Day 4 - Colorado and Wyoming

Waking up in the swank and classy Super 8 Motel in Sterling, Colorado we departed and headed for Denver!! For those of you that don't know, this was a major stop made by Kerouac and the rest of the beats during their travels across the country in the 1940s and 50s. Towards the beginning of our day, Colorado proved to be mostly...flat! Trekking across the state we began to notice some strange formations on the horizon. Feeling like Obi-Wan in Star Wars saying, "That's no moon, it's a space station" we soon realized that those were not clouds on the horizon but the Rocky Mountains.

As Denver also slowly began to appear on the horizon we gassed up and headed for downtown. The first thing we noticed was how fresh and clean the city seemed to appear. Not only that, but it was also very large, open, and airy. Denver was definitely a change for the two of us who are familiar with the cramped cities of the east coast. Walking around the city, we enjoyed a splendid park in the middle of the mountainous metropolis and continued on towards the Denver Courthouse. There wasn't much to do, so we figured we'd find some trouble in there. We didn't, but, it was a beautiful building and gave us a good feeling of what they city was like.

As we began to depart from the city, we noticed a strange sent in the air. Yes, the cold fresh scent of the Rocky Mountains, but ALSO the scent of a certain hops-based concoction known to the rest of the world as beer. Yes, it was the Coors factory and though it was not on our itinerary, one of us...whose name rhymes with Derick...is quite fond of their beverages. So, we took a little detour and found out how beer, more specifically Blue Moon (Eric's favorite), is made. To answer what is on everybody's mind, yes, he did sample and no he did not drive afterwards. That task was left too our trip's resident non-beer-fan.

Once again, on a day devoted to deviating from the schedule, we heading south after already heading north. We visited a favorite site of many of our favorite bands, which is known as Red Rocks Amphitheater. For those of you that don't know, Red Rocks is a park known for it's deep red colored rock formations, dinosaur remains, and concerts located in an amphitheater that is carved out of the the cliff side. What we didn't know at the time was the there was a high school graduation happening in the theater. No matter-we simply hiked around the area and paused briefly to hear the commencement speech. Anyone who finds themselves in this area absolutely MUST visit Red Rocks!!!

Heading back to the car and we set our course, for the first time during the trip, northwest to the great and vast state of Wyoming. Not to knock a beautiful and majestic state but wow...talk about the middle of nowhere. Heading into the wilderness we quickly found ourselves alone with our car, the road, and the Rocky Mountains staring us down from above. Certainly a gorgeous place to be, but a very lonely place to live.

Quickly moving towards our final destination of Rawlins, Wyoming. We stopped in a town that we knew very well but never visited called Laramie. For those that don't know, this was the where Matthews Sheppard had gone to college. Matthew Shepard was a gay student and a victim of a brutal hate crime in 1998. His death caught national attention and his story has been told in the Moise Kauffman play, The Laramie Project (which we participated in at LVC). The town doesn't appear to have changed much in appearance since that time. We left with on a somber and reverent note.

Moving on through more nothingness, we finally arrived at RV World Campground in Rawlins, WY around 9:30pm (Mountain time of course). We pitched our tent and hit the sack hard and fast. However, we did have to wake up in the middle of the night to strategically place the car in front of the tent so that the 40mph winds would not blow it over.

Overall...a very tiring but full day. We look forward to what Utah and Nevada will bring us tomorrow!!

- Eric and Katy


P.S. Pictures were added to our previous posts. Look for them and for an update on our adventures in Utah and Nevada this Sunday.