I made it!

I am now in Colorado! For good!

This past weekend(ish) Kelty and I moved back to Colorado. I left Rock Island on Thursday, and not a moment to soon it sounds like, since they closed portions of I-80 in Iowa the next day! I stopped at two different gas stations between Rock Island and Iowa City (in Iowa) and none had gas. At first I thought they were just out of gas, which freaked me out a bit, but the power outrages were related to the flood. All across eastern and central Iowa I saw swollen streams and flooded fields. One area I passed had water less than a foot from the interstate and I realized if the river went up another foot or two it would be bad news for the interstate. Glad I left on Thursday and not Friday! I saw alot of debris (trees, propane tanks, trash, ect...) washed up against the interstate bridges and that was a bit unnerving! I did make it to Kearney, Nebraska that evening though, was was able to make pretty good time.

The next day I headed to Denver and made it there by 3. I even had time to go get a new drivers license (which was good since I got pulled over in Nebraska for "failure to signal" (BS) and luckily did not get a ticket for having an expired license). Then I drove to Parker where our wedding is going to be and met two of my bridesmaids for the food tasting for the reception. It was amazing food and the chief treated us amazingly, it was such a treat! I hope I actually get to eat some of the food the day of the wedding!

Saturday I was lucky enough to have out friend Pete help me load my u-haul, since John had other commitments that morning in Grand Junction. We easily got that loaded and then I had the rest of the day to relax with Pete and his family and meet their new baby! It was a nice relaxing afternoon. John came over with the field coordinator for the quarry this year, who was nice enough to drive my Blazer back to Grand Junction so I could drive the u-haul and John could take Kelty.

Sunday we had our engagment photo session, which was fun. We went to settlers park in Boulder and climbed on the flatirons (Pennsylvanian Fountian Formation) for a few hours. Then John and I took some time to walk around the Pearl Street Mall and had a nice 'lunch' at the Cheesecake Factory. It is really nice to be back together. I had pushed out of my mind how much I missed him so I could get through the last two months. I am glad we do not have to do that any more! We then went and picked up Kelty and headed over the mountains. We made pretty good time and got home last night in time for Kelty and Duma to get reacquainted and realize that they still hate each other.

The u-haul has now been unpacked, and the great merger of our things has begun. The cable guy is here to turn on my internet. Hopefully this weekend we will have a garage sale and everything will go back to normal.

STATS
Total gas purchased: $272.42
Total gallons filled: 67.25
Total miles driven: 1172
Most expensive gas purchased: $4.29 in western Colorado (Palisade) - runner up: $4.21 in eastern Colorado (Crook)
Most gallons filled:13.568
ABF U-Pack cost from Rock Island to Denver: $691
U-haul cost from Denver to Grand Junction: $209
Total cost of u-haul gas: $71.59 (18.360 gallons)