I’ve never really been entirely carefree. I’m not going to get in depth about my childhood, but I don’t know that this trip would have meant as much to me if my life had been different, and I wouldn’t change anything.
Something changed. we were driving for only 5 hours and were somewhere in Pennsylvania when I remembered how much I loved exploring while I was a kid. I would get lost around town, or in the woods near my aunt’s house in the Poconos. I remember feeling so free every time I would discover something new. In a lot of ways it was my escape from the things I probably shouldn’t have been worrying about at such a young age.
We kept driving, hours went by and Ohio seemed to last forever. We drove through the night and Missouri didn’t seem any shorter, but when we witnessed the sun rise behind us and hit Kansas city with a warm morning glow, creating a contrast with the stormy dark blue Kansas clouds behind the buildings, I was once again hit with that excited feeling of exploring something new. The first quarter of Kansas was unlike anything I’d expected… full of beautiful green rolling hills and wind farms that seemed to go on forever. When Kansas got flat and boring, (for an entire eight hours) Steve and I spent that time talking about ourselves, our marriage, and our plans for the future.
We spent the first two hours driving in Colorado making bets on whether the white outlines we saw in the distance were the Rocky Mountains, or just clouds… we were both wrong, several times, but when they finally came into view we were both in awe. The closer we got to Denver, the bigger the mountains became and the more I felt like a kid again, ready to explore. With Purple Haze playing through our rental car stereo, (Hendrix is a road trip must) We felt out 30 hour road trip was finally coming to an end, yet our trip was only just beginning.
And wow Colorado, just wow.
