Last Night :(

I can't believe it but our trip is almost over. Dad will be dropping me off in Charlotte, NC tomorrow morning, where Mike (who is staying with a couple of high school friends) will be responsible for getting me back to Charleston. He and his two friends are going to a concert tonight where they will no doubt consume large amounts of alcohol while reminiscing the glory days at Norwich High School - I'm actually a little nervous as to what shape I will find them in tomorrow! Only having to take me to Charlotte will save Dad quite a bit of travel time so it's good things have worked out this way. We left Columbia, MO this morning around 8:30am and have on the road since. We just crossed the boarder into NC. The drive today has been fairly uneventful. We did drive through St. Louis, MO and see the famous Gateway Arch. I drove for a few hours- through Nashville! There was traffic! I think Dad was getting nervous but he managed to keep quiet and we made it out unscathed (some punk in a Lexus did almost hit us when changing lanes - he got a long, angry honk thank you very much). We are going to stop for the night in Asheville, NC and I plan on getting a nice, end-of-trip dinner...no gas station sandwich like we had last night! :)

And you think driving across Pennsylvania is bad...

Well Dad and I have started the long trip back to the east coast. We left Denver around 8:30 this morning and have been in Kansas most of the day. It is so flat and covered with fields that it almost feels like you're running in place. Now I know why Monica was so upset when Chandler got transferred to Kansas! However, we have finally found a spot in the country that the senior citizen tour buses don't go! Guess they aren't interested in the Oz Museum. Kansas is the only state we have come across that charges tolls (must be they've been chatting with NY) and we are currently in traffic backed up 2 miles from the toll booth. I see a bit of jaw clenching from Dad (for those of you who are, um, lucky enough to know what that means!) :) I still like it though because it adds to the places we've been/seen and is yet another indicator on how much this country varies in terrain. I drove for about 3 1/2 hours earlier and Dad actually dozed off! I guess that goes to say deep down he doesn't REALLY think I went to the Linda Bartle School of Driving!

Boulder, CO

Dad and I are in Boulder, CO where we just finished a fantastic mountain biking trail, beginning at the Dowdy Draw trail head and connecting to the Spring Brook loop, just on the outskirts of Boulder. It is about 50 degrees here today and quite windy making it feel like 40, so Dad and I took our time getting going this morning to let things warm up. Good thing they didn't warm up too much because he and I were working up quite the sweat biking up the mountain! It was a great ride (and I managed not to dump my bike - success!) and the view at the top was worth the hard work. Of course what goes up must come down so we had a great time on the downhill :) Now I am going to talk Dad into going into downtown Boulder for some lunch - and I'm talking real food not a powerbar or some pretzels and sunflower seeds. David and Mary El Emerson (my dad's business partner and close family friends) are actually on their own cross-country trip (on their motorcycle!) and are in Denver right now staying with Mary El's daughter, Janelle. We have been in touch with them throughout our trip to see if we are ever in the same area and we finally have crossed paths. We are all going to head out to dinner tonight so we are looking forward to that. Big surprise - I'm already thinking about dinner and I haven't even had lunch! :)