Last year, around August 2017, my brother, nephew, dad, and Chris began planning a hiking trip together. Hiking is something my Dad and brother have enjoyed for years (since my brother was a young boy), and something that my brother has also shared with his now 18 year old son. Back in 2006, my dad, brother, and Chris all took a major hiking trip through Rocky Mountain National Park, so they decided it was time to do it again.
The real purpose of this trip was for them to hike Long's Peak, a "fourteener" in RMNP. Their plan was to drive out to Colorado, do a five day acclimation hike, have a rest day, then hike the mountain. However, they wanted Bren to join them for the five day acclimation hike, but we weren't comfortable with him doing the "big" hike. As a solution to this problem and as a way to make a bit of a vacation out of the whole thing, the gals planned to meet the guys in Colorado. The guys left for Colorado on Friday, July 13, and began their five day hike on Sunday, July 15. Meanwhile, the gals enjoyed a few days at home. On Wednesday, July 18th, Shawna and Kaylee drove to Missouri, picked up Mom, then drove to Oklahoma and spent the night at our house.
The next morning (Thursday, July 19th), we began our trip to Colorado to meet up with the guys. We left the house around 8:00am, and were ready to burn up some road that day!
Chelle, Kaylee, Brecklyn, Shawna, Mom, Brianna, and Brooke
The entire day was {thankfully} uneventful. We drove to Wichita, stopped for lunch, then continued on through Kansas. As we were making our way west on I-70 that afternoon, we stopped to fuel up in Hays, Kansas, and noticed we were at JT Travel Plaza. I took this photo and sent it to JT!
We arrived in Colby, Kansas around 5:30 that evening. We ate dinner at a local Asian restaurant, then settled in our hotel rooms (I had one room with my girls, and Mom, Shawna, and Kaylee had another room).
The next morning (Friday, July 20), we got up, ate a continental breakfast at the hotel, then Shawna and I loaded all our luggage into our vehicles. It was sweltering already . . . the humidly was crazy high. Shawna and I both commented to each other how grateful we are that we don't normally have to be the luggage loaders!
At around 8:00am, we headed for Colorado! It's not far from Colby to the state line, and I'm always amazed at how eastern Colorado looks exactly like western Kansas 😂.
I asked one of the ladies working in the Visitor's Center to take a photo of our group for us. I was a little puzzled when I saw that she cut off half of the word "Colorado", but at least she got all the people, right?!?
Our plan was to make it through Denver around 11:00am, and we were able to stay right on track with that. Once we got through Denver, we stopped for lunch at McDonalds on the west side of Denver. Kaylee had been riding with me while Mom was riding with Shawna, and I had been leading up until this point. After lunch, we switched things up, and Kaylee rode with her mom and they led while Mom rode with me. As we continued west on I-70 out of Denver, we hit some pretty major congestion. This part of the highway is very hilly and curvy, and we were in stop-and-go traffic. It was also close to 90 degrees this day. After about 15 minutes, I noticed the van temperature was rising. I asked Mom to call Shawna to let her know what was happening, in case we had to bail to the shoulder.
I was pretty nervous with this situation. I knew we had quite a bit more mountain driving to do before we reached the house we had rented (where the guys were) in Granby, Colorado, and if my van overheated we did not have a vehicle we could all fit in together. I also felt like we could baby it along if we could just get moving instead of sitting still in traffic!
Shawna got behind me in case I had to pull off so we wouldn't get separated, and we forged on. At one point, the van temp was well over the half-way point toward hot, but thankfully we got moving a little faster and it dropped just a bit. It was still running hot, though. We had to drive through Berthoud Pass to get to the west side of the Rockies, and the drive was just beautiful. It was a great road, so I wasn't nervous about that part at all. I was nervous about how the van was running hot, and could have enjoyed the drive a whole lot more without that concern! However, we were able to keep moving at about 40 mph, and the outside air temperature dropped significantly while driving through the pass. Both of those things helped with the van temperature situation.
We were headed toward Granby, Colorado, and each sign I saw that said ____ miles to Granby, I would tell the van, "Just give me ____ more miles!" After we made it through Berthoud Pass, we stopped for a bathroom break in a small mountain town. I was nervous to stop, but at the same time I thought it might help to let the van cool down completely. After our pit stop, we continued on toward Granby, and THANKFULLY we reached our destination at around 3:45 that afternoon!
We were all anxious and excited to see our spouses, but I was especially eager to see my son! This was the longest we had ever been separated, and this momma didn't like it!
The house we rented in Granby was very spacious and a good set-up for us all to stay together for a few days. It was in an area called Granby Ranch, and the scenery was gorgeous!!! The house had three levels. On the top level was two bedrooms and a full bathroom. Mom & Dad and Jeremy & Shawna stayed up there. On the main level was a large living room (with the biggest sectional I had ever seen!), a half bathroom, a dining area with a large table, and a nice kitchen. There was also access to the garage, a laundry room, and access to a beautiful deck on this level. In the basement was another large living area, a full bathroom, and two more bedrooms. Chris & I and all the kids stayed down there. The house served our needs well.
We all spent a lot of our time on the deck visiting, soaking up the sun, and just enjoying the scenery, sunsets, and fresh mountain air. Pictures never do things like this justice, but here is the view from the deck:
After getting settled a bit, we all loaded up and headed to Granby for dinner. We ate at a small Mexican restaurant called Azteca. Chris and I found this amusing since our very favorite local place to eat at home is called El Azteca and we're practically family there :-).
We had a long wait and the food was only okay, but we were all thankful to be reunited! That evening, we had a family devotional in the living area on the bottom level of the house before turning in for the night. The guys had been having nightly devos the whole time they had been together, so it worked out well to just continue that routine. Our nightly devos are always a very special time as a family, and something I know I cherish. I pray that my children will forever be impacted by those special times, as well.
My next post will be all about our time in Granby, so stay tuned!
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