Homeward Bound

Alas...We are headed home, but not without gratitude for the opportunity we have had to arrive in Colorado safely, witness a beautiful wedding, and reconnect with old friends.  We were up and out of our hotel at 6:45 am.  It's a good thing we are not drinkers because I'm afraid that if we were, we might still be in our hotel room on a different type of struggle bus!

This arrangement was much more
suitable for me and Tim last night!

Even though I don't drink, I must have appeared that way this morning walking out to the van.  I woke up with a case of altitude sickness that left me with vertigo like symptoms so I couldn't walk a straight line.  It wasn't too bad, thank goodness, but it was bad enough to earn me a day off of driving.  (Oh, darn!)  

When we arrived in Boulder to meet up with William and collect the bus, Carol and Brad had another wonderful meal put out for us.  Brad is a chef and they have their own restaurant in Boulder.  Needless to say, the meal was great but the company was even better.  While we were at the wedding, William toured Boulder's farmers market and took a 5 hour bicycle ride up to Green Mountain and back.  He also met up with an old friend who came up from Denver to visit since he was so close. It came as no surprise that he enjoyed having the bus to himself so much that he decided that tonight the four of us could sleep under the bus while he took Lon's bed.  He lost on that one and is already strung up in his hammock as I write this.

Tim took the first turn in the van and Will drove the bus.  Then, once we were in Kansas and the road was flat and straight, Raleigh took the wheel of the bus.  She donned her Star Wars tank top and cut offs and we hit the road!

Raleigh has things under control for sure!
She looks right at home, doesn't she?

If you look out the windshield, you can see
the wide open spaces of Kansas

 Lon opted to ride in his manual wheelchair today so that he would have a better view out of the windows.  His electric chair rides a little too high for an ideal view.  And of course there were lots of farms and farm equipment, animals and crops to see.  But, Carolyn, you will appreciate this...He saw this large mound of "dirt" ahead and was ready to check it out.  Imagine his disappointment when he found out it was actually crushed asphalt.  Boo!

The disappointing pile of "dirt"

We traveled 470 miles today...we left the hotel at 6:45 am and arrived at our campground about 7:30 this evening.  We were very happy that there was enough of Carolyn's cooking to provide us with another good lunch on the road.  We have saved so much time doing that and it beats fast food by a long shot!

Raleigh preparing to bring Lon
down in his manual chair.
Nice outfit!

Once at the campground, we got our water boiling and had another meal of pulled pork, raw carrots, apples and chips.   After supper we broke out the Oreos for dessert but realized we had no more solo cups.  I suggested that Raleigh pour milk into an empty water bottle but not being able to dunk the Oreos was not an option as far as she was concerned.  Necessity is indeed the mother of invention and Tim cut the top off of the bottle so Raleigh could dunk and eat her cookies.  You might be a redneck if...        I think we qualify in too many ways to enumerate.

Cookie dunking in an unconventional cup.
One of our mantras this trip has been
"Whatever Works!"

We have reorganized the bus, eaten dinner, Raleigh completed wound care (she has gotten to be an expert getting it done on the road) , and listened to lots of firecrackers going off around us.  Hopefully they will stop shortly but it is 4th of July weekend so I won't get my hopes up.

Tomorrow we plan to go 499 miles and land in Indiana so that the subsequent days can be a little shorter.  William reminded us that, although we reached our target and achieved our objective, the trip isn't complete till we make it home.  And the mantra for that remains "Safety First".