Colorado: Day 1--Driving!

**Please see my blog created specifically for this trip! It's located at http://coloradoconversations.blogspot.com/
I'll post abbreviated versions of each post on this blog (trying to revive it a bit!), but the full posts (with more pictures!) will be at Colorado Conversations. Some of the other girls on the trip might post there as well--we'll see. You are welcome to comment on either blog, and follow the links to the corresponding posts on Colorado Conversations. :)

Evening 1--July 31, 2015

Day 1--August 1, 2015

Wisconsin to Bettendorf, Iowa

Bettendorf, Iowa to Calhan, Colorado

We left the house right on schedule: 6:30 pm! ....And then we had to stop 20 minutes down the road. Mainiac had accidentally left her phone, drivers license, and debit card in her family's car, and we needed to pick that up before heading out of state. Thankfully we discovered it was missing before we made it to Colorado!

Driving west into the sunset, we watched a rosy sunset ahead of us and the blue moon rising behind us. It was enormous and beautiful. (see picture below)

KT and El took the first driving/navigating shift, then we paused at my grandparents' house long enough to say hello, change into comfy clothes, and pick up the GPS.
I took the next leg of the journey and made it almost to Council Bluffs. Mainiac made a wonderful navigator, and kept me awake with funny stories, trivia pulled up on her phone (thank goodness for 3G!), and classic Newsboys/Michael W. Smith sing-alongs. Sometime between 1 and 2 AM I realized that driving any further would be a very unwise decision, so we switched out with El and KT and slept until we reached Kearney, Nebraska.

Blue Moon around 2-3:00 am.

From Kearney we dropped down into Kansas on a road parallel to the railroad, taking us through small towns such as Long Island and Funk.

Some might think that the drive through Kansas would be boring, since the road is so flat and straight, but I thought it was beautiful. We drove through fields of sunflowers and over the west end of beautiful Harlan County Lake.
Driving through Kansas might have been my favorite drive of the trip. Okay, maybe not The Favorite. The Peak-to-Peak Highway and Trail Ridge Road both had some fantastic scenery! But this was pretty and quiet and peaceful.

Harlan County Lake

Abandoned house close to the Colorado border

We're here!! (That's not us.)

Allow me to introduce the Colorado Crew!


El, back there reading

Mainiac, living up to her name. ;)
I think we were singing along to Fiddler on the Roof...

There's me, Kiwi!

KT finally fell asleep. (she doesn't sleep well in cars.)

 

First glimpse of mountains! Taken a little ways east of Calhan, Colorado.
You really have to squint to see it, but there's a mountain there!

Next post: Paint Mines Interpretive Park!