Tim's Travel Blog: Part 1

July 05, 2012

"If you got the money, honey, I got the time." My mother is fond of this saying. I heard her repeat it often when talk of vacations came up or even brief weekend trips. The saying might be a song lyric. I don't know. It doesn't matter; it's a favorite of mine. I do love travel, and in the interest of satisfying the library blogging requests, here we go with another travel blog. ("Oh great. Another travel blog.") Well, take it or leave it, here it is. Let me start by saying that I took a 9 day trip by myself. My wife was not able to go, and may I say, all the stories I've heard about the benefits of taking separate vacations are true! Of course, there are downsides as well, but I won't go into those here.
 
I left Kansas City on a beautiful May Friday morning with a tank full of gas, a cooler full of bottled water, Cokes, and plenty of Boulevard's finest brews. Another cooler was kept dry and filled with Cheez-Its, Hostess mini chocolate donuts, mixed nuts, Trail mix, and fresh fruit (gotta get a few vitamins somewhere). My SUV was also packed with a small, one-man tent, an air mattress, blankets, pillows, a travel grill, and two small suitcases full of clothes to accommodate all kinds of weather and social occasions. About ten minutes onto I-70 west...feeling good and seeing the open road ahead of me...I glanced at the ring finger on my left hand and realized I'd forgotten to put my wedding band on after cleaning it and my other rings that morning. "Oh well, I will survive without it. My wife will see it and laugh." But then logic entered my mind. Me. Alone in Vegas for a few days with no wedding band. Yep, better turn the car around.

After that delay, I was back on the open road, driving across the waving wheat fields of Kansas and into Colorado. I got to Denver right around rush hour in the rain. Yeehaw. Then, as I entered the Rockies, I hit some snow. Not just some snow covered ground, not just a dusting of flurries, but a hard driving blizzard! I spent this whole past winter without any rough weather as most of us in Kansas City did, and I have to wait until mid-May to see snow! And, things started to get dangerous. The roads got slicker, and visibility became very limited. Then, traffic came to a complete stop. I waited for an hour and a half on the interstate in traffic that was at a standstill. Turns out, about a quarter mile ahead, there had been some kind of wreck. I decided to pass the time by engaging in a snowball fight with the kids in the car in front of me who had been sticking out their tongues at me. Their parents weren't thrilled with this Missourian pelting their children with snowballs...it wasn't so much the snowballs as the wet clothes that resulted and, perhaps, stained the upholstery of their Lexus. Finally, the traffic cleared and I was on my way, arriving in Grand Junction Colorado late that night. What a day. I got a few hours' sleep at a motel, then took what I knew would be my final shower of the next few days, as I was heading into the desert of Utah for a couple of nights of camping and sightseeing. 

Stay tuned for more exciting installments of Tim's Travel Blog. If you are inspired to jump in the car and take a road trip, check out our great online Travel resources for some help with the planning.

Tim P.
Smithville Branch