Let the Moab adventure begin....

We've made it back together after quite a bit of time in our respective locations- Emily in Pheonix getting some family time, Liz in SLC and Park City getting her Utah 'family' time. Great times had and we send much love to our hosts and hostesses.
But now we're back together! Emily arrived today in Moab and we jumped onto the Delicate Arch trail in Arches NP- a first for Em and a time-honored tradition for Liz. Sunset was gorgeous, snow on the La Sals, and then a tasty dinner and brews at the Moab Brewery with dear friends Beth and Ambrosia. Lots of adventuring to be had here in red rock country.....more reports to follow.

The split....for now!

Glenwood Canyon, east of Grand Junction, CO.  More pictures to be uploaded once the computer starts working again....

We woke up early to a chilly morning in Leadville, CO and jumped on the road.  Thanks Chris for your hospitality and a fun night!  The mountain backdrop made for some inspiring driving early in the morning.  We jogged down I-70, through the gorgeous canyons of western Colorado, grabbed some breakfast and made it to the Utah line by 10:30am.  This is the day of "the split"- Em was dropping Liz at Crescent Junction, UT where Ben and Clare would be waiting to load Liz into the car to spend Thanksgiving in Salt Lake City and Park City.  Em would be spending Turkey Day in Pheonix, and we will meet up again in Moab to play for a week.  Catch all that?  So the next posting thing will be when we reunite back in Moab to play in the Red Rock Desert and get some well deserved desert love.  Until then, Happy Thanksgiving Day to all.  We love you and send you hugs and kisses!

Channelling our inner Dorothy...

With our eye on the prize of officially being "out west" when we hit the Colorado line, we struck out after a delicious breakfast with Raven.  Kansas was no joke- straight, flat, and fairly uninteresting.  Except for the roadside attractions like World's Largest Prairie Dogs, a six-legged steer, and a multitude of anti-abortion signs.  Once we hit Colorado, the sun was setting behind the Front Range and we were tired but happy to have made this milestone.  We trucked it up to Leadville to stay with Chris and enjoyed many $1 mugs of microbrews at "the Scar", a few games of pool, and a delicious pizza in the country's highest town (10,200 ft!).  We both think that Leadville is a place that we want to come back to to explore more :) 

Things we like about Iowa.

Sorry for the delay, I never said we would be good at doing this blog thing.  After a good night's sleep and a delicious Chicago breakfast with the generous and wonderful Josh, we headed out.  The drive from Chicago to Lawrence Kansas was, well, extremely uneventful to the point of tears.  We determined that the only things that we like about Iowa are the fact that the sky is blue and the sun shines.  And there was a pretty sunset.  But the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was arriving at Ravin and her son Utah's beautiful Kansas abode literally in the middle of wheat fields. We were greeted with a tasty meal and hugs all around.  Thank you Raven and Utah!!

Things to remember about the mid-west....

What Cheer, IA and Normal, IL

Look up what the significance of Liberty, MO is

Figure out what exactly is in the Agriculture Hall of Fame

Anywhere but East.....

We had an excellent send off gathering last night in Brattleboro. Great to see everyone and have some fun competition on the dart board and the ring game. Thanks Lori, Nelson, Rebecca, Micah, Emily, Franklin, Leslie, Nikki for hangin' out...we'll miss you guys!

Our first full day on the road, and by full, we mean 15.5 hours of driving. Up at 3:30am to fill the Thermos with joe, in the car by 4am. We headed across VT, caught sunrise amidst a snow storm on the NY Thruway, and made it to Cleaveland for a late lunch. We pushed hard to make it to Chicago by 7:30, then had a great dinner with our amazing friend Josh. Looking forward to a good night's sleep and a good breakfast before jumping back into the car to head to Lawrence, KS tomorrow.

Some highlights of the day.....Seeing sunrise and sunset. Emily's mysterious hives. Liz trying desperately not to blow out the clutch....and Em white-knuckling the door handle while coaching her. Quizzes covering each state's motto, population, and square mileage (we were getting a little loopy at this point). Em rocking the Chicago traffic with passengers, kayak, and 2 bikes making it safely despite crazy drivers and many not-so-nice road rage comments. Melt in your mouth steak dinner and Fat Tire brews. Lots of birds....that definitely weren't ravens.

Countdown.....

Well, it's Em's last day of work, tomorrow is the send off shindig in Brattleboro, the we're hitting the road. 4am Saturday morning is going to come awful quickly. Stay tuned....