Day 32: Travel Day
Welcome
Yesterday we drove from Denver, Colorado, to Kansas City, Missouri.
The public pressure had been mounting over the last few days so on our way out of town we made a breakfast stop at Denver Biscuit Company. This was the most recommended spot from all the Denverites that had reached out to me, so we headed over to the Stanley Marketplace location of this breakfast chain restaurant, located in the city of Aurora, east of Denver, and part of the conurbation known as the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area.
With the same enthusiasm as the group of bureaucrats who coined Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area must have had, I strolled up to the counter and ordered a DBC Club, a biscuit sandwich with buttermilk fried chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, shredded iceberg, tomato, and chipotle ranch.
Driving through eastern Colorado.
The Rocky Mountains stretch through most of western Canada, down through Montana, and all the way to New Mexico in the United States southwest. Deformations in the Earth’s crust formed these mountains over 50 million years ago and over time they were eroded, carrying masses of sediment east and depositing it to form the distinctive topography of the vast physiological region known as the interior plains. The Great Plains are the part of this region located in the American Midwest and that is what we would be driving across, beginning with the anomalously elevated subregion known as the High Plains, which reaches up to 2km above sea level and gently slopes away from the Rockies.
Kaylene was behind the wheel and had us cruising along steadily on I70, enjoying huge skies and spectacular views as we passed through the arid grassland of eastern Colorado. We descended into central Kansas and the endless wheat and cornfields became our friends, the distinction between these two crops becoming heavily debated over the hours we spent in the van.
It was a windy day on the plains and as well the van getting blown around a fair bit our front passenger door developed a loud whistling noise. One of the solutions we tried was stuffing serviettes into the gap, and this turned out to be completely ineffective.
Breaking up the day were the stops at Love’s gas stations, an experience that added repetitiveness to a journey that was already very monotonous. These are all identical cookie-cutter facilities, and when you walk in the front door you know two things for certain: that the cashier will fire a loud greeting your way, and that the bathrooms won’t be disgusting, which is reason enough to give them your business.
A map of our journey.
There are plenty of things to buy at a Loves gas station, and we love to have a browse around the clothing and souvenir racks while we are trying to avoid getting back in the van. Unfortunately, I didn’t have $39.95 yesterday afternoon when I found this glass skull sword so instead I’ve nominated it for the prestigious award of the Silver Souvenir, or maybe even the Golden Gas Station Gift. Hopefully at the end of the tour I will remember to tally the votes and publish the results of these competitions.
Just before 9pm we crossed the state line into Missouri and shortly after that we rolled up to Taqueria La Nueva to enjoy a meal that we had been looking forward to for several hours. Art corner flared its head at this point, a surprise piece located in the bathroom of this Mexican restaurant depicting a copper mash tun.
