Daisy, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore

Day 5 of the trip just after 1PM Central Time and more than half the country is officially in our rear view. We'll be exiting Kansas shortly and heading into colorful Colorado (Breckenridge specifically), a state and city with a lot of significance to Jennie and me. We were engaged in Breck in January 2003 on a trip my sister gave us as a Christmas gift. We're both really looking forward to getting to the Tiger Run RV Resort. The place looks ridiculously nice. There is a free shuttle that runs from the park into town and a few companies we can rent bikes from if we'd like to get around on our own schedules. Tomorrow is our first planned "off day". No driving. Just hanging in the town we decided to spend the rest of our lives together.

Jennie spoke a little too soon when saying Trailside RV Park in Grain Valley, MO was the most basic park we've been too. Yesterday we stayed at Bourquin's RV Park & Old Depot Restaurant in Colby, KS. We found the place the same way we've found everywhere we've stayed. A quick search on dogfriendly.com lists the parks in a given area that are, as the name states, dog friendly. This is always a must, but the restaurant is what sold us. As Jennie mentioned, we've been on Applebee's tour over the last few days and this place was touting ol' fashioned home cooking.

"If you miss the smell of fresh baked bread and dinner in the oven at Grandma’s house, dine in the historic freight room with its beautiful original hardwood plank floors and wood stove."

I never met my grandmothers so I'm not sure, but Jennie's pop-pop and grandmom Flossy is/was a bread baker so the description got our mouths watering in anticipation of our first non corporate meal since our send off dinner with Ian, Meaghan and Tom at Skinner's Loft. Jennie calls and speaks with Shirley Bourquin and she takes our reservation. At the end of the conversation Shirley says, "by the way, the restaurant is closed for 3 weeks". DOH! Shirley and her husband Dan run both the park and the restaurant. Shirley had a knee replacement a few weeks ago and it's kinda tough running a eatery with no cook. Oh well, reservation is made and we've got about 5 hours of road ahead of us to get there.

I drove the whole way from Grain Valley to Colby. We hit a rest area in Salina, KS to do our usual break and driving shift switch, but I was feeling fine so I kept on going. Next thing we knew we were less than 50 miles away and it seemed pointless to switch then. It must be in the genes. My dad was a truck driver for 38.5 years and I believe drove over 4.5 million miles without an accident or ticket. The Broderick's would often drive to their family vacation destinations. We'd wake up at about 2am, pile into the pickup truck, fall back asleep and wakeup somewhere between Virginia and NC when dad woke us up for a bathroom break as he refilled the dual tank diesel engine. Sometimes the sound of an engine lulls me to sleep so I'd often crash back out after the break only to be awoken again when we'd reached our final destination (usually Pirateland or DeLand, Fl. at my aunt June's house). I can only assume that I obtained the knack for the long haul through osmosis on those yearly summer trips in the black and white Chevy.

We pull into Colby, KS at about 9:40 as Jennie's cell phone is ringing. "Jennie, are you folks close? Dan really wants to get an ice cream cone before they close". Shirley was watching the clock and knew we should be in the area, but Dan was getting nervous that he'd miss getting his favorite soft-serve if we didn't get there soon. We assured Shirley that we'd be there soon, but told them to go grab ice cream and we'd get dinner for the night since the restaurant was closed. You're thinking Applebee's again, right? Nope. Colby, KS doesn't have one, but I'd like to believe we would have chosen against it even if it were an option. We opted for Pizza Hut instead as a nod to our trip to Europe in 2003. We began that trip in Munich, Germany and lived on a steady diet of french fries and pretzels from the train station hub, beer from everywhere and pizza from The Hut down the road. Jennie wasn't a fan of the local cuisine. We'd also made Pizza Hut our choice for dining in Paris a lot. The people intimidated us and our attempts at French through Lonely Planet's guide to Europe were both comical and embarrassing.

Anyway, Jennie heads into The Hut to grab us some dinner and I drive down the road to fill up the tank. ouch. I make my way back, grab Jennie and we head to the park. The service road winds next to 70 and settles at Bourquin's which is across the street from a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Wooohooooo for Wal-Mart Supercenters. Sorry, we're gonna pimp those places out for a while because of the tire save a few days back. They'd be helping us again before we left Colby.

We roll into the park entrance and pull up to the office. Behind the RV we see a truck pull in and park next to us. Dan gets out of the driver's seat with no ice cream. He must have really wanted it to finish it that quickly. Shirley remains in the vehicle because the knee replacement isn't feeling great. I stay in the RV with the pets and Jennie follows Dan into the office to get our spot for the night. She's asks for a map of the "campground". No map, but we do get a brochure for their closed restaurant. Damn, rub salt in the wound while you're at it, Dan. It was dark, but the daylight would show why no map was needed. Bourquin's was essentially a dirt/rock parking lot with hookups for the guests and maybe the size of two cul-de-sacs combine. One U-shaped roadway lead from the entrance to the back of the lot, looped right and came back to where you started. It wasn't beautiful, but what it lacked in aesthetics was made up for in personality. I laughed to myself last night when I thought this park is kinda like the friend you try to set up with someone and you know they won't find them attractive. "she/he has a great personality!" Hmmmm.

Trailers and RVs packed the small area and we were lead to our spot by Dan. We said our thank yous and goodnights and then started our process to settle in for the evening (plug into electric, blast the AC, put up the curtain between the driving area and "home" area, set up the laptop, set up the music and eat). There is no specific sequence we go through, but with Jennie as my co-pilot you know hook up electric/blast AC is always #1 on the list. Last night we didn't need to blast it. Actually it was gorgeous outside. 72 degrees, no humidity and breezy.

We ate and then I tried to set up the laptop. The wireless card isn't working. We quickly find out it's broken. No blog, no fantasy baseball, and no easy way to figure out what were doing tomorrow (today). I'm not going to blame anyone for the demise of the Verizon Broadband card, but let's just say her name rhymes with Lenny and I'm married to her. :) In Lenny's frustration with her dog's (let's call her Daisy) inability to settle down she knocked the laptop and it dove from its perch on the dashboard and the VZ card broke the fall. The US judge gave the dive a 9.9, but not surprisingly, the French and Russian judges marked it as an 8.8.

If you're tired of us extolling the greatness of Wal-Mart Supercenters then now is the time to stop reading. We were both bummed about not having net access. It's not a necessity, but it is a great plus for the trip. We get to write down what we're doing/feeling and people get to see what we're up too. I also get to keep tabs on the Mets streaking like Will Farrell in Old School. We're somberly gnawing on our stuffed crust pizza and buffalo wings when the light bulb goes off. Wal-Mart might have a deal with a carrier. Maybe even Verizon! Nope, not Verizon, but we're now the proud owners of an Alltel contract, a KS phone number and Wal-Mart saves the day again.

We walked to the Greatest Store EVER for a road trip and saw what we wanted. The Alltel section was closed, but would be open tomorrow (today) at 10. The plan was to was to get there for 10 so we could be on our way to CO as soon as possible. We also planned to venture into the "dumping" of our waste tank and dumping of the "gray" tank. I don't think I need to explain what a waste tank is, but the gray tank is where all the water goes that you use in the sinks. We weren't full by any means, but figured that learning how to do this before having full tanks might be easier. This is where the personality of the place comes into play. We didn't know a thing about how to empty these things. There are hoses and a big sign that says "RV Dump". Great, we know where we need to go, but the back of the sign has no instruction manual. We get Daisy out for her walk and scope out the other park inhabitants to pick the poor soul to inquire with for help. We see a couple in their mid-50's. She (Jo) is sweeping their area and he (Dan, not the Bourquin) is washing his truck.

We approach and Jo greets us with a smile. We exchange pleasantries and eventually get down to asking for help. Without hesitation Jo says, "Dan will help ya dump". Dan looks up from washing his truck. You could tell that he didn't hear the conversation because of the noise of the hose, but the look on his face clearly said, "what has she volunteered me for now?". We quickly run through the "we're new to this and could really use some help" speech. Dan looks down to his left, spits out some of his chewing tobacco and says "of course, I'll help ya. Just come by and grab me when you're leaving". This is where the personality comes in. Scarlett Johansson probably isn't going to help you clean your toilet, but Mrs. Personality just might.

Dan takes us through the process (quite easy) and then gives us a quick tutorial of everything on the outside of the RV assuming (rightfully so) that anyone who doesn't know how to dump the tanks probably doesn't know much about their ride. We finish the tutorial, shake Dan's hand (everyone's are clean. wooohooo!), grab a coffee at Starbucks (They do have 'em in KS!) and make our way toward 70 again.

We're still in the relatively flat part of eastern CO, but the color and beauty should be with us soon. I should probably look up from the laptop as not to miss it when it first appears.

Jimmy

PS- we gained another hour during this blog. An hour further from the east and closer to the west