Day 58: Highlands Ranch, CO to Kansas City, KS

I did a lot of driving today. I woke up around 8:00, packed up, and headed to a bookstore by my Uncle's place, called Tattered Cover Book Store. It was one of the best book stores I've ever been to. It was big and spacious, the employees were really nice, they have tons of comfortable seating (I mean TONS, not just a few comfy chairs like at Barnes and Noble), and they have a great selection of books and related items. I treated myself to a few things- Green for Life (a book about raw food that Robbe recommended), a cute Miguel Ruis notebook (they're the best notebooks in the world) with a picture of a mouse driving a race car on it, and The 5 Minute Face, by Carmindy. I also got a few other things, but I can't say what they are because they're gifts for other people. Here are a couple of photos that I took in the store:

The crafts section looks very crafty

The Psychology section has a couch like Freud's. Haha!

And here are a couple of photos of my uncle and Patch that I took before I left:

Uncle Bruce with his Grumpy hat, Grumpy t-shirt, and grumpy face

Uncle Bruce is never grumpy around Patch (or Pooh-licious, as my uncle refers to her)

The drive was relatively uneventful. Eastern Colorado and Kansas are incredibly flat and boring, so I had to stop at McDonald's twice for Mochas . I learned my lesson last time when I got a medium Mocha. This time I went with a small. Much smarter decision.

Once I got into Kansas, I started seeing lots of Jesus signs.

Here's one, for example

And corn fields.

The ubiquitous Kansas corn field

And these other things; I think they might be irrigation systems, but they also look a little like oil rigs. There aren't any in the DC Metropolitan Area, so I don't know what they are. Maybe someone can tell me. Here are some not-so-great photos:

I also drove through Russell, Kansas, the hometown of former Presidential Candidate and Senator Bob Dole and Senator Arlen Specter. Here's how I know:

And here's what Russell, Kansas looks like:

My goal was to get to Kansas City tonight, and I did it. I just stayed at the first, somewhat reasonably priced, mid-grade hotel I could find, so I'm staying at the Comfort Inn, right off the highway. The employees are very accommodating, it's clean, they have free breakfast (with a belgian waffle maker!!), and the beds are comfy. When I was checking in, I checked to make sure they had wireless internet and that my room was nowhere near smoking rooms or the indoor pool. I've learned to find these things out right away.

Shortly after I got to my room, the guests in the room above me started being REALLY loud. There were at least four different very loud voices, there were repeated stomps (it sounded like a herd of elephants) and various other sounds coming from their floor/my ceiling. I called the front desk right away to tell them about the problem. It took a couple of calls to finally get them to be quiet. Once they were quiet, a noise started that sounded like a vacuum or a jet engine or something. The noise was so loud that when I called the front desk, they could hear it through the phone. That also took a couple of calls, but it finally stopped. At least for now. I just knocked on some wood.

Time for bed. I have another long day of driving ahead of me tomorrow.

ttyl