For the third year in a row, we ventured into the Great Plains over MLK weekend. Heather was in San Francisco for work and arrived into Denver to meet Tessie and me. Then we were to head into Colorado & Kansas to visit remote NPS sites before flying home from Wichita. We rolled the dice on the weather and were met with snow and bitter cold. A potential car disaster was averted with help from an unexpected source. We arrived home safely and the following week were shocked by the crash of AA5342, the same Wichita-to-DC flight that we were scheduled on just 10 days earlier.
Our Colorado colors were limited to the white and gray spectrum
The snow started just as we left the airport
We couldn't score dinner reservations at Casa Bonita and stayed overnight in Lone Tree. This sign was in the hotel - maybe they ran out of budget, but this looks so sad.
The next morning it was still snowing and the drive on I-25 was a nailbiter
We stopped at a cat cafe in Colorado Springs
Our first destination was La Junta, "the joint". Thank you Amtrak for offering, but we'll decline the option of arriving here via 22 hours on the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago and then 18 hours on the Southwest Chief from Chicago to La Junta.
Bent's Old Fort was a waystation on the Santa Fe trail that carried goods and people on the major trade route with Mexico. Surprisingly, on this snowy January day, the fire danger was still moderate.
Due to the snowstorm, the site was closed, and we continued east on the trail
President Biden recently declared Amache a NHS, joining Manzanar, Minidoka, and Tule Lake as former Japanese internment camps
None of the original buildings survive, but that doesn't detract from the remoteness of the site
A little down the road is the Sand Creek Massacre site. In 1864 the US military ambushed the winter encampment of the Arapaho and Cheyenne people who were in the midst of peace negotiations.
At this point, our trip turned into a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story. Imagine it's 4pm on a Saturday and 10 degrees outside. You're in remote Kansas where towns are 50 miles apart. The sun sets in an hour and your car tire pressure light goes on. You take a look and find a nail in your tire. Do you:
A) Keep driving to the nearest gas station
B) Call AAA and request help
C) Change the tire yourself
We opted for A & B. AAA said the wait for assistance would be about 8 hours, at which point we'd be popsicles. At the gas station I refilled the tire, secured a pressure gauge, and learned from the attendant that nobody within an hour's drive could help us. As dusk descended we faced another choice, should we:
A) Drive in the dark 5 hours back to Denver
B) Drive an hour to the interstate and stay at a hotel
C) Continue to our planned destination, a farm that is home to an Airbnb called the Hippie Chic Oasis
Option A and the thought of being stranded on the side of the road was too frightening.
With option B the fear was that we would wake up in the morning to a flat tire and either freeze to death changing it or wait all day for AAA. After some insider information, we chose option C and headed out to the only roadhouse open for dinner. When we entered the place, the only patrons were sitting at the bar and all eyes landed on the newcomers. We had promised Tessie steak on this trip, and Saturday night was prime rib night, so for $16.95 she got her fill of beef. We all did, even though we ignored the Rocky Mountain oysters.
The farmer's son traveled the world playing guitar and decided to build an oasis in the middle of the prairie
The place was totally amazing with trippy decor and a king-sized waterbed,
lots of plants and warm heated flooring,
a loft
and even a DJ booth. Too bad we weren't in the mood for a party. We slept fitfully worried about the next day's travel
At dawn I checked the tire. Mostly flat. Now who on earth would be on call on a Sunday morning to help us?
The farmer!
The night before, the Airbnb host had told us that they had an air pump and his dad would be up early to feed the livestock. And so sure enough, out came the old man in his head-to-toe coveralls. When he asks where you're from do you say:
A) Kansas City
B) Boston
C) Hippies don't lay down roots, man
We answered truthfully and despite the quizzical look he filled the tire. We could have continued onward to NPS sites deeper into Kansas, but instead we hightailed it back to Denver
We only stopped once to top off the air. I think that the cold actually helped us because it kept the air pressure down and held that nail frozen in place. From Denver we flew to Chicago but our flight to Boston was canceled due to snow. After an overnight at O'Hare we made it home.
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