I know I know I know, I haven't written in about a month. Mind you it was the shortest month of the year so it almost doesn't even count as a that long. Well where to begin.
I guess we will start with Denver. I made the drive from Columbus Ohio to Denver Colorado. I intended on making it a two day trip, but because the blizzard of the century was barreling down on Ohio, I decided it was best to try and run through it, than wait and drive in the nasty aftermath. So I left on a wednesday afternoon, for a saturday interview. That night I drove until I got to effingham IL, "the crossroads of opportunity." That night was the first of many on that trip in my truck cab. Luckily for me I have an amazing -20F sleeping bag for just the occasion. And after a few hours of finding the right way to get comfy, I didn't... but I fell asleep anyway.
That next day was driving non-stop. I started the morning, in -15F degree weather.... without wind chill. With the wind it was only -25F. The worst part about it was that by the end of the night I was not even in Colorado. I was still in Kansas. Now, for those of you who have never driven through Kansas, God bless you, because it's terrible. First off, there is quite literally nothing out there. Their are three main cities, all of which are about the size of a football field, even their capital. It's so bad they put Kansas City, in Missouri. That's just mean.
There was nothing out there folks. At hours at a time I was the only person in view, and I could see far because it was flat and their was nothing out there. It actually was very sobering. I had cabin fever for a lot of that road tripping because I was the only one in the car, and to think that if something happened, their was no one to see it to help, and no one to hear me if I yelled, or had to walk. Now I had my cell phone, but it's still a scary thought. I don't know how people live out their in a house isolated from everything, and your nearest neighbor is 10 miles away. It's just so lonely. Zero community. One perk of that though is that night the sky was something I have never seen before. It was unreal, and I couldn't have thought of anything as beautiful and crazy. Just stars everywhere. not a light on the earth to hide them. Beautiful.
Anyway, I woke up determined to get out of that forsaken state (not to mention their are two radio stations that you pick up, NPR and country. I chose the former, for my own sanity. I ended up being very close to the boarder and was in Denver by 9 am that morning. Let me tell you. The greatest thing you have ever seen after about 12 hours of Kansas flatlands, is the Rocky mountains on the horizon. Like manna from the sky.
Denver was great, the interview went well (i'll just give you the spoiler now, I didn't make it with them), and I walked around the city all friday. It's a great city and has a great vibe to it. And how can you complain with the mountains as the backdrop to EVERYTHING. Sadly my camera battery didn't make it through the first car ride so my four pictures that I will show you are really bad and taken from the driver side, from the inside of the car. Luckily I was smart and drive back only took two days. thank Jesus.
This is what it looked like when i first headed out. Pretty nuts driving through that. It was a two lane road too. pretty nuts.
Yep folks. This is Kansas, in all it's glory. One the way home, I counted 20 tumbleweeds rolling across the road. That was my entertainment in Kansas.... counting tumbleweeds.
This is the one thing to see in Kansas. They have fields and fields of windmills. I suspect that they power the whole state, which can't be too terribly hard. But I must give them prop's for their green efforts. This landmark lets you know that you are actually only halfway through this state.
The sunsets are amazing when their is nothing on the horizon to block it's full glory. Crazy crazy colors. But don't be fooled. Kansas is still terrible.
Lastly it's the sunset as I drive away from Kansas, good riddance.
I'm sorry the pictures aren't wallpaper, backdrop material, if I had an SLR and some more time in Denver I would have provided.
Currently i'm looking for a job. Though I have some work to hold me over until I find a real full time job that I would like, the jobs that have come my way thus far are few and far between and have been real work to get them and are a blessing. I didn't have a job for about 2 months and blew lots of money getting out to Denver, it was very challenging to feel so useless. Nevertheless, I have one now and it keeps me busy.
I hope to be going on more trips to go climbing in Kentucky (the Red River Gorge, one of the nicest places to climb in the Eastern United States). I'll have pictures of that whenever I go and will write about how great it is to climb in the great outdoors.
Vivre dans l'amour et la paix,
drew
Il n'y a qu'un bonheur dans la vie, c'est d'aimer et d'être aimé.
