November 19-27, 2009

Days 74-82

On early Thursday morning, we left Missouri headed to Colorado. We were in Kansas before we knew it and it was as flat and treeless as we remember. There were multiple wind turbines scattered throughout farm fields, creating a blend of new technology with the old.

We stopped for lunch at a rest area and took a walk. We noticed a row of limestone posts and learned that they were original fence posts that were used because wood was so scare on the Kansas plains. We stopped for the night in Hays, Kansas enjoying a warm evening and a lovely sunset. We were up early and on the road to CO. It was good driving, the sun was shining and we could hardly believe that we were on our last leg of our itinerary. We arrived at Dan and Gail’s, (Bob’s youngest brother and his wife) around 3:30 pm. Since September 14, when we left Tacoma, WA, we have logged 9000 miles and visited 26 states. It is good to see family again and take a break. On Friday, we spent the day winterizing the 5th wheel which we will park in Dan’s yard until January. On Saturday, we packed one bag for our trip to Mexico and one bag for our trip back to Alaska before leaving for Eric and Holly’s house in Littleton. It was so good to see Eric and found it hard to believe that nearly 2 months had passed since we last saw him, as he and Holly left for Europe and we headed East.

 We missed Holly who was visiting her family in Alaska. Eric took us to downtown Denver to a film festival that he had been going to all week. We saw The Passenger Side, an independent film that was interesting, especially the Q & A at the end with the Director and the actors. We spent most of the week relaxing and enjoying our time with Eric, working out at his gym, and hiking around a nearby lake. One night, we met Shane Seba, one of Jeremy’s childhood friends, and his girlfriend, Jessica at a Sport’s Bar to watch the Avalanche play. Before we went in, we stopped at the beauty school next door to see if Bob could get a quick haircut. Two hours later he joined us at the bar. I was worried that he either had been mugged or ran off with one of the students. It wasn’t a bad cut and they did not charge him since it took so long (must have been the scalp massage). We all had a good laugh and teased him the rest of the evening.

On Sunday, Dan set us up with flight along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains with his friend Steve. We met him at Broomfield Airport which sits at 5500 feet elevation.

Steve, an experienced mountain pilot, climbed to 16,000 ft. to try to cross the Continental Divide. Every time we tried to cross the 14,000 ft pass, a strong downdraft hit us and we had to turn away from the pass. We flew south along the Range for a great sight seeing trip.

This was the first time we had flown around Colorado in a small plane and made us wish we had our Super Cub here for some flying fun. Thanks Dan and Steve for a fun day.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Eric, thankful that we could be there with him and for many our blessings, including the opportunity to travel the USA. That evening Bob and Eric were invited by Eric’s friend Chris to go to the Bronco’s vs Giants game at the stadium.

It was Bob’s first NFL game and he was thrilled. There were 72,000 fans screaming for the Bronco’s, especially after they won.