But, after 20 days of traveling and sightseeing we are all ready to head back home. The kids have even agreed to skip Cedar Point; this was a huge sign that everyone is ready to get home. 

We packed up the Yurt and said our good-bye’s to our new friends at Arrowhead Campgrounds and pointed the car east. We did stop for a nice breakfast in Buena Vista at a lovely little restaurant called Evergreen’s. This restaurant came highly recommended by our white water rafting guide. There we saw our climbing guide from the day before as well. I felt like I was back in Framingham, knowing people wherever I go! Over breakfast Mark and I mapped out our ride home. The fastest path would take us up through the Northeast corner of Colorado, through Nebraska, through Iowa and then retracing our ride through Illinois to Boston. Total trip time would be 39 hours. If we push, we can be home by Saturday night which has now become our new goal. Once again, our attempt at starting early turned into a 10:30 take off, but at least we have a plan this time.

The initial ride through the mountains of Colorado was wonderful. The tall peaks of the mountains in Colorado reach so high up into the sky that the clouds look like they sit on top of the peaks like a cotton wrap. There were some sections where the clouds looked like they were out of place, sitting on the side of the mountain. The sunny skies truly brought out the beauty of the scenery. The roads through these mountains were somewhat narrow and winding as we made our way along at 45 miles an hour. These speeds felt fast to us, but other cars were zooming by us like we were standing still. On the decline the trucks were flying, almost appearing to be out of control. Going up the inclines is where the trucks would struggle. The incline was quite severe compared to what we are used to in the east. We thought the Black Hills of South Dakota were big, but they paled in comparison to the mountains of Colorado. Guess that’s why they are called ‘hills’ and not mountains.

Throughout our travels, I have seen many bike riders traveling through these parks and mountains on their road bikes with the panniers hanging off the front handle bars and over the sides of the back tire. In my opinion, there is no better way to explore the countryside. Every time I saw a rider my initial thoughts were that of jealousy, wishing I brought my bike on the trip, but knowing it just wasn’t an option. Riding a bike allows a person to soak in the sights much more completely than driving by in a car, especially if you are the driver. Then, there are those moments where the road narrows and tips up at such an angle I decide that driving is the better choice. Guess I’m a fair condition rider. I know the mountains of the west would have pushed me past the levels of conditioning that I’m used to, but the challenge would have been fun! Not something I can do with the family though. It wouldn’t be fair for them to wait while mom goes on a bike ride. Maybe someday I come back and try it on my own.

Anyway, we decided to stop in Lakeside, CO (Denver suburb) at a Walmart to buy some books. I think Mark is determined to stop at all the Walmart stores between here and home. If I’m not careful, I’ll lose him in there for hours. We have a number of books downloaded to the Kindle and ipad, but Ally keeps plowing through them. I can’t download fast enough. Our wifi is great for checking email and updating the blog, but I can’t download anything large. With only two e-readers available we still have a need for the physical product to keep all the back row occupants busy. I’m wishing that I brought more from the library. I didn’t anticipate that they would read so much!

After Denver, the landscape changes dramatically. It flattens out like the lands in South Dakota. We still see lots of farms, but not as many hills. Not only does the land flatten, but the road straightens. Our ride stays like this pretty much the rest of the day. We stop every 2+ hours to stretch, switch drivers and use every truck stop bathroom we can find. We are the family of small bladders so part of our cross country tour includes bathrooms. I think we’ve seen more of those than even the Bisons in Yellowstone!!! The highway through Nebraska boasts a plethora of corn fields and cow farms. Due to the 88 degree temperatures, the smell going through the cow farms was a bit much. Matt got blamed a lot ;-)

About 2 hours before our arrival in Grand Island, Nebraska, the skies in front of us turned a deep shade of gray. The highway appeared as though it was going straight into a wall of rain. The winds picked up so much that you could feel the car being pushed to the side. I don’t mind normal rain storms, but we are in the plains and there is a decent chance that a storm can turn into something greater. So, we kept watching and checking the local weather. As it turned out, the storm was just a drenching rain that left a beautiful rainbow which, for as far back as I can remember, was visible from end to end.

We arrived in Grand Island at 8:30 central time. Oh yeah, somewhere back a couple of hours we crossed from Mountain Time to Central Time. Now we have to start adjusting to the time change again. The only thing that changes time automatically is the cell phone. Everything else I have to change manually, but I do this so the kids can try to get on the proper time schedule.

We pulled in at a Holliday Inn express, dumped our stuff in a really big room and Mark and the kids took off for the pool. For the sake of expediency, we decided that hotels will be the preferred accommodations since setting up and breaking down campsites takes a lot more time. I was tasked with finding dinner, gassing up the car and getting everything we needed from the car. We are now brining in the minimal amount of stuff so we can jump up and take off first thing in the morning. Finding a hotel with a pool is key. The kids need a physical outlet after sitting in the car all day. I found a local pizza place that stayed open long enough to make us a pizza. This city shuts down at 9pm! We just made it under the wire.

The room we were in was a king size bed with a pull out couch. So, I made up the couch for the girls and got the room setup for their return. While they were away , I was able to watch Real Madrid play Barcelona in a fabulous soccer match. It was a match up of two of the best players in the world, Ronaldo vs Messi. In the last 20 minutes Messi scored 2 beautifully timed goals to give Barcelona the win. The family arrived as the game was ending. They were tired and hungry, ready to settle for the night. After my finely cooked dinner the kids crawled into bed and fell asleep within minutes.

We have another long ride ahead of us….