Thursday evening we packed up and left at 6pm and started our epic journey to the Rocky Mountains, starting off with some tunes and the stretch of Texas roads.
We traveled through Wichita and Amarillo, through New Mexico, then on to Lafayette CO. Along the way we passed a church called Cowboy Church of Denton. Ranch style and everything! Only in Texas, right? ;) For dinner we stopped at a Sonic at 8:30pm out in the boondocks and checked on our friend, now infamously known as The Sandbox, to see if he was still tied down. We heard the ropes rattling too much while we drove. The farther north we got, the cooler it got as well. We were all bundled in sweaters and had the heater on a bit. At O'dark 30 in New Mexico we stopped for gas and piled out of the warm car in a Native American village, when lo and behold! there was actually snow on the ground! The wind was blowing really cold too, and we all felt bad for those of us who were not acclimated to such weather. A few snowballs were tossed as well, hehe. So snow discovered, frostbite setting in, we got back into the car, thawed out and continued on into Colorado until 4 am in the morning. Why only til 4? The Sandbox. It was contentedly rattling on top of the car at 80mph and all of a sudden we heard a disquieting "thunk!!" and we were sure it was gone. We pulled the car over and sure enough it'd fled the scene. Patrick and Alley decided to go look for it back down the interstate since The Sandbox was to be a birthday present, plus we had actually got it this far on our trip without losing it. Every now and then I could see the flicker of the flashlight and it wasn't growing any closer. Then I couldn't see it. Finally after approximately 25 minutes they made it back, The Sandbox in tow. While the rest of us had been waiting, we were sure it was doomed to be lost on the interstate forever. I was also praying for them to not be killed on the road, what with Big Rigs howling beside us, and the possibility The Sandbox was in the middle of the road. Sure enough, they did find that thing in the middle of the road so my prayers were justified ;) Thankfully it was pretty much without scratch or dent. 20 more minutes of tying it down and we were on our way again. As the sun peered over what we could now tell were the Rocky Mountains, we entered into the city of Denver! The GPS was concerned that we'd not listen and "Stay Left", while we drove the freeway in Denver. It didn't want us exiting at the wrong point. But we made it to the proper exit, stopped at Starbucks, and by 7:30 am we were finally at the Hewitts! Patrick promptly crashed on the couch, Katie and Alley rested in the basement, and Christy made breakfast for the rest of us. (With a stout Cup 'o Joe so we could survive the rest of the day). I wish I had pictures of these momentous occasions, but I don't. Anyways, that was our journey up to Colorado!
Now for our time up there...