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Day Three: Lincoln, NE → Gore Pass, Routte National Forest, CO
Total Miles Driven: 645
Total Hours Driven: 11
Total Miles Hiked: 0
Total Hours Hiked: 0
Kramer Quotient (KQ): 3

OK, now this really is unbelievable. The plan for the trip was to drive non-stop to Denver, meet my friend Christian (who was flying out to meet me from SF), and then drive the rest of the way back. When I left on Sunday morning, I knew that his flight got in at 2:40pm at Denver International Airport. I also knew that Denver was about 1900 miles from my home in Boston. So I guessed at about how long I thought that would take, including stops for meals and to catch some sleep. But never, EVER in my wildest dreams did I think I would pull into a parking spot at the Denver airport just 5 minutes before his scheduled landing time. In fact, if you had told me in advance I was going to pull that off I would have told you that you were nuts.

But somehow I did it. Is that even humanly possible? I’m honestly baffled by how I can time a 1900+ mile drive almost literally down to the minute. Its just nuts.

But aside from that miracle, today really was the first great day of the trip. Meeting Christian on the road is always a blast, and doing it in an airport 2000 miles from home even better. And doing it before we’re heading off for 4 or 5 days of camping in the mountains of the West? Yeah… priceless.

So after the impossible meetup, we got straight in the car and headed towards the mountains. Although we’d both done Rocky Mountain National Park once each in the last year, we decided to head for the southwestern corner and catch an early dinner. There a small spot on the map at the base of the park called Grand Lake, and although we’re about a week before the season, we decided to give it a go. One story tells you everything you need to know about why I love this part of the country like no other.

Christian brought his campfire lantern, but he didn’t have a fuel canister for it, so we decided to pop in to a general store and see if they had something that would work. They were just closing up for the night, but they let him in anyway, only to discover that they didn’t stock the specific type of fuel he needed. But no matter… another customer in the shop owned a supply store just down the street, and although they weren’t open, he offered to drive us down the block and open his store just for us so that he could sell us a $3.00 item. Now I ask you… would that EVER happen in a big city? EVER? Just try to imagine what would happen if you asked someone to do that for you in SF. Or Boston. Or NYC. Or DC. Or really any major city anywhere in the U.S.

But that’s not all… after finding the item that Christian needed in his shop, he spent the next five minutes asking about our plans for the trip, going so far as to recommend a good spot to camp next to a reservoir about a half hour up the road. It wasn’t just that he drove back to work and reopened the store for us – he actually took the time to find out something about us along the way. God I love it here. I really do.

So armed with our fuel and directions to a new campsite, we headed West. Unfortunately for us, however, the reservoir we found didn’t have a proper campground, and although its possible that there was one further down the road, we decided instead to follow signs to a campground in a State Park that seemed to be just down another road. Except, well… between us and it was a mountain, and along the way we managed to find a campsite in a National Forest.

Now… for those of you who haven’t camped at high elevations, let me tell you… Its cold. Very, very cold. Even in May. Even in two sleeping bags.

But am I complaining? No. I’m in the mountains of Colorado tonight. I’m home. Have I mentioned I love this place?