Maria's Road Trip to the Rockies, Part 1: Kansas City to Limon, Colorado

I wrote about how much I adore summer vacations in my article, "What Summer Means to an Irritable Mother." I wasn't kidding about taking a vacation without my kids this summer. My husband and I just got back from Colorado two days ago, and I'm eager to share my memories while they're still fresh. Let's pretend there's room in the backseat of our Honda Civic for all of you to come along! (You're not allowed to criticize Dan's driving.)

In this article, I recount the first day of our road trip along I-70, from Kansas City to Limon, Colorado. Our final destination is Estes Park, Colorado.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

We drop the kids off at Nana and Papa's house at 9 A.M. No tears are shed; the kids are happy to get away from us for a whole week, too, it seems.

We go back home to finish our packing. We forget a few things, naturally, but that's part of the fun of traveling, isn't it? What will we forget this time? Ah, the suspense!

We're cruising west on I-70 by 11 A.M. Our favorite Kansas City radio station (96.5 FM, "The Buzz") starts crapping out somewhere between Lawrence and Topeka. We love, LOVE Lawrence-Dan and I are proud KU graduates-but we can't stand Topeka. "Topeka looks like it's dying," Dan remarks, and I respond, "Did it ever look alive to begin with?" We're snobby jerks sometimes.

I really want to chew some gum, so we break open the watermelon Bubblicious (I don't normally buy gum because my daughter sneaks it out of my purse and devours five pieces at once). We pay our toll, and we plug in Dan's iPod. Here's a small sampling of what we listen to: Fleet Foxes, Radiohead's In Rainbows, old R.E.M. stuff, a few songs by The Raconteurs. Dan believes that every good band has a particular mental locale associated with its music. Many of Nine Inch Nails' ambient songs make Dan think of "the industrial part of a city at night, with glowing yellow street lights." Whoa. That's deep, Dan. We decide that the Fleet Foxes transport us back to 1972, before we were even born, to a clearing in a forest in the mountains, where we sit in a circle with a group of bearded men, strumming guitars and daydreaming about peace and rain and log cabins. Pretty cool.

We zoom through the Flint Hills, which really are quite scenic. Lots of cows and grass and cloudy sky and...hills. I can't convince Dan to stop at the Custer House and U.S. Cavalry Museum in Fort Riley, Kansas. Bummer.

Though he's lived in Kansas City all of his life, Dan has never visited Dwight D. Eisenhower's Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. What a shame! I talk him into exiting at Abilene. Did I promise him something in return? I hope not, 'cause I guarantee I didn't make good on my promise.

We stop at Abilene's Taco Tico for lunch. Dan thinks it looks scary; I think it will be "exciting" to try something new. We don't have Taco Ticos in our area. I have a bean tostada, a cheese quesadilla, some spicy tater tot things, and blue Powerade. If I'd known how huge the quesadillas were, I wouldn't have ordered the tostada. The pico de gallo and tater tot things are yummy-better than the Taco John's tater tot things. The shredded cheese on top of my tostada is really stinky, but it doesn't make me sick, so I guess it's all right.

The Eisenhower Library and Museum is easy to find. Across the street from Eisenhower's stuff is the Greyhound Hall of Fame (greyhound dogs, not Greyhound buses). I had no idea that Abilene, Kansas, was the "greyhound capital of the United States." We don't visit the Greyhound Hall of Fame, but I do know exactly where it is now, thank goodness!

We stretch our legs by strolling around the lovely library and museum grounds at the Eisenhower Center. Everything except the museum is free. We visit the chapel where Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mamie Doud Eisenhower, and their firstborn son are buried. Then we go into the library; the current exhibit focuses on Eisenhower's love of baseball. My favorite piece on display is a passionate letter from Jackie Robinson to the President, encouraging him to take a stronger stand on civil rights.

When we go back outside, I must say, the smell is terrible. Is there a meat-packing plant close by? (I've googled like crazy, trying to uncover the source of that smell in Abilene. If you know the answer, please let me know in the comments section below.)

We walk to a memorial area, then past the museum-we decide we don't want to pay to go in. I've been inside the museum before, but all I remember is a glass case filled with "I Like Ike" buttons. We end our visit by touring Eisenhower's birth home, a modest white farmhouse. The tour guide is very friendly and knowledgeable. Did you know Ike hated taking piano lessons as a boy? I didn't.

Then we stop in at the visitor's center to use the restrooms. Man, that Taco Tico moves fast, let me tell ya! We fill up our gas tank, clean all the dead bugs off the windshield, and hop back onto I-70. Dan is glad we stopped in Abilene; he enjoyed visiting the Eisenhower chapel, library, and birth home as much as I did-I'm such a positive influence on him!

We pass Salina and start seeing wind turbines all over the place, just north of I-70. Those wind turbines weren't there the last time I crossed Kansas, three years ago. I'm very curious to find out how much electricity is being generated by these turbines in the middle of Kansas. The turbines are enormous, white, and streamlined, like futuristic alien creations, and I find it disturbing that I can't hear the blades turning. But maybe they are making some sort of cool, whooshing noise-we're listening to Radiohead in the car, and I don't roll down my window to try to hear the turbines. (I found this article, if you're interested in learning more about the "Largest Wind Farm in Kansas.")

Dan and I trade snide remarks as we're assaulted, at least once every ten miles, with "See the world's largest prairie dog!" signs. "Live 5-legged calf! Pet the baby rattlesnakes! Cuddly foxes! Ride the rabid elephants! Taunt the crippled mountain lion!" (I made some of that up...but the "live 5-legged calf" is real, I'm afraid.) Dan has never forgotten the time his family stopped to see "the world's largest prairie dog" and the collection of freak-show farm animals in Oakley, Kansas. Never again, he says. Fine by me. Someone needs to build a Wizard of Oz theme park out in western Kansas, eh?

Next stop: Goodland, Kansas.

We've already gained an hour by crossing into the Mountain Time Zone. We'd originally planned to stay in Goodland for the night, but when we arrive, we decide we're not ready to stop. Even though it's suppertime, none of the fast-food restaurants in town sound good. Maybe Goodland should be renamed "So-soland."

Dan realizes he forgot to pack his jacket, so we check out the Goodland Wal-Mart. The restrooms in the Goodland Wal-Mart smell all right, and the lock on my stall works, so I can't complain too much. Dan doesn't find any jackets he likes, and he jokingly encourages me to buy a black Twilight T-shirt. I graciously remind him that I'm 31, not 13. I'm so over Edward Cullen now, anyway. (Just kidding, Edward!)

We leave Goodland in the dust, and soon cross into Colorful Colorado, where the speed limit on I-70 jumps to 75 miles per hour. Sweet! Dan adjusts his cruise control, raising it from 77 to 82 miles per hour. There's not much to see in eastern Colorado, so the faster we can get through it, the better.

We decide to crash in Limon, Colorado, at Tyme Square Inn & Suites. The lady at the front desk gives us the corporate room rate, even though we're not on a business trip, which is nice of her. There's a computer in the lobby and an indoor pool and Jacuzzi. Too bad the Jacuzzi's broken.

We eat supper at Denny's, right next door, and get a discount since we're staying in the TS Inn & Suites. I order a cheese-and-veggie omelet with shredded hash browns (and some wheat toast, which I don't eat). Very tasty. Our young waiter has a small guitar tattoo on his forearm. I wonder if he'll spend the rest of his life in Limon, Colorado. I doubt it.

Our hotel room is clean and comfortable. Dan's a little upset that he can't plug his iPod into the TV in our room-because the TV is locked down and disabled in many ways, not because Dan is an idiot (Dan wanted me to tell you that). Oh well. We take turns checking our email in the lobby (we didn't bring a laptop along) and picking out brochures for attractions in Denver and the surrounding area. It's obscenely quiet in our room.

Getting ready for bed, I discover that I've forgotten to pack my vitamins and dental floss. Phooey. I hope I don't catch swine flu in the middle of the night. Without my multivitamin and extra vitamin-C defense, I'm feeling paranoid and vulnerable. I wonder how pure the air in the hotel is.

I don't miss my kids at all...not yet, anyway. But, my goodness, it sure is quiet.

Click here to read Part 2 of Maria's Road Trip to the Rockies.

Sources:
http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
Personal experience
The brilliant mind of Daniel J. Roth