The Jeep was packed and we left out by 0830 hrs. We made it to Mark’s at 1230 hrs after stopping at a tire place to get the front tires balanced. After getting the tires rotated the day before the trip, the front end developed a nice little wobble between 50 and 55 mph. After having lunch with Mark, we took off headed towards Lexington, KY. Andie saw a sign for her sister[singlepic id=15 w=320 h=240 float=center] We blew through Lexington and set our sights on St. Louis, MO. It turned dark on us and the rain started falling in Indiana, right before we crossed the Illinois state line. It rained on us all the way through Illinois. We rolled into St. Louis around midnight and stopped to stare at the Arch. We got a pretty good picture of the Cardinals stadium. Being in Missouri, we gained an hour on the time and wanted to keep going. We rolled over the “Big Muddy” amidst flood warnings and stopped at a rest area on I-70 on the Kansas City side.
Andie was thoroughly underwhelmed at the nothingness in Kansas.[singlepic id=12 w=320 h=240 float=left]After leaving Kansas City, the road west kept climbing in altitude and the semblance of life here on earth kept fading. I think the spork that Mark gave Andie was the only thing that kept her awake. She kept thinking about pictures to take with the spork.[singlepic id=16 w=320 h=240 float=right]
We finally trudged our way across Kansas and headed to Limon, CO. Heading into a huge storm in Limon, we decided to turn southwest towards Colorado Springs. We got excited when we saw the front range at about 60 miles out.[singlepic id=21 w=320 h=240 float=left] We ended up camping with a JeepForum buddy, Raynmaker and his family. We had an AWESOME time. It was a great welcome to Colorado.[singlepic id=14 w=320 h=240 float=left]