Red Truck Road Trip – WEST Coast Team

Colorado, so it is noted in many travel guides, marks the great divide between The West (home of everything awesome) and The East (home of everything… um… East) in this country. It is a state which starts out as a series of stunning mountainous forests and proceeds to taper out into a mind-numbingly flat landscape which progresses into Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas (let’s be honest: rolling farmland is scenic at sunrise and sunset, during any other time of the day it’s hypnotic in its banality).

On Friday, we crossed into the Centennial State after spending several hours wandering around Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. For those of you who have never been, it’s hard to describe just what you’re missing because the landscape is so incredibly alien and surreal to look at no matter how long you stare. In particular, the peculiar rock formations and red tint of both dirt and stone might remind an active imagination of the landscapes of Mars in all their harsh glory.

Should you travel there, though, I would highly recommend sticking to the paths and pulling off at designated outlooks created by the National Park Service, as opposed to the exploratory methods used by the geniuses I’m traveling with. You see, while The Guys were sometimes content to check out the rock formations and scenery via the proper channels, they would also sometimes pull over to the side of the road and then proceed to bound about the landscape any which way they supposed. At one of our first stops, Mike wandered about a half mile away from the car in search of a good spot for our daily photo shoot to take place, and finally found one he liked. Brad, whose judgment I’ve already questioned, apparently thought Mike was onto something and followed him out to the same area (amusing side story: Brad screams like a cheerleader when he thinks he’s stumbled upon a rattlesnake) to shoot some pictures as well. Naturally, my bipedal chauffer wasn’t content to simply place me on the ground and get a picture with some rocks in the background. No, no: he decided that he needed to scamper about ten feet off the ground and place me on a rock pile in order to get the shot he was looking for. Bear in mind, he did this in flip-flops, jeans, and a t-shirt and with no safety gear (no helmet, no harness,… not even socks), but somehow he did all this without killing either of us. However, after shooting some pictures and climbing back down, some rocks gave way about three feet above the ground and he managed to slice both ankles on some tree roots that were jutting out of the miniature cliff face. Moron.

The rest of the time in Moab was largely uneventful, aside from the fact that we got to look at some amazing scenery everywhere we turned. We spent about four hours wandering around the park before getting back on the road and booking it up to Denver for the night, which was roughly a five hour drive. Mike and I ended up separating from the team in Littleton, where we joined up with Levi (another of the boy’s devious friends from college) and stayed at her house and did laundry. The one rule during our visit was that Mike was not allowed to do any actual work while staying at the house; he was allowed to take photos and doodle in his sketchbook, but he was under orders to not write or post to the blog during his visit (in all honesty, it was probably good for him to take a small break).

On Saturday, Mike, Levi, myself, and Levi’s dog Buster (a ridiculously friendly Golden Retriever) hiked up onto the hill/mountain behind her suburb community. It turns out that the community bought up the land a few years ago, so it will never be developed and locals are the only people who’re supposed to tromp around on the trails since it’s privately owned. The downside, of course, is that the trails are locally maintained and there are a couple of dodgy areas along the path to the top, as a result. It took us about two hours to make it to the top, largely because the altitude (roughly 2000 feet above Denver’s already significant elevation) kicked Mike’s butt. Admittedly, getting to the top was worth it, as it provided a spectacular view of the entire area and sported some beautiful flora which Mike made a point of photographing up close and personal before we set out down the path.

After our group returned to Levi’s house and managed to bathe and dress in clean clothing, Mike and Levi were off to downtown Denver, where they met up with Stephanie, another of Mike’s associates, at the Denver Art Museum. Mike and Stephanie have been friends since middle school; it’s a wonder that he’s able to convince these people to hang out with him… I suspect they do it out of pity more than any other reason. Stephanie, it turns out, is a volunteer at the museum and gave the pair a tour of her favorite exhibits throughout the building, culminating with all three of them participating in the world’s largest paint-by-numbers piece. After departing the museum, Levi introduced Mike to the delicious menu at NoNo’s Café, where she used to work as a server (whatever you eat as a main course, Mike maintains that the strawberry cake is a must-have when it comes to desserts).

Yesterday, everyone in Team West, as well as Levi and her sister, wound up in Ft. Collins (roughly an hour or so north of Denver) and found themselves at the town’s reservoir, which is a popular spot for both beachgoers and watersports enthusiasts. As you can see, Levi and I went swimming for a little while until it was once again time to depart and we headed off for South Dakota. The plan is to visit Mt. Rushmore and The Badlands today, and from there we’re not sure where we’ll go after that. Fantastic planning, guys.