The journey begins

It’s already day three into our Grand Road Trip. (For those who don’t know, Josh, Derrick, Jessica, and I are on a two-week trip to Petersburg, Kentucky and then to Branson, Missouri and back.) We started out on this epic adventure on Thursday and successfully made it to Hesston, Kansas (beloved home of our driver, Josh) yesterday evening. Today we will spend our time just hanging out with Josh’s friends and family and resting up before we continue on our way tomorrow after church.

So far, the trip has been rather uneventful. Well, I mean, no one has been kicked out of the car yet, though both the guys have been smacked on the head already.  It has been two days full of teasing (everyone has their turn on both ends of the jokes), music (Josh and Derrick spent two hours the first day being cultured by my iPod. They say they have never heard such a range in genres – what can I say? I like them all!), Oreo truffles (190 should be enough right?), laughter (always needed on a trip such as this), gingersnaps (after Jess heard they were made with “Grandma’s Molasses” she decided they taste like dentures and old people) and sleep (mostly on Jess’s part). The fun all started…1 minute out of the driveway when the guys realized they had forgotten the promo DVDs…we promptly turned around, retrieved them, and set on our way once more.

And then we were driving, and driving, and driving. Southern Wyoming is NOT an exciting place to start a road trip, let me tell ya that. It’s flat and brown and dead.  When we finally got out of it I rejoiced to be leaving the “desolate sagebrush wasteland of death” to which Derrick pointed out (of course), “if there’s sagebrush, there must be life.” I promptly dismissed this logic explaining that “sagebrush is just death with branches.” I mean REALLY people! Can you even call that stuff alive!?!? But then…we entered an even more desolate wasteland, a barren wilderness without even sagebrush and Jess, ever the optimist says, “you know the best thing to do in a wasteland? Go 4-wheeling…also a great place to collect your thoughts!” Derrick quickly responds with a, “well just don’t let ‘em get away on you!” The day was full of these fun conversations that had us all cracking up the whole ride.

The highlight of day one was definitely our excursion to Boulder, CO. Following Derrick’s iPhone we made our way through the bustling city until, as luck would have it, his phone dies. So we sit in a sketchy parking lot while Josh gets the printed instructions (good ol’ Josh, always prepared) and then we turn around in rec center, watching out for the deaf children as the signs warned us, and move on down the road. Finally, we make it to Pearl Street and Jess and I make our way down the adorable lane while the guys find a place to park. We have one destination in mind and even with the dozens of cute shops beckoning our attention, we don’t stop until we smell it and then we are almost running as our eyes behold… LUSH! Jess is in heaven as we step into the place and she sees it all for the first time. There are shampoos and soaps and bath bombs and lotions in every shape, size and colour. It was such a joy to just watch her enjoy the place as we experimented with different products, heard the saleswomen’s spiels and went about deciding what to buy. One hour and almost $200 later, we walk out to the guys’ relieved faces. We get back to the car only to find a parking ticket…yay for pay parking zones you had no idea about!

We make it to Tatiana’s house around 7:30 that evening and after a fabulous meal, dessert and fun times chatting, we head to bed. Friday morning we are on the road again by 9am and so begins the trek to Kansas. Yay for more desolate wastelands! Why people even live in southeastern Colorado or western Kansas is beyond me. I have never seen so much flat land and big blue sky in my life! I mean, I thought the Canadian prairies were bad but these places don’t even have trees! The dusty brown land sucks the very life from you and I was getting desperate. Finally, getting closer to Hesston, things started to get a little greener and trees popped out of nowhere and it was like people realized what life was suddenly! I decided the place does have a certain beauty to it but…I’m a mountain girl, no doubt about it.

So, at Josh’s place last night, we sat through a slightly awkward party for his parents in which we didn’t really know anybody until one of our old classmates and his friends showed up and then things got interesting. After sitting through a bizarre movie on bow hunting, we headed out at 11pm to this donut place called Drubers which is only open at night…all night. And my goodness, it was the place to be last night! The donuts were fresh and warm, the company was great and all in all, it was a fantastic night. Got to bed around 1am and now here I am this morning, writing to all of you. I hope you feel well caught up and knowledgeable about my adventures so far. Stay tuned for more as the days go by!