2020 Adventure Day 1

By Jacob

We left our home in Kansas City at around 5:00 a.m eastern time to start our long journey. We had a lot of driving ahead of us. We had 12 hrs and 25 min of driving time over 858 miles to the town of Grand Junction, Colorado. We had to cross the entire length of the state of Kansas as well as 99% of the way through Colorado. It was a cloudy morning, we were trying to look for the comet that would be close enough to earth to be visible.

Shortly, we crossed the Missouri River and entered the state of Kansas. This would be the borning initial stretch of our trip. If you have ever driven through the state of Kansas on Interstate-70 you know that is not the most exciting of roads. We crossed over the Kansas River and passed Lawrence, the home of the University of Kansas. Then, in the state capital of Topeka, the capitol building is visible from the road. We were now on the first interstate to open in the United States. We passed by Abilene, Kansas, the home of the creator of the interstate system, President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. From there you leave the better part of Kansas and enter the flat prairie of farms and windmills on either side of the interstate. Some hours later a sign on the road reads “Welcome to Colorful Colorado”. Of course, eastern Colorado is just as boring as western Kansas.

Many more miles later, we can see mountains in the distance as we make our way northwest towards Denver. Pikes Peak becomes visible even from 50+ miles away. As we get closer more mountains begin to appear. The mountains of the front range are massive and beautiful to see. To the north the mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park become visible. At the base of the mountains, the skyscrapers of Denver become visible. By this point, we are starting to get hungry. We decided that we would eat at Beau Jo’s Pizza. My family lived in Denver for four years, which is where I was born. We used to eat at Beau Jo’s quite a bit, although I do not remember.

We were going to try to make it to Idaho Springs but it was closed for covid. We decided that we would eat at the location in Evergreen, a town in the foothills of the Rockies. As we make our way through the Denver traffic the road starts going up and into the mountains. We get to Evergreen and order our food. After some time a thick pepperoni pizza came out. We sat by this small mountain creek and ate some really good food. It was the first time we had been in the mountains since our trip to Yellowstone last year so it felt really good to be back.

After sitting for a few minutes and relaxing we got back into the car and headed back to I-70. The drive was absolutely beautiful, passing through the majestic front range. We passed a sign for Rocky Mountain National Park which made us a little crazy, but we had seven national parks ahead of us so we would be okay, we had been there many times anyway. Finally, we arrive at the Eisenhower Tunnel. At nearly two miles long the tunnel takes you under the Continental Divide, the line that determines which ocean water will flow to. On the other side, the place we were originally going to stay for the night, Dillon, Colorado.

Instead, we continued on passing the ski towns of Copper Mountain and Vail. Eventually, the town of Glenwood Springs, one of our favorite towns in Colorado. Unfortunately, we did not have time to even stop. The best part of our drive was the beautiful drive through Glenwood Canyon. A beautiful place where the Colorado River flows along the highway, the same river that creates so many spectacular places including the Grand Canyon. That evening we arrived at the town of Grand Junction, Colorado. Where the Gunnison River and Colorado Rivers meet. The Gunnison River flows up from Black Canyon National Park, another national park in Colorado.

We pulled into our hotel, Home2Suites. This was our first experience with this particular Hilton brand. I have nothing but praise for this hotel, it was clean, the rooms were comfortable and the staff was extremely friendly. We dropped our stuff in our room. We were not done for the day. After being in the car for so long we wanted to go hike a little bit at the nearby Colorado National Monument.

Above the city of Grand Junction is a high plateau with spires and canyons of rock that are protected by the Colorado National Monument. For more information about this must-see place visit our Colorado National Monument page under public lands. We entered the northern entrance and took the Rim Rock Road, the road that travels along the rims of the canyons of the park. The road rises quickly up the red rock, a contrast from the lush green of the rest of Colorado. Going up higher and higher throughout the Fruita Canyon. We stop at an overlook to see what we had just driven up.