Saket Vora

7:00am

Out the door, quickly made bagels on paper plates and pockets full with food that would be appreciated in the days to come. Naman takes the helm, continuing west on I-70. The Kansas City skyline is strikingly lit up in the morning sun, and I’m surprised by the greenery of the city and the rolling hills that surround it. And then its gone. We are in Kansas. The softly swelling green hills challenge our expectations of the Kansan landscape, but the (toll) road is good and driving easy. As I thumb through pages of Dune, I probe the story and the careful construction of the story with greater appreciation. It is not enough; soon I’m asleep.

12:00pm

Colby, Kansas. We are refueling at a gas station, with an abundance of lunch choices around. Two Bible Fellowship vans full of jittery teenagers idle on both sides of us, a trailer full of mountain bikes in tow. I look around to the true 180 degrees of sky from horizon to horizon. A firm breeze blows and its nice. After lunch, a hunch comes to Naman that some fluids might be low and sure enough the coolant flirts with minimum. A pit stop remedies this and we pick up firewood for camping. I learn from Sachi and Naman that our expectations of Kansas are now true – flat land as far as the eye can see, colored in greens and yellows, with long skeletal aerial irrigation pipes tending to the fields.

3:50pm

20 miles to Denver. The front range of the Rocky Mountains is sighted ahead, the peaks shadows looming on the horizon. For an hour now, lush green pastures encompass the road. Clouds grow across the sky, but still the weather is pleasant. Stories by David Sedaris, courtesy of a good friend, elicit knowing chuckles from the three of us and serves as a good break from the music. Since we have arrived early to Denver, we will check out the downtown and take a break for a while. Sapana’s flight arrives in 3 hours.

7:00pm

Downtown Denver was a surprise. We took advantage of our early arrival and explored the area on foot. There was a pedestrian only full of people enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. We walked to the convention center, a building with a glass front wall and a giant 30 foot blue bear peering inside. We passed a film crew which asked if we’d like to answer a few questions on current events. Naman readily volunteered followed by myself and Sachi. The questions concerned terrorism; why it exists, what could be done to stop it, the meaning of it. The footage will be used for a public exhibit at a museum. A stroll towards the golden domed capitol building revealed the back of an outdoor stage. Music filtered through, and as we circled around we saw an enormous fair unfold in front of us. Our visit to Denver coincided with the People’s Fair, which featured bands, street vendors, amusement rides, etc. all nestled between the two primary edifices of Colorado’s state government. We had dinner at Chipotle and picked up one to go for Sapana. We picked her up at the airport (which is an unusually far distance from the city) and continued west.

10:00pm

Golden Canyon State Park, about 30 miles west of Denver. We decide to camp here for the night; our first night of camping. We take the long, windy scenic route into the park. A single incorrect digit in the directions I obtained early delay our arrival to the campsite by 20 minutes, but we find it. Night falls quickly here. Using the last minutes of daylight, Naman and I work quickly to setup our tent. He is pleased at how easy it is to setup compared with his other tent. Sachi lights the Duraflame log and Sapana brings our sleeping bags. It is colder than we expect. We roast marshmallows and enjoy a few s’mores. We gingerly crawl into our sleeping bags; it’s cold inside our tent but will warm soon. An early start tomorrow awaits.