Da BOMSTA Blog!

Our first day in Arizona we spent most of the day hanging out with Stacey, running the kids to and from whatever activities they had that day. Logan is 6 so he was in school, then Ellie is 4 and Hutty is 3. The Bomsta kids are awesome! And hilarious! Logan is really smart and has a great imagination. He's also a bit of a lady's man...all the girls love him. Ellie is..ellie. lol. She's in her own world most of the time, singing and talking to herself,...or, well, her 'friends'. And she's definitely got a little 'tude. She mauls their dog Tessa, a chiuaua, who bites back. But Ellie is relentless and I guess is giving her love,..in her own weird way. lol. And lastly Hutton, a star wars freak! He is obsessed and will play, talk, breathe, eat, sleep star wars if he could. I don't think I've ever played as much Star Wars in my life as I did with him. It was fun tho! We took them to dance and sports. Then met up with Grant for lunch at a place called Joe's Farm Grill. It was really really good! Even the cheesecake! See, Katie and I don't eat cheesecake because everytime we've had it, it's been bitter, almost sour and we can't understand why anyone would like it. Now over here, or maybe just at this place, their cheesecake was actually sweet and amazing and sooooo damn good! Grant made fun of us for the rest of the afternoon, but hey...you only know what you know until you learn otherwise!

Now we are the Mullen girls; "catch our own worms, bait our own hooks, clean our own fish," (miss you Mrs. Staudt), and outdoors stuff sorta comes naturally to us, but I had to laugh when Grant and Stacey thought we were like hardcore outdoors girls! Hehe, I will say we learn quickly! And we're definitely open to trying new things! So, the next day Grant and Stacey took us rappeling which is basically working your way down a cliff by means of a rope and your own two hands! I'm not gonna lie, it's scary as hell at the top and during the start of the rappel, but once you get going and you become more familiar with the rock, your feet and how to work the rope it's awesome! By my last go I felt like a pro...well at least for my first time! It's a lot of fun! Something I'd definitely do again. It was awesome! I had a slightly slower start. lol. I was nervous. Really nervous. But I acted in spite of fear and Grant was a fantastic coach!! Thanks Grant!



After crusing down rock faces in the afternoon Stacey, Grant and Ravi (another Warrior friend) took us out for sushi....another new experience. It was good. They taste better than they smell and are definitely something I'd need to acquire a taste for. Agree! Grant's buddy Colby came along too. Colby's cool shit...the wasabe wonder! I really don't know how his body didn't burn from the inside out. LOL.

Of course we wanted some desert so we headed down Mill Ave and being the money magnets we are we found a frozen yogurt shop that was giving away FREE frozen yogurts! Dude! They had like every flavour. I got chocolate, white boy vanilla, cookies and cream and mint and then topped it with Oreo and something else I can't remember.....it was awesome! All in all a great night. New experiences, free ice cream and our fellow tribe mates. Shout out to all Unstoppable Spirits' and Fierce Lightnings'!

Saturday, we all went hiking on Superstition Mountain. The whole family (Kel and I are extended family). It was hot! FINALLY!! Ah, I was so happy! I even got a sunburn! haha I've never been so happy to be burnt! And it's now a tan. Kel and I are still a little pasty, but soon we'll be tanned babes. The hike was really cool. We actually got to walk in the desert with the cacti. And to our surprise they're quite large up close. That night we went out for dinner and met Ravi for a movie. We saw 'He's Just Not That Into You'. We suggest you all see it. Both guys and gals! Lol, it really makes you wonder sometimes...

The rest of our time at the Bomsta's we just chillaxed and hung out. Watched some new movies and played with the kids. It was nice to slow down and take some time to breathe. And staying with our Warrior family made it easy to feel at home.

A to Z here we come!

Route 66 or I-40? We really couldn't decide which road to take. Historic Route 66 looked so fun except that it's not really intact anymore. We found that out the hard way after driving for 15mins on some sketchball back road that had a sign posted as Route 66. It was a friggin' washboard! But we had fun none the less. I wanted to drive on Route 66, but I didn't think it was gonna be as horrible as it was. There's not much to enjoy when you're bouncing out of your seat. lol. We linked back up with the I-40 and just headed West. We did end up stopping a few of the 'attractions' that were listed on our Route 66 map. Like the giant Jack Rabbit! LOL...pulled off the highway just to get a pick of us on it! LOL. We did see some Ontario folk on the road. We honked and waved excitedly, but I really don't know whether they understood our 'hello' or thought we were in distress!

Like any other drive we've done, it seemed to take forever because we were excited to get to the destination. Between New Mexico and Phoenix we went from cold desert to snowy mountains to hot desert and cacti. Wierd, but that's elevation for you! You can have summer or winter this time of year, it's just a matter of 2 hours driving! Thankfully we had the most randomly perfect playlist to pass the time....some Moulin Rouge and whatever random radio station we could get...and New Kids. I'm not sure, but I think we've heard Ne-yo 'Mad' like at least twice a day. It's growing on us. LOL...Ya, it's stuck in our heads everyday! I swear we're singing it ALL THE TIME!

We were so excited to get to Phoenix! And then we drove, and drove some more...and some more and FINALLY made it Queen Creek way out in BFI and after cruising the street a few times we finally found Grant and Stacey's place! After like 9 hours in a car with each other we were excited to get out and interact with other people!!! Warriors reunite! Sweeeeeeet! A-HO A-HO A-HO!! :)

"...we'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe..."

The drive down to New Mexico was beautiful! The Rockies to the left...oh wait, I mean WEST... slowly began to fade into plains and random outcroppings. I think since being a kid and going to Florida I always thought that the southern states just had to be warm....I guess I had no concept of elevation back then. New Mexico is pretty chilly.....and windy. Lots of tumbleweeds! I got to see my tumbleweeds! I didn't actually think they blew across the road in front of your car, but they do! We decided to skip Taos and apparently Santa Fe on the way down. Katie drove the first half and me the last hour or so. I guess that doesn't really make it half. lol. Apparently we didn't communicate very well! But we got to Mark's, in Albuquerque, just in time for an amazing sunset.

We chatted with Mark and met his girlfriend Bonnie, his 2 dogs Katie (she had a liking towards me, I think it was the name) and Wasabe, and their cat Kayla. Mark cooked us an amazing meal (he's a great cook) while the girls chatted, ate cheese and drank wine. Dinner was delicious! After a great meal and great conversation we called it a night. Bonnie got us talking about Warrior...no details were shared, but I think she got a good gist of how lives can change so dramatically based on our experience. The next day we ventured to Santa Fe. Didn't see too much. It was so cold and windy, and half the shops were closed. And the one shop we went there to check out was closed as well. It was a nice day trip none the less and we got to see the city. When we got back to Mark's we pretty much chilled out, wrote on the blog and relaxed. Albuquerque is great for that! We had another amazing dinner and ended the night watching Wayne Dyer's movie 'Ambition to Meaning'. Well I did, Kel fell asleep. It's a cool movie, very interesting! Thanks to Mark and Bonnie for letting us hang out and relax! And for the books! Mark; no need to worry about what to write when you're at book signings... so far you've done awesome! Stacey and Grant loved the gift.

We hope to see you guys soon, maybe on the East Coast, at one of P. Diddy's shindigs?? Save us a seat in the 'special' limo! lol.

Mark's book is Habitually Great: Mastering the Law of Right Action

Adios Colorado!

So, after a crazy fun night out with the boys Kel and I drove down to Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. Actually I just slept and it was well needed after the lack of sleep from the night before and, well, the reprocussions of drinking. Kel probably wasn't to happy but I have a tendency to pass out in moving vehicles...can't help it! Anyways, Colorado Springs, we stayed with our friend Paul and his family. His big family! Besides his wife Leslie and their 3 kids Bradie, Drake and Aiden, they have 4 dogs, a bird, and a rat. Yes, a pet rat named Mr. Whiskers. I had the joy of sleeping in the same room with him for our time there. He woke me up at 6 am every morning...so glad I have an ipod. The rat was pretty sweet tho! Not as gross when it's cleaned and groomed, and Bradie treats it like a cat or dog.

The first night there we got to do something we never did as kids, or ever actually. We went to CHUCKIE CHEESE!! Oh ya! We were slightly deprived. We lived very vicariously through our cousins! Did they ever go to Chuckie Cheese? LOL I think maybe we've done something they haven't!!!! haha It was interesting. The food really isn't that good, but who actually goes for the food?? The games are the best part! Bradie kicked serious b-utt on the car game, Drake was an awesome gambler of colours and Paul rocked the Jackpot on some other game...I on the other hand sucked! lol. I just had fun. But Kel and I now understand why our Mom and Dad never took us to Chuckie Cheese. It's insane! Talk about sensory stimulation, I didn't know where to go or where to start. One kid came up to me 4 times asking me if he could have my coins. I saw him hounding everyone else too. These coins were like life to him!

Saturday, February 14,..Valentine's Day, Paul woke us up with roses, chocolates and a pancake breakfast in bed. Shaped as hearts to top it off! That was an awesome way to start the day!! And of course, when you wake up with an awesome morning the rest of the day will be the same, and it was. We basically chilled out all afternoon playing Wii Sports and Wii Play. LOVE IT! I rocked Wii Play (uh me not so much... :( ... ), no biggie. Aiden, who is 2, KO's everyone in boxing. He's way too good for a 2 yr old. Later we all went to see Ink Heart. Very cool movie, go see it! And then the Garden of the Gods (Wikipedia), which is amazing. Pretty cool geological thing. Big red rocks sticking out of the ground all over the place. Makes for a pretty neat place to hang out at sunset because the colours on the rocks change as the sun sets. Something I saw in Australia...very cool to watch nature in its glory.

Sunday we got up pretty early (8am) lol as compared to 9am...and headed to the COG Railway to go up to Pike's Peak. Brilliant day, just too darn windy. We didn't get to go to the top because of it. The wind kept the track covered in snow even though they had snow ploughs we still couldn't go up to the top. The views from where we were at 13,000 ft were still phenomenal...above the treeline, nothing but sky and mountain. Katie left this open for me to fill in the details as I typically do so well, but just like her this time, I wasn't paying any attention!!!
After the COG Railway we headed to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. The food was literally smothered in BBQ sauce and was the messiest thing to eat, but sooo good! While waiting for our food Paul and his kids ate sugar packets, which Kel and I thought was weird. He thought we were weird for never eating one before. Whatever floats your boat I guess! They taught us how to shoot straw wrappers at one another, (just not in front of the waitress) and then Kelly and Paul proceeded to play hand football with the sugar packets and disturb the people around us. To end the meal we hung spoons off our noses! It was fun!

After lunch we hit up Cripple Creek to see the Ice Festival. They were very impressive and a lot bigger than I expected. But don't touch, or you get yelled at! Oops! Paul's brother lived close by so we went to his house and drove some 4-wheelers. The last time I drove a 4-wheeler I think I was maybe 9 years old, on my grandma's farm, and had never rode before. Needless to say I almost crashed and didn't know how to stop. My cousin Kenny failed to tell me that part. So, I was a little nervous. All went well tho and it was alot easier than I remembered. Kelly was a wild woman and gave'er like a pro, even getting some air on the hills. That night, our last night, the girls went and saw Twilight! We soon learned that Leslie shared our obsession and so it was inevitable that we see it again. There was no reason not to! And it was just as good, if not better than the first 2 times we saw it. lol. Bradie is now on the bandwagon and I couldn't be happier! haha. Ya and watching it a 3rd time proved to reveal some other things we hadn't quite noticed the previous 2 times....hehehe....(Look for Stephenie Meyer in the cafe, and Victoria in the prom scene when they first walk in).

The next morning, after changing the oil, updating our playlist and stocking up on food we were off to state #2, well the 2nd state we actually intended to spend time in... NEW MEXICO! We did sleep in Nebraska....not to get technical or anything...lol.

Aurora Boy-realis...Can Steven Segal handle it?

Although it would be nice to check Aurora Borealis off my bucket list, this Aurora experience was a enlightening in a very different way!

We had another chance to hang out with the Robbins boys, so it was perfect that we swung by their place in Aurora before heading out to Colorado Springs. Aurora is pretty much a suburb of Denver. Box stores and subdivisions..and not much else...but it was on this trip that we discovered SMASHBURGER!!! I trusted RJ when he said they had phenomenal burgers so I went for it. The BBQ, bacon and cheese...mmmmmm. Sooo good. I thought the mushroom melt was the best! and the IBC root beer. I don't know what they do with their food, but it was freakin amazing!

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out with Aaron, Josh and Haas (the dog) watching exceptionally great movies. LOL. BEST MOVIES EVER! haha, ya, not really....I didn't even know Steven Segal still acted, but based on his performance in 'Against the Dark' I would have to say his stunt days are pretty much over. Although there were some freaky parts, it was a good laugh! I actually quite liked it! Not the actual movie, but the fact that Steven Segal killed all the vampires with one wave of his machette. He's kick-ass in my books! Ps. if you're ever in the woods and hear a gun shot, be on the look out for 13 year old snipers, and run!..don't ask, just watch King of the Hill, the english version.

We had a wicked time at their place!! Dance parties, singing, drinking - chasing shots with syrup?? (Aaron's specialty)...these guys are so full of energy it is hard to leave for fear that you'll never have that much fun again!!!! Thanks for reminding us to losen up the reins boys! And thanks for expanding our playlist!

Key to tha Stone... that's code for Keystone

One of the things on my bucket list was to learn to snowboard and to be quite honest one of the only things I was really jonesin' to do. My patience paid off and Ben took us to Keystone resort and hooked us up for snowboarding. Katie had been once before so she didn't need much of a lesson. Props to Megan Newman! :) Myself on the other hand was in for a bit of a learning curve. I watched Katie and thought to myself, "Shit, if she can do it, I've gotta be able to do it." It's not too bad once you get the hang of it, I just can't go fast because I lose all control!

I spent a good majority of the day on my ass catching my breath and giving my right leg a break! I thought I was normal footed, but apparently I'm goofy footed and I lead with my right! I don't know if I'll ever get it right. I feel like I do every sport differently!!! I like to keep it interesting! LOL. The bunny hill had my name all over it. Then there were the chair lifts. I had visions of when I first skiied in Gr. 8 and bailed every time I got off the lift. Damn skis! It took a few times to get the hang of, but it's all about adjusting and when you can be flexible and adjust, it's smooth riding...well sort of...

Ben was a very patient teacher and successful one at that. He had me linking turns and everything. If you want to read more about my 'life lessons' from snowboarding just check out my blog. My detailed/analytical self wrote all about it!

At the end of the day, snowboarding all the way down the hill was the biggest challenge. I fell, ALOT. And Kelly later told me she was considering walking down! lol. (I really don't think Katie was surprised considering I looked like death and kept threatening to barf!) I lost her and Ben and ended up on the other side of the mountain. Luckily I found my way back...

I must say that I'm pretty stoked to get on the hills again. I'm not sure when or where that may be, but it will happen! I've got some practicin' to do!

Mile High City and the Likes...

Over the last week and a bit we've also had a chance to check out Boulder and Denver.

Denver, not unlike any other city has all the 'city' amenities. Transit, pro sports events, lofts galore, government buildings and museums. It does have a pretty cool outdoor mall called 16th Street Mall. We rode the bus through here and went to the Denver Art Museum. It was a really nifty place. I'm sure Katie appreciated the art a bit more than I did, but I got to make some damn good post cards while I was there! The Modern and Contemporary art was my favourite. If ever in Denver check it out! The building alone is cool to look at, and the museum is pretty interactive. It is interesting to see others' perspectives of the world we live in. Creativity is certainly in abundance in Colorado. The local traffic enforcement is pretty creative too. Ben, trying to be smooth with his secret underground parking spot, got a $65 ticket. No as smooth as he hoped I guess. lol. Joking Ben!!

Unlike the mile-high city which is quite a ways out from the mountains, Boulder is situated pretty much at the base of the foothills so you don't have to go far to see the ginormous Rockies. Just outside of Boulder is a place called Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It didn't take us very long to realize that maybe winter wasn't the best time to visit Colorado for the scenery! We went into Rocky Mountain National Park anyways. We found a few roads that were open and a short trail that led us around Sprague Lake. We got there in jeans and light shirts and had to gear up for the arctic chill and snow storm we ran into! We also realized pretty quick that our hiking boots aren't so swell on the ice. Meh, it just made our little walk more interesting! I'm sure that in the summer both Rocky Mountain and Estes have way more to offer. Here I thought Colorado was a winter time destination...I guess it is if you're a skiier otherwise, summer seems a bit more appealing. On the way out of the park we saw three elk hanging out on the side of the road. Katie was freaked they were going to attack the car, but they were more preoccupied with eating up the shoulder of the road.

Back to Boulder... it seems a bit less 'city' like. Pearl Street is also an outdoor mall, but rather than franchised companies lining the street, it's more hippy-ish, alternative and cafe-like feeling. They've also got street performers singing, playing instruments, or doing tricks. Instead of being entertained by the local peeps, we decided to entertain ourselves and spent 2 hours in a toy store called "Into the Wind". I don't think we left anything untouched... It definitely took us back to the days of playing 'cat's cradle' and making water tornados with cups and marbles! It was honestly the best store on the whole strip, for the pure fact that we got to play with eveything in the store.

After Into the Wind Katie and I met up with our friend Forrest at the Rio Grande, a margarita bar and restaurant. On the rocks with salt please? Forrest's drug of choice - tequila! Ya, not mine! And not Kel's either, even though it makes her real 'happy'. lol. After loosening up a little bit Forrest confessed his run-ins with the law when he was young and we discovered he was quite a hell raiser when he was a kid. Maybe tequila not such a good idea? lol.

Forrest's house (also built e-friendly) has an amazing view of the mountians from his back deck. Gosh, to wake up to that every morning! We also walked along the Boulder Creek trail and grabbed some lunch. If you're looking for a good hot dog and fries check out 'Mustard's Last Stand'. Can't go wrong there. And while you're in Boulder, take a short drive south to the town of Golden and visit the Coor's brewery. Lots of fun to be had there! You get to sample beer that's only 48 hours old, so smooth! We suggest Coors Blue Moon label, it's now our beer of choice.

On our way back from the brewery tour, we stopped back in Boulder to visit our friend Ilan. Ilan is a crazy guy. He had just had surgery on his elbow the morning before because he broke it biking. We didn't get to spend too much time with him but it was nice to catch up and tease him about the message he sent us the day before while he was all hopped up on meds. haha. To him we're the 'crazy Mullen girls' so it was nice to see the role reversal! Ilan, don't go falling off anymore bikes anytime soon!

Colorado...Land of Mountains and Beer...

Colorado...what a place. It's been two weeks since we first arrived there so I'm working from memory now. Something I don't intend to do for the rest of the states we enter! I do however, remember seeing the mountains and the front range and thinking, "Gosh, this feels like home!"

We set up a 'base camp' in Fort Collins at our friend Ben's place. Fort Collins is a pretty cool place. It's a college town so there's always lots going on plus it's just at the foothills of the Rockies so there's lots of outdoors stuff to do. Ben's big into mountain biking so he hits up the trails quite often. He's also a real estate agent and really good at giving people tours of Fort Collins...lucky for us! We headed up to the foothills to catch a glimpse of Horseshoe Resevoir (I think) and then an aerial view of the city on the other side. It was a gorgeous day so everything was amazing! Ben's really passionate about what he does and is involved in a lot of projects. One is a new development of energy efficient and eco-friendly homes. They're all pretty unique too. They call one the Beetlejuice house because of it's lines and angles while others look like they belong in New Mexico or San Francisco. Some people are already living in the neighbourhood and are planning organic gardens for the spring and lots of forward thinking projects. It's pretty awesome! And shout out to Ben's roomate Mike who was really interested in Canada, and appreciated our little quirks and sayings like TPT,PTP, and mish mush! haha.

Katie and I, being the Canadian girls we are, like a good beer and of course Fort Collins has not one, but two microbreweries! We went to O'Dells the first night we were there and we sampled like, 15 different beers! I don't remember having an adverse reaction to any of them, but some were quite nice. I was surprised that I enjoyed some of the darker beers. One sorta tasted like chocolate! The other brewery is called New Belgium. After touring Old Downtown Ft. Collins last week we drove around to 'see' if we could find it. For whatever reason I have a good sense of direction and memory and we found it alright! Tried 8 beers there. They were all pretty good, but our palettes noticed some very different tastes. The one beer was called Sunshine. It smelt like perfume and tasted really fruity or floral. Good for the summer with a light meal we would say.It actually smells way better than it tastes. I would prefer to wear the Sunshine beer than drink it. Then there was Mothership Wit. The description said something about floral and spicy; a mix of sweet and sour. Katie and I both agreed the aftertaste was similar to the aftertaste of a hot dog. Yeah, a beer that tasted like a hot dog. Mmm. lol. It was more of a meal than anything. A good mix of sweet and sour? I don't know... Best part of it all was that it was all free! We are money magnets!!!! We also met a local guy named Brent who looked like he just came out of the bush, hairy and rugged, but in a good way. But most Colorado men look that way, and we like it! lol. After finding out that we were Canadian he continued to tell us about a crazy woman in the Yukon that he met and how there's a whole bunch of loonies up there. So, I'm pretty stoked to meet some interesting characters and tell you all about them later! Sadly, Brent left us as we were just getting started. I don't doubt that with a little more time we would have became great friends with him. We picked up a six pack of 'Mighty Arrow' and headed on our way.

The night after New Belgium we all headed to the Sundance to meet up with our friend Ricky. The Sundance is the equivalent to nothing really that we know of! It's a huge country bar where people actually know how to dance country swing! If you're just dancing to dance watch out because chances are you're going to get knocked out by someone flipping, dipping or twirling their partner! Neither of us had ever country swing danced before...it was ALOT of fun! Ricky did an awesome job of bringing Katie and I up to speed! Flipped, dipped and twirled...hard to go back to normal dancing after that! Definitely required a lot of trust, but after a few 25 cent beers, You heard right, 25 cents!, trust isn't really an issue on the dance floor! Plus, once you've been flipped once, the rest don't even phase you! For some reason we had CANADA tattooed on our foreheads, because it felt like everyone in the bar was looking at us like we were out of sorts. I felt quite at home actually. Some guys even came up to us and aked if we were Canadian, Beau and Geoff. Wouldn't stop saying 'EH' after every sentence...ya, like we've never heard that before! They were good peeps though and we celebrated Geoff's birthday with shots of none other than Sicilian Kiss. Love that SoCo, it's tradition. After the bar, we went back to Ben's and made some grilled cheese sandwiches and listened to Katie confess her love to Ben's cat Tony. Tony's a man's man. I believe if he were a man we would be together...or at least great friends. He's no ordinary cat!

Our last night in Ft. Collins we spent out with one of my Wizard friends, Ronda. We went to a little place called Cafe Vino and had wicked awesome tappas and wine! You at home would be impressed with the expansion of my palatte which now includes dates, huevos rancheros (mexican breakfast of eggs, tortillas and chile sauce), hamburgers (only from Smashburger...which I will elaborate on)...oh ya and meatball sandwiches from this wicked little placed called The Little Italian Kitchen. Ben's good friends with the owner so we got a little sample of that and some of her awesome apple bread which of course, I forget the name of!

So ya, in there we went snowboarding, but we'll post that separately. It deserves it's own post! Fort Collins is a pretty cool place! Or at least I liked it a lot! Katie is ready for the beach! I so am!

7 States, 24 Hours; Brought to you by the letter...'i'...

Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and FINALLY Colorado! I was sure that Michigan, Indiana and Illinois were going to go on f-o-r-e-v-e-r and then we hit Iowa... The land of silos and a random spurt of rolling hills. After being on the road for 24 hours Monday afternoon seems like a decade ago.

We had a plan, but here's the thing with plans....sometimes they need to be adjusted! Like when you plan to pack up the car and leave at noon, but realize you may have made a packing error with the two giant suitcases? Tip: Duffle bags are much more space efficient than suitcases! Our Monday departure turned into a Tuesday departure at 7:30am. Like I said before....it was as if MI, IN and IL would never end. That was the first 8 or so hours. The rest of the time we spent truckin' along I-80 through places like Des Moines (loosely translated means 'monks'???), Lincoln, Cheyenne and then good ol' "Omaha...somewhere in middle america, get right to the heart of matters, it's the heart that matters more." The Counting Crows were bang on about that one. I guess whenever I heard that song I always pictured some desolate town with dusty roads and tumbleweeds....quite the opposite actually!

So after a night of driving-sleeping-driving-sleeping (you'll sleep anywhere when you're tired) we awoke from our second nap at 5:30-ish with only a few hours left to our final destination! Cheyenne, Wyoming may not seem like much from the highway, but it was a turning point on our drive! Grabbed some breakie at the Flying J truck stop where even the waitresses noticed our change from absolute death and tired to upbeat and bright as the sun....well maybe the sun on a foggy day...

And then we reached the Colorado State line! Home sweet home...for a little while anyway!