Day 4: Kansas City, MO to Denver, CO
-Cutest Starbucks, in the Plaza, where we had breakfast and pinned Washington DC on their wall map
-Who knew Kansas had a turnpike? I think they are trying to be big timers like us in the East.
-First stop: Topeka to check out Truckhenge. What is Truckhenge, you ask? An excellent question, since I asked it for you. It is NOT like Stonehenge… But we were too nervous to actually I pass the barbed wire twisted around the Christmas lights and actually explore. Also, the entrance was surrounded with statues of tiny people… Former tourists who never escaped? You be the judge.
-Next stop: The Giant Wren that resided in downtown Topeka…well we never found this said wren…another tourist trap maybe? Then #giantwren popped up on Instagram and we realized it was real.
-Next stop: Manhattan the Little Apple of Kansas. On our way to the Little Apple we passed what we did believe to be real life cowboys! They were hatless so that was a little bit of a let down.
-Back to Manhattan, home of Kansas State University, Johnny Kaw, and citizens who encourage you to get tattoos “You’re on target ladies-if there’s a memory you want to preserve, do it with a tattoo!”
-Noon was fast approaching, we were getting hungry, and we were getting close to Wilson, Kansas’s very own Czechoslovakian Egg! I wanted to eat in Wilson thinking there had to be something there! Natalie was really skeptical thinking there would be no food for us in Wilson, but I was driving so onto Wilson we went! Wilson ended up being so cool! After fighting the wind to see the giant egg, which was all white, we expected some sort of decorations on it; we went to this cute little soda shop for lunch. They had an actual working soda fountain and while talking to one of the ladies that worked there we learned all about the reason for the egg. Wilson is the Czech Capital of Kansas so they wanted something for their town that was special to Czechoslovakia. Well apparently in Czechoslovakia they decorate duck eggs with wax and paint (very pretty, I got one for my mom) but the town hasn’t been able to decide on a design for the egg…so it is still blank. Well we grabbed ice cream sodas from the real soda fountain and headed out!
-After lunch we prayed our way across Kansas, it was awesome to see God’s beautiful scenery passing us by and praying for all of those people we love so dearly!
-Prairie Dog Town…yet another attraction we never found. However we did find Buffalo Bill killing a buffalo! #IKissedABuffaloAndILikedIt
-Drove through another huge thunderstorm, this one included hail and crazy giant lightning!
-COLORADO!!! Man Kansas is a huge state! Home of where the Transcontinental Railroad met.
-We made it to Denver and headed straight to urgent care because Natalie was still dying from her prison cold…and that’s all it was a really bad cold.
-Whole Foods for dinner and onto Ashley and Royce’s for the evening.
Day 5: Denver, CO to Farmington, UT
-Royce made us French toast for breakfast, Natalie sucked down some orange juice hoping to kick that darn prison cold!
-We left and immediately went to Walgreens to stock up on drugs for the rest of our journey. We watched the clock and both, yes both I had succumbed to the prison cold, popped pills as often as the box allowed.
-Buford, WY! Population 1. Home of Jason, not Buford as I mistakenly asked.
-Tree in a rock…exactly how it sounds.
-Ames Brother’s Pyramid, with Lincoln’s head on it…I’m telling you America LOVES Lincoln.
-Laramie for lunch, Natalie and I sat in silence like an awkward first date because we were so tired. We were too tired to get ice cream, that’s when you know it is bad.
-Natalie continued to be cadaver like in the front seat, I eventually stopped and got her a ginger ale which Nat claims has magical healing properties!
-Utah was a lot of silence, beautiful mountains, and 82mph as to get us to Farmington as fast as possible.
-Natalie’s dad got us a hotel for the night which ended up being a total God send as we were completely incapable of normal conversation.
-With slightly hungry bellies we found another grocery store, we wandered around not knowing what we wanted and ended up walking out with chips and salsa, and salami and cheese. We might have been trying to kill ourselves!
-We decided to go to Temple Square, as we drove down I-15 I spotted an In-N-Out and almost had a heart attack I was so excited!
-Temple Square: Natalie said it reminded her of the temples in Thailand and Nepal, we prayed as we walked through, it was so weird to wander through the grounds. Everything was slightly haunting and felt so oppressive. The greater Salt Lake area is one of the least Christian areas in the whole United States.
-Utah state capital building looks exactly like the United States Capitol building.
-Ahhhh the heaven that is In-N-Out! One burger and shake later and I was a super happy, albeit tired camper. #YUM
Day 6: Farmington, UT to BOISE, IDAHO!!!!
-We woke up in beautiful, clean, white beds…completely dead! How can I say? Exhaustion. Emotionally and physically. Dead, dead, dead.
-We dragged our potato sack bodies out of bed and stumbled down to the continental breakfast…where we again just stared at each other and forced ourselves to eat.
-Back upstairs we prepared to leave with the same level of enthusiasm: aka NONE
-As we packed up the car to leave there was a lady in the parking lot and she asked me “Are you from Idaho?”, I answered and somehow in conversation it came out that they were a missionary family! They had just driven from DC as well, they use to own a coffee shop in Williamburg and just so happen to employ one of Natalie’s teammates from the race!!! We ended up praying with them and came away refreshed and ready for the last part of our drive!
-IDAHO STATE SIGN!!! The last frontier!!! Almost home!
-We stopped at Shoshone Falls, Niagara Falls of the west, which were so beautiful!
-BOISE BOISE BOISE!!!!
Day 7-12: Boise, ID
The next few days were spent at an outdoor summer concert, exploring downtown Boise, finding yet another tribute to Lincoln, showing Natalie where I grew up and my high school, having breakfast with multiple different friends, watching soccer at the Irish bar, eating lots of food and ice cream, introducing Natalie to all my friends from home, went up to Bogus Basin so show Natalie real stars and nighttime sky, and spent time with my family!
And there you have if folks! Our epic roadtrip across the good ole US of A! Next year #RoadTripTripOnTheRoad2, this time with Shannon and Kirsten hopefully, and taking the northern route!
