We checked out of the hotel in Denver and are starting on the 400 mile drive to Santa Fe for the wedding of my best friend in high school. It has been two or three days since the 600 mile drive from Kansas City to Denver, so it isn’t bad at all. Right now, I am on the highway, surrounded by alternating high dessert and more traditional desert, with the latter clearly winning the struggle as we head further south, and writing on my iPad, using the cellular connection.
[mainbodyad]The geographic diversity of this nation is amazing. What makes me even more excited is that half of these tiny towns we drive through have stores that are clients of one of my family’s businesses. With a few clicks, or taps in this case, I can pull up a real-time sales report of the cash they have generated for us, their product mix, etc. Technology is awesome.
I can tell you my favorite town, by far, on the drive thus far has been Castle Rock, Colorado. It just felt better. I could see having a vacation house there. It has higher than average education, and the median household income is almost twice as high as that of the United States in general, so you aren’t going to have a lot of crime, plus the infrastructure will be well-maintained. It is also the fifth best county for job growth over the past eight years according to Money magazine. Being able to look these things up as you drive past them is so different than car trips when I was a kid and hours in a vehicle meant relentless boredom. Well, at least before Game Boy was invented. Then, I spent most of my time playing Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy. Sure, the games were in black and white, but they were still great. I think that will be my generation’s version of “I walked twenty miles in the snow …”
The drive out of Denver toward Santa Fe … only 400 miles to go.
The mountains have been getting larger along the drive … the Internet service is still holding up on the iPad but I’ve been reading old fashioned – as in printed page – books for most of the day.
We’ll be driving and suddenly an entire town will appear at the base of the mountains. We’re at least a mile above sea level so the air is definitely different up here. I wonder what the long-term effects of the oxygen difference are, if they exist?
We are driving next to a guy who has a prop plane attached to his truck. He should be in the plane. Flying is so much easier, but the road trip aspect of this getaway has been fun. So many people I know have pilot’s licenses … I wonder how much time it would take to get one?
There is so much open land that you can see the rain falling in the distance. We’re in Northern New Mexico now …
I’m going to read for the next three or four hours. If I get bored, maybe I’ll post again. On long trips like these, I can’t help but think. Some of my best ideas come out of nowhere.
[mainbodyad]
