After finishing up last minute tasks like cleaning up, final trip to the bank, the PD, and a stop for last minute hug from Kris, back home to play Jenga loading up the cars. Couldn't have fit everything in without Nick. $28.00 in gas to start off.
Headed towards Denver with the Camry and Shelby in a caravan @ 10:30 a.m.
Trip was uneventful in the Camry with the cats except Peaches crate got off kilter making her annoyed. Met up with super nice transport driver who appears to be Russian and left car in his care with plan to take delivery on the 5th.
Headed East from Denver on I-70 into dark clouds with all quiet in the beck seat. We had some big rain storms near Deer Trail where Peaches was not a big fan but Monkey just slept through it. He passed through lineman about 12:25 and the drive to continue to be smooth.
The first indication that the drive is getting to Don is when for the first time he threatened to take my phone away if I didn't put it down. LOL. The drive continued through lots and lots of wind turbine farms as far as the eye could see. All I could see what's a bunch of wind energy making alternative sources but in reality don't work when it's severe winter, have a huge carbon footprint when the blades have to be disposed, and in my opinion are a blight on the landscape no, but other than that they're great. Haha.
Things got a little more interesting around the time we hit Burlington at about 1:20. Made me laugh when Don started striking poses while singing along to Prince's song When Doves Cry.
Things got a little more interesting around the time we hit Burlington at about 1:20. Made me laugh when Don started striking poses while singing along to Prince's song When Doves Cry.
We hit the Kansas border at 1:35 and Colby Kansas at 2:15. As I suspected more wind turbines and it's still Kansas. I find that most of Kansas looks just like the drive on I-76 through Roggen. We loved seeing the signs here that said "NO NFL" and several Trump signs. Of course more wind turbines yay oh, I think this is going to become a theme.
We had our first construction zone of the trip just outside Colyer Kansas and changed time zones to Central Standard Time. You'll be surprised to know, more wind turbines. We made our first stop for fuel and Russell, Kansas.
At this point we were trying to decide if we wanted to continue on past Salina to Topeka or if we wanted to stop for the night. After searching for multiple hotels we booked Holiday Inn Express only to find out that they did not allow pets. After calling to cancel the reservation and tell them that we are struggling to find somewhere to stay I found out just how important it is to be a Spire Elite member of IHG. Once I name-dropped Mr. Northrup, she proceeded to explain to me that it was no problem at all that our animals would be noted in the system as service animals and we were welcome to stay there. In no alternative universe would I ever consider Peaches or Monkey service animals but whatever it takes right. The hotel was great, but this is where we first noted the change in personalities of our cats as Monkey proceeded to hide from the moment we got her into the hotel room and Peaches ran around investigating. If you know our cats that is exactly the opposite of their personality. See below picture of the "service cat", more like that serve me cat.
I went on a scavenger hunt in search of food and beverages and found the best burgers from a little dive in downtown Salina called the Cozy Inn at 108 North 7th Street. This is literally a small little brick addition to an existing hotel that has a small area where you can go inside but mostly there's just an outside walk-up window where you order. The burgers are about the size of a White Castle burger and come and a meal of 6 burgers, chips and a drink for $7.95. I had the best conversation with a gentleman who lives in the area while waiting for orders. I highly recommend the Cozy Inn burgers if you're ever driving through Salina.
