Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Chapter 5: Rocky Mountain High

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

5:30a. Overland Park, Kansas

Time for another long day of driving, so I'm up early to finish packing the van and get the family on the road by 7:00!

5:50a. Overland Park, Kansas

A gigantic and severe thunderstorm is passing overhead. Looks like we aren't leaving at 7:00.

This is not good travel weather.


9:00a. Overland Park, Kansas

And finally we are off! Colorado, here we come!

10:00. Topeka, Kansas

Everyone always talks about how driving through Kansas is boring and stultifying; miles and miles of flat farmland, with nothing to see but endless fields of corn. But the drive so far has been kind of nice! Rolling hills, nice scenery. The road even made a few sudden twists and turns as we passed through Topeka. I don't see what the big deal is.

1:00p. Somewhere in godforsaken flat-ass Kansas

I get it now.

2:00p. Colby, Kansas


We've stopped for a late lunch in a place called Colby, Kansas. My oldest son has a schoolmate named "Colby," so I made him take a picture next to the big "Colby" sign off the highway. "Send that picture to Colby," I said. "They have the same name! That's hilarious."

[Editor's note: He never sent the picture because he is a smart young man and not a doofus with Dad humor.]

4:00p. Kansas/Colorado State line

We were super excited to get to Colorado and get our first look at the Rocky Mountains. After all, the Colorado license plates have mountains on them. All of Colorado must be super mountainous!

We just passed from Kansas into Colorado and learned what eastern Colorado looks like. Hint: It looks just like Kansas. What a rip-off.

6:30p. The side of the highway, circling around Denver

Dad made some poor choices related to pit stops, so now seven Musials are standing on the side of the highway taking a leak. At least we can see the mountains now.

Some of the Musials

7:00p. Boulder, CO

We've passed through Boulder and are finally in the Rocky Mountains!

7:30p. Estes Park, CO

The van's doing great so far, but driving through the mountains is kind of challenging. I almost miss Kansas! (I don't miss Kansas.) As we came down into the resort town of Estes Park, there was a scenic overlook with picture-postcard views of the valley. My wife asked to stop and get a picture, but I wasn't going to jam on the brakes of the giant van while perched on a mountainside. We'll come back later and get a picture. [Editor's note: we never come back.]

9:00p. Rocky Mountain National Park

WE DID IT! We crossed Kansas, circled Denver, climbed our first Rocky Mountain, navigated the narrow streets of Estes Park, and made it to our campsite in the Moraine Campground of Rocky Mountain National Park.

As we entered the campground, a park ranger checked us in, gave us some basic info about the campsite, and also gave us a very stern 10-minute lecture about Bear Safety. Apparently bears are a big problem in the Rockies and we need to do everything we can to avoid attracting them.

But anyway, we made it to our campsites. We have one about 30 yards uphill from the road and a second one another 20 yards further up the hill. We lugged our tents and cots and sleeping bags up the hill and got everything set up in relatively short order. Our food is stashed in a "Bear Box" next to one of our campsites (the topmost one, of course).

We haven't explored anything yet, but my goodness, the Rockies are beautiful. So glad we are here.

No one is urinating in this picture


10:00p. Estes Park

We're too exhausted to cook anything, so we've driven down to Estes Park for dinner. We are at McDonalds, eating the traditional Musial Family First Night of Camping Meal: one million McNuggets.

Today's stats
  • States visited: Kansas; Colorado
  • Miles traveled (today): 675.8
  • Miles traveled (total): 1631.8
  • Travel time: 13 hours