Day 5: RV Living - the Atlas is your Friend

 

My husband is the driver. I pick the mutually agreed upon CD's. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, Hank Jr., Ray Charles, Sheryl Crow, Bob Seger. Our tastes are eclectic.

I'm also the navigator. While we were preparing for the trip – we wanted an atlas. Thankfully there was one at the store. The checker said, “Wow! They have atlas's in? That shelf is usually bare.” I'm sure in today's technology laden world, no one uses atlas's much anymore. I had written the mapquest directions down in a notebook and the atlas was just a back up. Ha ha ha. That atlas cost $13. It is priceless.

So we are in Wyoming and the original plan was to take I-25 right before Cheyenne until Denver when we would catch I-70. I'm looking at the state of Colorado on the atlas along I-25. There are big letter towns all the way from Fort Collins to Denver and all I could see in my mind was four lanes of semi's and Prius' and horrible lane changes with exits all over the place. I saw an alternate route that would take us on the outside of Denver but we would have to drive on a toll road with at least 3 toll stops. Then I saw another route.

“If we stay on I-80 until Nebraska we can catch 385 South. We can avoid all the traffic in the Denver area and catch I-70 from there. The atlas says 385 is a primary highway. I'm sure they must maintain it – its not like it is a secondary highway.” I said to my husband. I was a little worried about changing the plans at the last minute. We did not have any plans to go as far as Nebraska.

“You're the navigator.” my husband answered. We stayed in Cheyenne for the night and set out with the new route in the morning.

I wouldn't use the term primary highway – it's kinda misleading. “Back-road,” would be more accurate and ixnay on the aintenancemay. But it was a beautiful drive. All by ourselves on that road – no other cars. I would text my dad as we changed states. Entering Nebraska. Entering Colorado. Entering Kansas.

We passed local farmers with their million dollar tractor's prominently displayed on their well maintained front lawns. Corn fields for miles on either side. Despite the bumpiness of the road in certain spots, it was a great way to see Colorado. We passed through amazing little towns that time forgot. I really liked Holyoke. I would want to live there if we were staying in Colorado.

We eventually turned onto I-70 East and were back on track. We stop at an RV park in Kansas. At night we draw the curtains and get ready for bed. We are already home.