day 4: grand junction, co to goodland, ks

we left grand junction at a leisurely pace and followed the I70 through the rockies. the sky in this colorado, which calls itself ‘the colorful state’, was bluer than any other in our memories, and the clouds wheeled overhead in a dizzy reel throwing shadow and sunlight over rock and meadow, a tease of revelation and concealment.

‘i’ve found the perfect spot to eat lunch,’ m said as r exited the mighty clean restroom at the no name (that’s what the sign said) rest area. she had scoped out a picnic table that sat but a hundred yards from a gorgeous bend in the colorado river. as an amtrak crept eastward into the rockies along the famed california zephyr line, rafters and kayakers followed the current downstream to the west.

the following segment of road followed the colorado as we neared its source, the road winding up to the banks on overhangs, through magnificent concrete curves and long, tiled tunnels that burrowed deep into the mountain.

just outside of Denver is lookout mountain, final resting place of buffalo bill cody. following an impulse to jettison off the highway for a moment after seeing the sign, we abandoned our game of travel trivial pursuit (r was maintaining an ever-expanding lead)(‘whatever, i was closing the gap!’ m retorts). for the enthusiast, the buffalo bill museum is not to be missed; however, for casual travelers such as ourselves, we would have been better served by just taking in the views of denver from the grave site and checking out the gift shop.

we arrived in Denver right in the middle of rush hour traffic, and for a southern Californian this can elicit a moment of panic. the Midwest jams are, however, quite tame in comparison. we were instantly amazed at the heavy presence of public transportation, as well as the citizen’s habit of queuing up in an orderly fashion at every point on the sidewalk that a train door is set to open. we found a starbucks in order to utilize the free internet, we found a few possible lodging sites further on down i-70, but relied on a recommendation from the baristas to eat at illegal pete’s burritos (where m became unreasonably excited about the tip bucket--nb: r has never seen silence of the lambs). it was a few blocks away down a buzzing pedestrian mall whose curbs took us completely by surprise (they were too short to notice but tall enough to warrant attention); we each tripped over them multiple times. the urban-hippie culture, an aesthetic that incidentally suits us quite well, took us a little by surprise, and we agreed over our steak and fajita burritos that downtown denver is certainly a place we could call home with its clean-lined modernity set against its old-west history.

we made our way back to the parking garage and upon exiting m drove off the curb, just for good measure and consistency in our favorite city thus far. as the sun set on the open plains of eastern colorado, we got our first taste of the high plains of mid-america. such a place, both monotonous and beautiful, must hone one’s instincts to the art of fine distinction. the sky over us loomed huge like a weighty presence we had heretofore respected not enough. in the dark, the prairie resembled the night sea, sky and horizon meeting in the distances like two open planes. on the way, a coyote crossed the highway in front of us swift and low, stopping once it had reached the other side to turn and stare at us as we passed, our headlights flashing in its eyes. we arrived in the tiny town of goodland, ks for the night, where apparently gizzards are a delicacy and tables in hotel rooms a rarity.