Colorado and Kansas

Colorado hadn't been in the original plan. It wasn't even in the first draft of the revised plan. After I left the desert I had planned to stay in Santa Fe for three nights to recharge my batteries, recuperate, etc. Well at some point on the way to Roswell it occurred to me that instead of cooling my heels in Santa Fe I could continue north to Denver, Colorado and still get to Oklahoma City in time to take advantage of the hotel reservation I had already made for Saturday night.

I was excited just to see Denver but there was an added bonus: my friend Tony from high school moved there recently and I was going to get to see him! I was so excited :)

On the drive through Colorado (I don't want to be all predictable but...it was beautiful!) I started thinking about what I might want to see in Denver. Tony wasn't going to be available until later that evening and he was going to let me crash at his place, so until then I was free to do anything I liked. I posted on Facebook to ask for suggestions and I was referred to a fantastic bookstore downtown called Tattered Cover. I headed over there, found a parking spot, fed the meter, then went inside. Now I'm a little spoiled since I live right down the street from Powell's, a decidedly excellent book store, but Tattered Cover was just everything a book store should be and it was the perfect place to spend a couple of hours while I waited for Tony. For some reason whenever I go to a bookstore I always think I'm going to have trouble finding something I'm interested in but then I always end up with the opposite, a giant stack of books I absolutely have to have right now! Five minutes after going upstairs to the fiction section, I already had my hands full of books. One of the things TC does better than Powell's (sorry Powell's..you know I love you) is that it has cozy reading areas tucked in every section so you can sit down and get an idea of the books you are looking at before you buy them. I read a little bit of each of the books in my stack and decided which ones I didn't want and which ones to buy at Powell's when I get home. Believe it or not I actually managed to leave TC empty-handed.

Another excellent suggestion that was made was for Falling Rock Taphouse. I looked it up on my phone and it was only about four blocks away so I put some more quarters in the meter and walked over there in the light rain that had just started. Once there I grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered a pint of porter, I forget what brand. After that I asked the bartender to hook me up with something interesting I might not be able to get somewhere else so she had me try a few different things. It was a lot of fun, actually, tasting all of these different beers. Of course it didn't take long for me to feel a tiny bit buzzed. Almost two hours had passed so I had to run back and feed the meter again, then I texted Tony and asked him to meet me at Falling Rock when he was done with work.

At some point during the evening two intelligent-looking gentlemen sat next to me and we started talking about all sorts of things...beer, IT, cell phones, etc. You all know how talking to men in bars is not really my strong suit, but this was a lot of fun. Eventually Tony showed up and the other guys took off, so he and I stayed for one more beer (for him...I had switched to water a while ago) and then drove back to his and his wife's apartment to talk some more and finally get some sleep.

Now I don't have a high tolerance for alcohol to begin with, plus supposedly the altitude affects that sort of thing as well, so the next morning I was definitely hurting. I was nauseated and felt like I had been run over by a mack truck. Still worth it though. :) Tony made me some tea, we talked for a while longer while I played with his cats and then it was time for me to hit the road.

The only logical way to get from Denver to Oklahoma City is to drive right into the heart of Kansas so I prepared myself for a long and boring day of driving. There are definitely a lot of similar-looking wheat fields but I have to tell you, Kansas is (you guessed it) beautiful. I stopped that night at Wilson State Park which is arranged around Wilson Lake. Many of the campsites go right up to the lake's edge, in fact my tent ended up maybe 15 feet from the water with an incredible view. It also had a covered patio area near the water which seemed like a nice place to set up my laptop and write a little. Eventually the sun went down and the heat, which had been a little uncomfortable when I was setting up the tent, began to dissipate. A nice, cool breeze flowed off the water as the sky darkened and the stars began to show themselves. It was a fantastic evening, another perfect moment.

The next morning I awoke to the honking of geese! When I crawled out of my tent there were several families of geese (including fuzzy little goslings) just milling about the campsites, looking for some tasty bugs for breakfast. I stayed as still as I could against the car and they came close enough for me to get a few good pictures. Soon afterwards, I was off again, this time headed for Oklahoma City!