The Mile High City

Here's a picture of what the terrain looked like after we got past LA and the rest of the day yesterday. It's God-forsaken country if you ask me. Makes sense that Las Vegas thrives in it.

Below are pictures of the tire that blew. Wish I'd have thought to take the picture while it was still on the truck 'cuz it looked really pathetic, but I had other things on my mind at the time.

See how it has 3 spots where it split open?

No we're in Denver. What a day again. No problems though, just wanted to make that perfectly clear right off the bat.

We left the Comfort Inn in Richfield, UT at 8:00a.m. and drove to American Tire. Remember that the gal at the hotel front desk told me to go there because her husband worked there? Ok, so we met Dale and he was expecting us. He and Gary got us all fixed up for a good price. I told Dale about the blowout incident and he said, "Sounds like the Lord was watching over you." I then told him about some of our other God interventions on the trip and agreed that God has certainly been with us every mile. We had a nice talk.

The next 100 miles was beautiful Utah red canyons, but there was nothing, absolutely nothing, within that 100 miles. You know you're in some pretty barren country when you never even see a bird, or squirrel, or even roadkill for that matter. I am so thankful that the blowout happened between Beaver and Richfield because if we had gone past Richfield, we would have been in some very desolate country and if even if we got through to AAA, the wait for a truck would have been really long. Anyhoo, God knew.

Here's an interesting tidbit. After driving over 100 miles, we got to a town and stopped for gas, along with everybody else traveling that stretch of I-70. As I walked out of the gas station I ran into a young man and young woman who were sweaty, dirty, dressed in bike shorts and had just leaned their loaded bicycles against the building. "Where you guys coming from?", I had to ask since I once road my bike across the country. (I've talked to several bikers on this trip...can't help myself.) "Delaware", the guy said. "Are you riding to California?" "Yea". "No kidding?! When I was your age I road from California to Delaware." "No way", they both said. "Yep, you guys are going the wrong way though, you'll be riding into the wind the whole way." They sighed and agreed that they'd had some pretty tough winds, especially the last couple of days. We went on to talk a few more minutes and then I said, "Be careful and have a great trip."

After I got in the car I thought, "Where in the world are those two headed from here? There is nothing along here for the next 100 miles and it's hot." So I went back in to the gas station and found them. I asked them if they were riding west on I-70 and they said they were. "There is nothing for the next 100 miles", I told them. He explained his plan. I asked how much water they had and again warned them that they would be traveling with no gas stations for 100 miles. Personally, I think they were making a big mistake traveling that way because they'd be out there for 2 days even if they road fast, which they can't with that headwind, the mountains, and with their bikes loaded. Fortunately the road is widely traveled so I'm sure they could get help, but I've been praying for them all day.

The drive was beautiful today. It was nice to see some trees for a change. After we drove awhile in Colorado, we began to see signs of civilization. Stuff like houses, barns, fences, stores, and gas stations. Amazing! We traveled many miles along a river all through the rockies and saw many rafting outfitters taking people down the river. Capt'n Jack was rock steady through all the curves, canyons, and climbs. We drove through Vail and Breckinridge and saw some amazing ski slopes. The punks are traveling well with very little arguing and no complaining. They're real troopers.

Once in Denver we stopped at Casa Bonita for dinner where we watched cliff diving. It was fun. Unfortunately I didn't think to take my camera in, so no pictures...sorry. It was all pretty cool though. After dinner we drove to the east side of Denver where we are now snuggled in to a Comfort Inn once again, and I am feeling quite comfortable.

Tomorrow we'll drive to Kansas City to see Jim and Christy. We haven't seen them since Christmas so it will be great to be with them, plus we haven't see their new house which isn't really new, but we've never been there so it's new to us. We'll spend a couple of nights there and head back to SA on Monday and the plan is to drive straight through. Joann will be bringing Natty back home that day and we are so excited to see her we can hardly stand it. In fact, Joann emailed me a video of Natty in their backyard and I got all choked up. Sappy I know, but I love that dog.

Love to all!