You would think by this point in the trip that my geography skills would be pretty keen. That would be a false assumption and I continue to prove that to myself and those paying attention to my travels.
Mike was flying out of Denver and Dad knew we were headed to Denver today. When we arrived, Dad said, “You went to the West Denver KOA.” My response was, “Was I supposed to go somewhere else?” He then pointed out that the East Denver KOA was a lot closer to the airport. Woops! Suppose I should have looked at that. On top of that, the West Denver KOA was in the mountains. Seriously in the Mountains, with miles of switch backs and 8% grades. Wonderful! In my defense, I had booked the campsite reservations about three weeks prior to us actually staying there amongst the prior three weeks of reservations and had made a point to say that we should revisit the reservations when Mike got there. Neither of us remembered to do that. Mike’s flight was at 6:50 am and the airport was an hour and 15 minutes away. Eeek!!! I’m not really a morning person and haven’t set an alarm before 7am since being on this trip.
After getting the camper set up, we decided to head to Boulder. Neither of us had been and I had heard great things. So back into the car we went. We took the scenic route on the way there.
(Will upload video when the internet is better).
Last Fall, a few friends, Jordan, Liz & Mike, and I went to St. John in the Caribbean. I drove 98% of the time while we were there because I am the most familiar with the island. For anyone who has been there, you know that the roads are pretty sketchy. They wind, twist, drop off sharply on the edges, have spotty guard rails, have varying degrees of pave, and the speed limit is mostly discretionary. On top of that, you drive on the opposite side of the road and drinking and driving (actually drinking alcohol while driving) is not only legal, but pretty much encouraged. To say that I scared Jordan, Liz & Mike a few times would be an understatement. I tended to not use my brakes a lot.
All of that being said, something changed in me on this trip. If you have been following along, you know that I drive very slowly on this trip, I double brake (Jeep and trailer brakes), and I get really nervous on steep slopes, curves and any road without guardrails. This is magnified when someone else is driving. To be fair, Mike isn’t my favorite driver back in Boston either, but on this trip, I took my criticism to a new level. In my defense, in the past he has driven me down the wrong way of a 4 lane highway, run stop signs, excessively exceeded the speed limit and then excessively gone under the speed limit, straddled lanes, amongst various other traffic indiscretions. On this trip to Boulder, I am on high alert and he took the brunt of that. Sorry Mikey.
Boulder was great. Really clean, green and friendly. We ate some delicious tacos and margaritas, walked around a bit before heading back to camp to get ready for our early morning.
The next morning was brutally early, but the sunrise made it better.
Thank you for a great visit, Mikey.
I was going to meet some friends for lunch, but unfortunately their daughter wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t love the campsite in Denver and had a weird feeling there so I decided to plan my next stops with Dad’s guidance and head out. Off Luna & I go to New Mexico!!
Lesson of the Day: Double check where you are staying in relation to where you need to be. Could save you from having to wake up in the middle of the night to drive to the airport.
L&K Take America 