As I began my first journey to the West, I looked forward to seeing western Kansas. After cities like Manhattan and Salina, we saw the Flint Hills. The Flint Hills discredit the idea that all of Kansas is flat. Slight hills dotted the horizon. As we drove through the Flint Hills we reached Hays, Kansas. Hays is virtually the only significant city between Topeka and Denver. Home of Fort Hayes State University, the city is a college town with a good amount of restaurants. We chose Subway simply because it was the healthiest fast food place near the interstate. I was the busiest Subway I had seen in a while. Cars from various other states dotted the parking lot. After uploading a video to Youtube (thanks to Subway’s free wifi) we were on our way.
This is where the flatness of Kansas was noticable. At times you could see for miles. Ever so often we saw a farm house and wonder what this family / individual did for a living. Does this family stay on the farm almost constantly? Is a significant journey to them a 2 hour drive to Hays? I saw a sign along the interstate stating that a Kansas farmer fed 128 people plus you. I would tend to belive this statement.
As we got closer to the Colorado border we saw the elevation on our Garmin GPS system was increasing ever so slightly. Road work along the border of Kansas and Colorado prevented a photo op at the “Welcome to Colorado” sign. We stopped at the Colorado Welcome City and stocked up on pamplets and brouchures on things to do in Colorado. As usual the workers were very helpful in suggestions.
I never knew that at the Kansas border we were only 2 hours from Denver. As we drove we saw more and more vast ranches. Mark suggested those ranchers own thousands of acres of land with hundreds head of cattle to keep up with. The vastness of nothingness was eye-opening. Mark reminded me how those in metro centers out east complain that America has run out of land. Those complainers only need to visit the western United States to discredit this notion.
After just a few more house we reached Denver. The iconic scene of the Denver skyline with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains was obscured by the clouds or haze (not sure which). We checked into our hotel, rested and had dinner at a IHOP across the street. We decided to drive into downtown Denver to view the capitol. Downtown is just a few miles away but took around 24 minutes because of red lights and lack of a direct route. We passed by panhandlers and the rescue mission reminding us that not all residents of Denver are as well off as we think. We saw the downtown shopping district, capital, and the first Quiznos store.
Already looking forward to my first full day in Denver today.