(Kim's Perspective)
We needed to log some miles today, so we made plans to be up early and on the road at 6:00am. We quickly got dressed and grabbed a few things and opened the camper door to this...
Oh. It's snowing. <boggle> HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Why this amused us so, I'm not sure, but we thought it was pretty cool to wrap up our time in Colorado with a little snow. Having the luxury of being in a level spot and connected to the trailer made for a quick departure. It took longer to take a few pictures than to actually pack up.
I did have to spend a few minutes getting the snow off of the slide so we didn't have to clean up a wet mess later.
 |
| Better to melt in sink than drip on floor. ~ Confucius (HA!) |
We jumped in the truck and headed out of the park. I asked Bill to stop so I could snap a quick pic of the park sign.
We headed north on 115 and made our way over to 24 east towards Peyton. Though we were confident that the sun was steadily rising in the east, we really couldn't tell because of the heavy fog and overcast skies. Well, that and the occasional snow showers. :)
We did know that it was quite frigid outside...
...but we were alert and happy and still enjoying the sights.
It took a few hours before we left...
...and crossed into...
Knowing that Kansas would suck the life right out of us, we grabbed coffee at one of the gas stops. Armed with two Venti Salted Caramel Mochas with Soy Milk and Light Whip (yes, you know exactly what that makes me), we were ready to roll.
 |
| Map, Cat, Coffee....Check. |
As always, I tried to appreciate Kansas for what it is, but what it isn't is photo worthy (at least not the parts near the highway), so the camera stayed tucked in the glove box most of the time. I brought it out occasionally to take a pic of the endlessly droning road and clouds...
...and of course our oh-so-adaptable Adventure Kitteh...
 |
| No one told Lane he shouldn't drink and drive. |
We continued to drive on 70 towards K.C.
...crossed into Missouri...
and made it to Kansas City around 5pm....right at rush hour. There was a major backup for several miles on 70, so we took their little 435 beltway around town....gah....that took forever....and jumped off onto 40 and back onto 70 after the traffic jam. We drove, and drove, and drove some more. All of our stops were NASCAR style and we were in and out of almost every gas station in less than 15 minutes. We were having a great time though. We both felt great, we were listening to tunes, munching on road trip snacks, talking about the trip and our plans for our new home, and were just generally content and happy. It was dark when we made it to STL, but even in the dark and 7 years later, I still recognized the exits and roads from my business trips to the MMT plant. We drove past the Arch (though it looks more like a Stargate in this terrible photo)...
...and kept on driving. We passed through Illinois and finally into Indiana. At this point, we were nearing the 1,000 mile mark of straight driving and were also getting quite tired. I was trying to figure out where we could stay that would let us achieve the RV version of the Iron Butt. There's not a whole lot in Indiana, so we ended up camping in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Evansville. Naturally, the GPS took us on the most ridiculous, round about route to get there and it was 1:00am by the time we pulled in. We had been driving for 18 hours (19 if you count the time zone change) and we were both mentally and physically done. It's amazing how sitting there doing nothing can be so exhausting. I understand why Bill was tired - he drove THE WHOLE WAY. You might not think driving 1,000 miles in 18 hours in a pick up truck while pulling a 31' travel trailer is exceptionally difficult. I can tell you that you'd be wrong. We actually ended up driving 1042 miles and if you do the math, that averages to about 58mph. Yes, the speed limit is 75 most of the way, but it's really not safe to push travel trailer tires past the 60/65mph mark, so the speedo was sitting on 65 most of the way. If you do the additional math (which hurts) and realize we had to fill up every 175 miles for gas....yep...we were averaging about 7 MPG....you'll soon realize it was indeed a bit of a challenge and a big accomplishment. We had to stop for gas about 10 times that day (cha-ching!) so the combined gas stops took several hours out of our day. Throw in some construction areas and rush hour traffic and *poof* 18 hours just flew by. Once we were parked, we were too tired to even mess with trying to get the camper level or even stabilized, so we climbed into bed, prayed and thanked God for the safe traveling mercies He gave us, and were asleep by 1:30. While it did not make for a very exciting blog entry, it did make for a very memorable day for both of us. After all, it's a road trip and who doesn't love those?? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment