Days 5 - 6

Hey Gram!

Adam, also in town for the ND game.

I'm in Boulder, Colorado right now! I drove here all the way from Springfield, Illinois yesterday. It was 930 miles. I left at 8 am Central Time and got in just before 12 am Mountain Time.

I left Chicago on Monday morning after an hour bike ride around the city. I arrived in Champaign, Illinois around 1 in the afternoon. My good friend Frankie, a fellow Siegfried Rambler from Notre Dame, lives there. He took me to his favorite Mexican restaurant, Dos Reales, which reminded me of a scene from the popular hit TV series Breaking Bad. He showed me the Acapulco tacos, which came with a delicious combination of chicken, shrimp, and steak.

YUM.

We drove through the University of Illinois campus, watched some TV, and I hit the road.

I met my friend Rob in Springfield, Illinois. He's from Little Silver, but was coincidentally in Springfield for work. I got in around 830, so we went to a local restaurant for a beer. He had a hotel room where I was able to sleep for the night.

Arch you glad to see me?

I got up at 8am and, after chasing my parakeet around the Candlewood Suites parking lot for a few minutes, hit the road. I stopped at the Arch in St Louis for a quick selfie before making the push through Missouri and Kansas to Colorado.

Those states were a lot different than I expected. Yes, there was a lot of nothing - but more rolling hills than Ohio or Indiana, more trees and rivers and streams. The 75 mph speed limit was also great. I think they know that most people are just trying to get in and out of those states as fast as possible.

When filling up for gas in Junction City, Kansas, I locked my keys in the car. I called AAA, and they were there in 10 minutes. It was a nice break from driving, lol.

It hit 98 degrees in Kansas yesterday. The car sauna was in full effect! My wax ear plugs had gotten too dirty to use, so I had the windows rolled up for much longer. I bought an air-freshener, but it gave me a headache. I threw it in the back seat, and now the car kind of smells like a diaper. A relatively clean diaper, but a diaper nonetheless.

Filling up before heading into the storm.

Right after nightfall, a severe thunderstorm rolled over I-70 in Kansas. It hit while I was filling up for gas at an abandoned gas station, and I have to admit that I was a little scared for my life for a few minutes. I have no experience with tornadoes or giant Midwestern summer storms, so I didn't really know what to expect. It was an amazing storm and thankfully there was no damage done.

I got to Boulder at midnight - 16 hours door to door. That's with an hour stop in St. Louis plus 6 or 7 roadside pit stops for gas and various forms of caffeine. My friends were already asleep when I showed up at their house.

I ate breakfast at the Village today, which is a great diner spot here in town. They had free bumper sticker for me, which was cool.  I would love to own and operate a place like that one day.

It rained all morning, but turned nice around 1pm. I just got back from a fun bike ride on this awesome path that goes around the entire city of Boulder. I ended up on the CU Campus, which was beautiful. My friend Tyler is finishing his Masters at Boulder this year, and is working until 7:30 tonight.

I''m going to stay here for at least a couple of days - I have some planning to do for the final stretch of the journey!! I will let you know as soon as I decide what I am doing.

Talk to you soon!

Mike

Bike trail with a view of the Boulder Flatirons <333