Hey, all.

Stopped a little early today after a nine-ish hour drive, but arrived surprisingly early because of the one-hour time difference. The hotel is also a little expensive, because it's at a major route intersection, but far cheaper than anything currently available in Colorado Springs at the moment. The cheapest hotel I found was about $140. I think I will be skipping staying there. Luckily, Denver is a little more affordable.

I started the day by saying goodbye to my hosts in KC, Mike and Becky, who were extremely gracious the entire time, and who I commend for their hospitality and flexibility, as well as their excellent advice, and coffee in the mornings. I had breakfast with Jimmy at "The Big Biscuit", where I tried biscuits and gravy for the first time. I can't say that I really loved it, but I can definitely see the appeal.

The drive today took me through central Kansas, which, while it wasn't as flat as it was reputed to be, was pretty darn flat. It also had some of the most interesting cloud formations I've ever seen, which occurred during a pretty gigantic thunderstorm over eastern Colorado. I was lucky to have completely missed it, as they were previously directing folks to get off the roads so they would not be knocked off by strong winds.

I stopped early, as I said, because of the expensive Colorado Springs hotel rates, but also because eight hours of driving will put serious cricks in your back. I'm definitely going to leave a day early from here, shifting my schedule forward a day through Seattle, so I can have an extra day to drive from Yellowstone to Seattle, which is a 12-14 hour drive. It shouldn't affect the rest of my trip, or really, my trip at all, since I found far fewer interesting things to do in Denver than I had anticipated. Tomorrow, I will hit Pike's Peak, the Garden of the Gods, and likely stop in Denver briefly, possibly for the botanic gardens.

In any case, Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

Cheers