homeward bound.
/It's probably obvious that Christian and I have been strapped for time to blog since our return to Colorado. He's been working every day but two since we got back and those two days were spent working morning to night on the Campbulance. For this reason, I've decided I'm going to just have to write the remaining posts on my own so we can get caught up and finally start updating you on our progress!
Christian got word that he needed to be back to work Saturday morning for a rafting trip going out that day. This meant we had only two days to drive 1600 miles (Google maps told us it was 25 hours, but we were going slower than the speed limit, so we knew it'd take longer). We knew it had to be done, so we loaded up on coffee and kept our stops to quick breaks at gas stations knowing that every minute counted.
Given our mission, photos were few and far between on that first day of driving. We set out to get to Kansas City, but fell short by a little less than 100 miles due to pure exhaustion and a pretty hefty dose of insanity.
Well into the next day's drive, Christian got word that the trip had been canceled and he was now off the hook. We looked at each other in utter defeat and I said, "Find me a Cracker Barrel…now." (I'd had to give up my hopes of stopping at a Cracker Barrel or Waffle House along the way due to the time constraints.)
The universe was on my side, as the very next exit had a sign for a Cracker Barrel. We pulled off with relief and excitement to be enjoying a meal that wasn't eaten behind the steering wheel of the Campbulance.
It was Christian's first experience at Cracker Barrel and he was not disappointed. We stuffed ourselves silly with unhealthy breakfast food and then decided we'd take a nap in the Campbulance before getting back on the road. Let me tell you what…there has never been a more satisfying meal at Cracker Barrel than one immediately followed by a nap in the shady parking lot.
I hung my camera from the ceiling grab bars to try and take a "staged" photo of our nap…I should've known better.
Knowing we now had an extra day to get back, we opted to spend the night on the east side of Denver and drive the mountain pass during the daytime. We'd stayed in truck stops the entire way and it'd become "our thing" by the end of the trip, so we decided the best way to spend our last night on the road was one final truck stop.
Insanity from the road has obviously started setting in.
We passed a train carrying windmill arms.
We hit the road the next morning with the Continental Divide on our mind. The Campbulance handled the climbing roads with no problem, but we took it slow just to be safe. We stopped just after getting across Loveland Pass and the Continental Divide to breathe a sigh of relief and revel in the snowy landscape after days of heat and humidity on the road.
Less than an hour later, we were home and never happier to be off the road and in close proximity to a shower. For the first time in ten days, I parted ways with Christian and the Campbulance and watched them drive away to their home down the road in Eagle.
Stay tuned over the next few days and we'll be posting updates on the actual work we've been doing to the Campbulance!
-Chelsea