Western Parks: Day 2

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Today's was a long run from Albuquerque to Cheyenne, Wyoming. This suggested we get an early start. However, because we had arrived at our motel so late, we awoke late; and then it turned out there were more things we absolutely had to buy and therefore another trip to Wal-Mart. Then, with a Hallmark store near the restaurant…well, it was, again, 2:30 pm before we got on our way.

We had to make frequent stops to avoid discomfort during the trip, which allowed us to discover the many pretty rest areas along the way. For example, at a rest area just south of Santa Fe, we discovered a lovely garden of purple cosmos flowers that attracted Mom.

We then hit an area of overcast, and rain, which got increasingly worse. We had hoped to visit the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, but given the rain and the fact the sun had already set, there wasn't much point. (We'd visited there before, anyway.) We'd also hoped to visit Michael's niece, Cathy, who lives in Denver; but by the time we got there it was near midnight and dropping by would have seemed rude. The rain and flooding in Denver were so bad we passed no fewer than four car wrecks there. By the time we crossed the Wyoming border, Mom was convinced it would rain throughout our entire trip, which would therefore be "ruined". Brought up in the Northeast, she's never quite gotten that rain isn't always a disaster.

It was only sprinkling when we finally arrived at our motel, at 1:30 am. Mom immediately had us turn the TV to the Weather Channel, which confirmed her worst fears: Las Vegas had been flooded, as well as Denver; the cloud mass covered much of the Southwest and it was expected to continue to rain over Denver through the weekend.