Colorado and Coronavirus Part One

For the last seven years, we have spent our vacation in Florida, wonderful road trips for the last six.  With our plans to move to Colorado later this year, we decided to go for our vacation to check it out before we committed.  We originally thought about going in May when the weather would be nicer, but that plan did not go over well with the boss so we stuck with our normal March vacation.  We picked the week of the 15th through the 22nd so we would be back in time for the start of spring break, a very busy time for the restaurant.

We thought about flying to maximize the time we would have to spend in Colorado.  After we realized that it would be over $800 for the flight and then we would still have to get a rental car, we decided to make it a road trip.  We planned to make the drive in two days, spend four days in Colorado Springs, and then drive back in two days.  Our plan was to play three disc golf courses, visit the zoo, drive to the top of Pike’s Peak, see some of the sites, eat at some great restaurants and of course relax.  We found a lovely cottage on VRBO and were just waiting for the day to leave.

Then came Coronavirus.  My first impression was that it would blow over in a few weeks.  As the day for our vacation approached, it became more and more evident that this would not be the case.  Business at the restaurant rapidly decreased.  Three days before we were set to leave, the owner announced that we would be transitioning the restaurant into a delivery/take out service until further notice.   We briefly considered canceling the vacation, but then decided we could just as easily social distance in Colorado as we could here.  We also very much needed a vacation.

As we had a twelve-hour drive ahead of us, we left before dawn, planning to stop for breakfast in Richmond.  When we arrived at Waffle House the empty restaurant was a mess.  There were no clean tables, but we found one that was passable.  As we sat waiting, a server appeared, playing with her hair, to let us know that she would be with us in a few minutes.  We looked at each other and decided that we would eat somewhere else.  We had left the house about half an hour later than we had intended.  The upside of hitting the drive-thru was that we made up for the time we lost from our late departure.

After our quick breakfast, with the most wretched coffee, we headed west.  As we crossed the mountains it became very foggy.  The tops of the mountains were veiled in low-lying clouds.  While it made for treacherous driving, the view was spectacular as we dipped in and out of the cloud cover.  As we worked our way through West Virginia the mountains grew taller.  The highlight of our drive over the mountains was the two-story waterfall down a sheer cliff right beside the interstate.

Our dear friend, Joe Nehme, moved a few years ago.  While we have stayed in touch, we have not had the opportunity to visit with him since he left.  When we made plans to eat lunch in West Virginia, Chris contacted Joe to see if we would be near him.  As it turns out, he lives about two hours from our lunch spot but was willing to make the trip to have lunch with us.  Joe pulled into Hillbilly Hot Dogs about two minutes after we did.  I was happy to see that he brought his son, Jackson, with him.  I asked Jackson if he remembered us, but he didn’t.  I stepped into the ladies room and when I returned, Jackson very excitedly told me that he remembered us now.  Chris’s voice had triggered his memory.  Lunch was fun, even more so because we were able to enjoy it with great friends.

After lunch, we said our goodbyes and continued west.  As we headed back to the interstate, I was shocked that a car passed us, and several other cars, even though we were in a no-passing zone approaching a turn.  As we drove through Kentucky, I saw what looked like a mountain lion on the side of the road.  We were moving quickly and I was not able to get a good look so I decided that I must have been mistaken and it was probably just a deer.  Later, however, my instincts were confirmed as Chris got a good look at another big cat further down the road.

Stops along the way were interesting as we did everything we could to not touch anything that anyone else might have touched.  We became very adept at getting through doors without making contact with them.  We also had baby wipes to clean our hands when we got back in the car, all in an effort to avoid any possible exposure to Coronavirus.  As we passed through Louisville, KY, we saw more bridges than I have ever seen in one area.  We crossed one of the bridges and made our way into Indiana.  At some point in the drive, I suddenly realized that the mountainous terrain had become very flat.  Farmland stretched as far as I could see.  We saw our first oil rigs in Indiana.  There were quite a few of them as we progressed, some working, others sitting idle and some with a flame burning next to them.

As we continued into Illinois we saw a lot more oil rigs.  We seemed to see hawks everywhere and even spotted a group of wild turkeys.  The most entertaining site was a field of goats.  There was a large, circular bale of hay in the field that the goats were eating.  Having eaten the center out of the hay, one of the goats had climbed into the hole.  His head sticking out of a bale of hay was hysterical.

After a very long day, we stopped for the night twenty minutes east of St. Louis.  After checking into our hotel, we went to a nearby taphouse in hopes of having a good dinner before calling it a night.  Apparently, the taphouse was closing at the end of business that night until further notice due to Coronavirus.  Unfortunately for us, our server was very unhappy at the prospect of losing his income.  When Chris asked for a beer list, the server very rudely indicated that it was on the wall, as if we should have already known that.  Put off by his attitude we left to go to another nearby restaurant for our dinner.  The second restaurant reminded us of Applebees or T.G.I. Fridays.  The food was nothing special, we even ended up sending back Chris’s very overcooked fish, but at least the server was friendly and made us feel welcome.

Excited to get to Colorado, we had no problem getting up before the sun came up appeared in the sky.  After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the Gateway Arch, arriving just as the sun appeared.  The sky lit up in bright pink hues, a beautiful view looking across the river from the Arch.  As the sun rose, a pink reflection crept its way up the Arch.  It was absolutely beautiful and wonderful to share the scene with just the two of us.

There is an old saying, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.  Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning.”  This proved to be true as the lovely pink sky gave way to a very nasty, rainy day.  At some points the rain was so heavy that it limited visibility, causing us to have to slow down for safe driving.  As lunchtime approached the weather let up a bit, still dreary, but no longer actually raining.  As we approached Kansas City, Arrowhead Stadium suddenly came into view.  We thought about our coworker, David, as he is a huge Chiefs fan.  We would have loved to take a picture of the stadium for him as we passed by, but it came and went so quickly we were not able to.

We crossed into Kansas, stopping for a fantastic lunch at Jarocha, before continuing our journey.  I was surprised and delighted to see that the speed limit was raised to 75 mph after we left Kansas City.  We would be able to make really good time for the rest of the trip.  The biggest thing that stood out to me in Kansas was how very straight the roads were.  At one point I clocked the distance to the furthest point in the road that I could see.  It ended up being 10 miles of perfectly straight road.

We have been doing road trips for the last six years.  That is a lot of driving.  We always set the cruise control at seven miles over the speed limit.  For years we have done this, driving by numerous speed traps, with not a single police officer ever even glancing our way as we drove by.  It has been a foolproof system.  That is, until now.  After stopping for gas, we were underway once again.  We were moving a little faster than a truck ahead of us.  Before moving over to pass him, I glanced in the mirror and saw a rapidly moving vehicle approaching us.  As it drew closer, I could tell that it was a police vehicle and commented to Chris, who was laying down in the reclined seat, “Wow, that cop is really flying.”  I waited for the car to pass by so that I could move over to pass the truck, when suddenly the police officer, who was beside me, slammed on his brakes and pulled in behind me.  I was very confused when the lights came on.

When he approached the car, the officer said he clocked me at 80 mph (the speed limit was still 75!).  He said that he would not be issuing a ticket, but asked me to sit in his car while he checked my information.  I found it very bizarre that he had pulled me in the first place, second that he asked me to move to his car while he interrogated me with where I was from, where I was going, lots of questions about where we would be staying, why we were going to Colorado and who Chris was.  As if the situation was not surreal enough, he then received a phone call which he answered on speakerphone from his five-year-old son.  He issued me a warning and we were soon back on the road.

There was not a lot to see in Kansas.  Wide-open spaces, meandering hills, not a lot of trees.  Then, off in the distance, I saw a windmill.  It was not a windmill that you would see on a farm, but a very large, sleek modern windmill.  As we crested a rise in the road, the single windmill turned into a windmill farm.  It was a magnificent sight, windmills as far as the eye could see, all turning in the wind at various speeds.

After 423 miles of Kansas, we finally saw the “Welcome to Colorado” sign.  We had gone from an elevation of 466 feet to now over 4000 feet during the course of the day.  I found it strange that a great climb was not at all noticeable.  It was so exciting to know that we were so close to our destination after so many hours in the car.  We were anxious to finish the trip so grabbed something for dinner from the drive-thru instead of stopping to eat.  We noticed that there was snow in spots on the side of the road.  Seeing more windmills, I pondered as to how big the blades were.  While they were in front of me it was difficult to get a good grasp on their size.  The mystery was solved when we saw a truck in a rest area that had one of the blades as its cargo.  I don’t know that they would be able to transport that blade anywhere in Virginia without having to shut the roads down.  The size was impressive.

We had been in and out of rain most of the day.  As we neared our exit the clouds were very low.  So low that the tops of the windmills disappeared into the fog.  I mentioned to Chris that we would not have that first glimpse of the Rockies in the distance moment that I hoped for.  A few minutes later, we crested a ridge to see the sun shining on the horizon.  Suddenly, off in the distance, there they were…the Rocky Mountains.  It was a glorious sight, especially since we were still 70 miles away.

We turned off of the interstate to follow a smaller road for the last 70 miles to Colorado Springs.  Again, the road was unbelievably straight, which was very helpful navigating through the fog that had descended again.  We arrived in Colorado Springs just as the order to close all restaurants to dine-in eating went into effect.  As we made our way to the cottage that would be our home for the next few days, I strained to see the mountains that I knew were there.  Between the fog and the darkness of night, I could not make them out.

Exhausted and sore from the very long trip, we arrived at our cottage.  We opened the door to find that it was absolutely beautiful.