Sunday, June 9, 2013

The Westward Drive

It really is amazing how much can change over the course of a couple days of driving.  Over about 28 hours of driving we saw the low, rolling hills and vineyards of southwest Michigan, the sprawling, suburban jungle of metro-Chicago, the endless fields of Iowa corn, the even-more-endless fields of hay and cattle of Nebraska and Eastern Colorado, the towering, snow-capped Rockies of central Colorado, the red-rocks and canyons of Western Colorado and the arid scrublands of Utah.  

We hurried home from the last day of school on  Friday, ran a few last-minute errands and crammed some last minute additions into the Jeep before hitting the road.  It was 4 PM by the time we were driving.  It felt like we had been working on getting ready for this trip forever.  I couldn't believe it was finally happening!  

Before leaving, I had researched some possible places to stop for meals along the way in order to avoid the dreaded fast food establishments that are so common along the highway.  The first of these was a Giordano's in Joliet, Il, for Chicago style pizza.  The route off of the toll road took us about 15 miles north.  This seemed like a reasonable detour for great pizza.  Sadly, the Google Maps app lead us to an abandoned store front.  It would seem the pizza place in question had closed after the Yelp review I used was written.    A quick iphone search found us a Lou Mahgnati's Pizza nearby.  We plugged the address into our Google Maps app and headed off.  Soon, my phone was leading us through a subdivison.  There were a number of quips about Google playing a joke on us, and also about the possibility of just knocking on someone's door and asking to join them for dinner.  To Google's credit, the neighborhood street eventually emptied into the back parking lot of a strip mall.  Success!  We headed inside, relieved to be done wasting time driving around suburbia and hungry, only to discover the inside was entirely devoid of tables.  This was a "to-go-only" pizza place.  We asked the very nice young lady behind the counter if there was a sit-down pizza joint nearby.  She replied "I'm not supposed to tell people this, because they're our competitor, but there is Giordano's right down the street."  We both cracked up.  In about five minutes we sat down for deep dish pizza and greek salad, with the Pens Bruins game on a nearby TV.  It was worth the wait!   
                   

After finishing our pizza we hopped back on the highway and settled in for a long night of driving.  The plan was to drive through the night to Denver before crashing.  The daylight faded as we entered the corn fields of Iowa.  Around mid-night I took over driving and Mary tried to get some sleep.  I soon had the roads mostly to myself as the mileage clicked west.  I found myself fighting to keep my eyes open with the hum of the highway threatening to lull me to sleep. By the time we reached Des Moines I decided we should grab a cheap hotel and get some sleep.  It wasn't worth saving a few hours and a few bucks in exchange for being miserable for hours.  

I failed to appreciate how late it was and how hard it would be to find a room.  We spent close to an hour driving around Des Moines looking for a room.  Most were booked, a few didn't have anyone working in the office so late and one had a woman sleeping on a couch in a locked office that wouldn't wake up to wait on us.  I was ready to give up, so I returned to the highway and resumed driving west.  Mary played the role of hero, calling around until she found a Super 8 with a room in Stuart, Iowa.  It wasn't much of a town, and the room was too expensive, but we were overjoyed to get off the road at this point.  We crashed into bed and were asleep in seconds.

We got six solid hours of sleep, hit the continental breakfast and were back on the road quickly. 

Our drive across the plains was spent dodging thunderstorms.  We lucked out, as the impressive lines of storms missed us both to the north and the south.  Considering that we never had to deal with the storms head-on, it was kind of neat to watch them roll by.  Huge, anvil shaped clouds pulsed with lightning while tendrils of rain draped delicately towards the fields on the edges of the storm.  Watching the storms roll across the endless, flat terrain, it was easy to realize how tough life on the plains could be.  

We stopped off in Kearny, Nebraska for lunch at a western franchise, The Egg and I.  I opted for a second breakfast for lunch, and the Huevos Rancheros were terrific.  

As we drove into Colorado the fields of hay stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction.  A traffic sign warned of high winds, and cattle ranches dotted the bleak landscape.  Gusts of wind shook the Jeep and threatened to push us into Semis.  Just as we reached the point where we didn't think we could take another minute of rolling hills of hay we saw them:  pale white ghosts slowly rising on the horizon.  We had driven to Glacier National Park a few years ago, but nothing prepared us for the Colorado Rockies.  

By the time we reached Denver, the mountains towered in front of us.  I could see fields of snow on some of the higher ones.  We decided to push on a bit further before getting a room for the night.  As we drove west of Denver the highway climbed high towards a distant mountain pass.  The Rockies towered over us in every direction.  Eventually we crossed the continental divide.  It was pretty cool to think that if I spilled some water it would now flow to the Pacific Ocean.  
Based on the advice of a friend, we had decided to look for a room in Frisco, Colorado.  We would not regret it.  Frisco, it turns out, is a really cool mountain town.  Its streets are lined with bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, gear stores and inns, and the Rocky Mountains surround the town in every direction.  We found a room at the Frisco Inn, a bed and breakfast right on Main Street.  


 The Inn had an outdoor hot tub with views of the Rocky Mountains.  We grabbed a couple of cold beers out of the cooler and headed for the hot tub.  Soaking in the hot water with the cool evening, mountain air was the perfect end to a long couple of days of driving.  

We headed across the street to Vinny's for dinner.  The inn-keeper had given us a coupon out of the local newspaper good for 2 for one entrees.  We both ordered the vegetarian dish with grilled portabellas, sweet potato, roasted peppers, broccoli and tofu.  It was obviously prepared by someone who knew what he or she was doing in the kitchen.  We enjoyed our dinners with a couple of local brews while watching the Hawks win in overtime.  It was the perfect end to a long day.  

Our room at the inn was very comfortable, and with a couple of windows open letting in the cold nighttime mountain air we slept like never before.  


After an awesome, and much needed nine hours of sleep we headed downstair for breakfast.  The inn had an impressive spread of fruit, yogurt, pecan rolls, orange juice and coffee laid out in an old-fashioned room.  They prepared eggs benedict (but with avocado instead of meat)  to order for us, with hasbrowns.  It was an amazing meal.  One of the best parts of staying in a bed and breakfast is getting to meet and talk to fellow travelers.  Breakfast was served at a large table in the front room.  We met a couple from Gross Point, Michigan and another man driving his motorcycle out west who provided us with some tips for Zion National Park.  Everyone was very impressed with the length of our planned trip, and perhaps a bit jealous.  Our plans re-affirmed, we were ready to hit the road again.