Here we go.

The Rambling Roadtrip

Friday, January 9, 2009

Memories of Day One:
Sheena

After a long, tired day at work, I drove home to see Erin sitting in my driveway talking to Jim. We loaded up the car with my meager possessions (I only brought one little bag!) and off we went. We drove down to Iowa City, stopping for provisions on the way (Chicken in a Biskit, Pickles, Munchies, Water and Diet Coke). We made it to Blaine and Jennifer’s house around 8, and headed out to get dinner. A game had just let out, so we ended up at the Sanctuary for dinner. There was a delightful choice of beer, wonderful garlic bread and yummy food. We all splurged and got dessert, Jennifer and I got the Vanilla Crème Brulee which was not set quite right, but tasted wonderful regardless. Blaine and Erin got a Molten Chocolate Cake with raspberry sauce. Yum! We headed back and played with the dogs for a while before collapsing into bed. What a nice easy start to the roadtrip.

Day Two: Heading to Boulder
Sheena

We hit the road at 7:30a.m. First stop: Walmart. We needed to buy electrical tape to tape up the loose wires by my feet, and we bought some more water/diet coke to last us for awhile ☺ We are currently driving through Iowa, we will be stopping in Des Moines for breakfast. We have already passed a town called What Cheer, a Kum and Go and a sign for some Bulls for Sale. We decided to pass on buying a bull to send home to the family. Our apologies. More later. We’ve decided to wait until Nebraska to eat. New state soon! We ended up eating at a Wendy’s in Lincoln. It was not very good…surprise. Long drive ahead. It snowed for about an hour, but other than that the weather and roads were great. We made it to Boulder at around 8pm, met Gretchen and Jeff at Target and followed them 20 min. up the mountain to their house. It is a super cute little rental, right on a creek with gorgeous windows and wood stoves. It would be great to live somewhere like that. Erin went to bed early and Gretchen and I hung out and caught up. They have a very amusing hippie neighbor who has a great invention called his Infinity Chair, it is totally adjustable and hangs from the ceiling. Love it! Went to bed late and had a hard time falling asleep because of the cold and the altitude. (We were at about 7500 ft which is the highest I’ve been since I was in California in August).

Day Three: Climbing a Mountain and driving South
Sheena

We woke up at 7 and got ready for the day, ate some breakfast and decided to brave Sugarloaf Mountain, even though it was supposed to be windy and -9! We got up there though, and it was gorgeous and warm. We were shedding layers the entire way up, and the sun was glorious. I was definitely winded walking up. We got some great pictures on the top, and there was a great view. What a wonderful way to start a day of driving. We’re now heading south on 25 and just left Colorado Springs. We are going to drive as far as we can tonight, and then have a relaxing night of tv, takeout and hanging out. Tomorrow we’ll take our time driving to Phoenix and seeing the sights. I’m looking forward to seeing Greta, Jerry and Keisha and eating some good meals. Any sushi suggestions in Phoenix or Salt Lake?

Gallup, NM: We got here around 9:45 and are currently hanging out in a Red Roof Inn, we'll be doing a shorter drive tomorrow with lots of sight-seeing so that is really nice! We had a gorgeous sunset driving across New Mexico with a gorgeous purple/blue sky and an amazing moon. Now it's time to sleep! Goodnight :)