INTRO
During the trip, I debated with myself about doing a report. Most softball trips don’t afford a lot of time for actual vacation activities, but these big summer ones tend to have more time for “STUFF.” They usually are played over the course of a week, there’s typically a lot of downtime before bracket play begins, and teams are usually looking for extra ways for the kids to bond. We also end-loaded the trip with some vacation sort of stuff, so I decided it could be worthy of a report IF I took enough pics and video. While there will be some wordy sections (since nobody else is great for pics when I’m driving), there will still be a lot of visuals. Here are the details…
WHO- Me (Sandy), David, Kendall (K), and Sam
WHEN- June 25th-July 6th
WHAT:
June 25-July 2: Colorado
July 2-July 5: Rapid City, SD area for some unfinished business
July 5-July 6: College visits along the drive home
WHERE- TX, NM, OK, CO, WY, SD, NE, KS
APPROXIMATE DISTANCE:
4,500 miles
Note- the map is just the basic route and does not include all of the little day trips and side adventures.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1 - The LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Drive – aka: Never Trust the NAV and Did You Check Your Bra?
*Caution- lots of words ahead!
July 25th
Last year, when we played in Colorado, we left the house at 5am and stopped in Raton, New Mexico for the night after a visit to Capulin Volcano National Monument. This year, I wanted to skip the stop and overnight stay, and drive straight through along the same route. I figured we had enough time last year for the monument visit and still arrived at our hotel a couple of hours before dinner, so driving straight through shouldn’t be an issue. I got a little nervous about it along the way and decided to change our departure time for this year to 4am. I have to admit that I’m still pretty shocked that we were rolling out of the driveway right on schedule! I was also pleased to see that my mapping app was routing me through New Mexico (the prettier drive) and I wouldn’t have to do anything special…or so I thought.
We rolled out of the driveway on time and we were officially off on our adventure. I double-checked my mapping app and it had us routed through New Mexico, so all appeared to be good. The first few hours were completely uneventful. Traffic was so light that is actually routed us right through Dallas. It wasn't until we got to Quanah, TX (in between Wichita Falls and Amarillo) that things started to go sideways. The kids had been sleeping when the peace was disturbed by a crying Kendall. She wanted to know if it was possible for her AirPod to fall out of the car while driving.
When we stopped for gas and snacks, we checked EVERYWHERE! She tried "Find My" and still nothing. We assured her that it would turn up, but that we had to move on. Yeah...she was not happy! She asked to drive, but she was waaaaaaay too emotional for me to trust her behind the wheel in an unfamiliar area.
When we arrived in Amarillo, it routed me to the loop as expected, but it had me turn ahead of my normal turn-off. I wasn't overly bothered because it still looked like we'd be taking the southwestern route and I'd be avoiding this canyon section I don't love driving. It wasn't until we hit the town of Dumas that I realized it had rerouted me onto the eastern route. It was too late to change course. We'd lose too much time. So, we just pushed on and accepted the fact that we wouldn't have all of the great scenery and would have to settle for lots of prairies and grasslands. Our new course took us through the Oklahoma panhandle, which is a short portion of the journey, and then into southeastern Colorado.
It's a good thing there were lots of pronghorn and prairie dogs on this route, because there was also a lot of construction. In fact, I'm shocked that it sent us this way. We had one portion of road maintenance that went down to 1 lane and led to a 30+ minute delay. At least K slept through most of it, because every time she woke up, it was something about those darn AirPods. She kept saying that I'd be angry if she lost something that expensive, but I kept insisting that there's no anger when I'm not having to pay for another pair. She made her next attempt to find them when we got onto I-70 in Limon, CO. I used it as a chance to change drivers so I could try to change our Rocky Mountain National Park entry time. The app gave me errors about rebooking as soon as the window opened (same thing happened last year) and I wasn't fast enough to book on David's phone, so we were stuck with what I'd previously booked. At least we could now see mountains in the distance through the haze.
While we had gained an hour when we crossed into Colorado and shifted to Mountain Time, we were pretty road weary. In light of that, it was a very pleasant surprise to hit absolutely ZERO traffic in the Denver area. Sure, it was now early Sunday evening, but no traffic is a blessing at any time. I guess that was good, because the hotel lobby and check in line were anything but quiet. Colorado is home to a couple of massive softball tournaments and related events that all take place around Independence Day, including some smaller showcase events, camps, and identifiers. So, just imagine the chaos of having around 2,000 softball teams as well as college coaches/scouts descend on the greater Denver area for a week. Our check in last year (different hotel) was a breeze, but this year, we showed up to a packed parking lot, a long line, and people waiting on management over a growing list of issues. They also were doing some construction renovations, which added to the chaos. Thankfully, our check in went smoothly and we were done in time to partake in the hotel’s “kick back.” Part of why we picked this place over going in on a house with other teammates was the food and drink situation. Yes, they have a full breakfast, which is now super common, but they also put out a dinner buffet spread, adults get three cocktails each night of their stay, and soft drinks are available all day, so I could easily grab a can of Diet Coke. Dinner tonight- pasta alfredo and grilled chicken. Each night, they also usually had hot dogs, nachos, and some kind of soup as well as popcorn in the lobby.
We actually ate dinner before ever unloading the vehicle. It was just so nice to sit down and relax. We did eventually pry ourselves from our seats and unloaded the car. It doesn’t look like I took any room pics…which is SHOCKING, but it was a really nice sized room. You entered the living room area, which had a sofa that converted into a queen-sized bed. We also had enough room for a twin air mattress, so the girls didn’t have to share. Splitting the rooms was a large bar area with a hidden fridge and microwave. Across from that was a standard bathroom and then the main bedroom (with a king- yay for extra sleep space!!!) on the other side of this central hall/bar/bathroom space. While the girls’ area had no natural light, we had a lovely view of a nature trail and stream cutting between the various hotels. Of course, I didn’t photograph any of it this day and the one video I took focused primarily on what mountain/foothill areas I could see from the room.
Once we got everything unpacked, Kendall asked if we could check my car one more time for her missing AirPod. She was still having no luck and the vehicle was now totally emptied out, so hope was fading. We dug through the vehicle and still nothing. She was in a much better mental place in this moment, so I asked her something that I wanted to ask earlier, but knew I’d get a nasty attitude if I didn’t time this accordingly.
ME: Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: MOTHER!!?!?!?!
ME: Hear me out and just humor me. Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: Mom, I would have felt it if it were in there and I would have heard it beep.
ME: Just check, PLEEEEEAAAASSEE!
KENDALL: Fine. *giggle* OMG!!! It was in there!!!
So yea, K had her AirPod with her the ENTIRE time.
After this, we just cleaned up and relaxed for the night. David never got around to going out for extra drink fixings, but I brought a bottle of Kahlua premade mudslide. I thought he'd just have a little bit this night, but he's now a fan of the stuff. Softball stuff wouldn’t be starting until Tuesday and Sam decided to pass on a couple of camp offers for that Monday, so we’d just be using the day to acclimate to the altitude and enjoy. We had an 11am entry for Rocky Mountain, so we could even sleep in a little. Yeah…this looks relaxing!
She's dressed more for winter, but I had turned the room A/C way down and it was significantly cooler than the triple-digit heat we'd left at home.
Before I went to sleep, I remembered that I could buy a day pass to the park (since you need that with the timed entry) on the Recreation.gov app. I didn’t want to pay for it until we knew for certain we’d be visiting, as it’s $30 (compared to the $2 for the timed entry) and there was no risk with waiting to purchase. At least it was easy enough to buy and add to my phone’s wallet for easy viewing and it would save us a few minutes at the park entry areas.
I promise there are more pics and things get more interesting! LOL
During the trip, I debated with myself about doing a report. Most softball trips don’t afford a lot of time for actual vacation activities, but these big summer ones tend to have more time for “STUFF.” They usually are played over the course of a week, there’s typically a lot of downtime before bracket play begins, and teams are usually looking for extra ways for the kids to bond. We also end-loaded the trip with some vacation sort of stuff, so I decided it could be worthy of a report IF I took enough pics and video. While there will be some wordy sections (since nobody else is great for pics when I’m driving), there will still be a lot of visuals. Here are the details…
WHO- Me (Sandy), David, Kendall (K), and Sam
WHEN- June 25th-July 6th
WHAT:
June 25-July 2: Colorado
July 2-July 5: Rapid City, SD area for some unfinished business
July 5-July 6: College visits along the drive home
WHERE- TX,
APPROXIMATE DISTANCE:
4,500 miles
Note- the map is just the basic route and does not include all of the little day trips and side adventures.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Chapter 1 - The LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Drive – aka: Never Trust the NAV and Did You Check Your Bra?
*Caution- lots of words ahead!
July 25th
Last year, when we played in Colorado, we left the house at 5am and stopped in Raton, New Mexico for the night after a visit to Capulin Volcano National Monument. This year, I wanted to skip the stop and overnight stay, and drive straight through along the same route. I figured we had enough time last year for the monument visit and still arrived at our hotel a couple of hours before dinner, so driving straight through shouldn’t be an issue. I got a little nervous about it along the way and decided to change our departure time for this year to 4am. I have to admit that I’m still pretty shocked that we were rolling out of the driveway right on schedule! I was also pleased to see that my mapping app was routing me through New Mexico (the prettier drive) and I wouldn’t have to do anything special…or so I thought.
We rolled out of the driveway on time and we were officially off on our adventure. I double-checked my mapping app and it had us routed through New Mexico, so all appeared to be good. The first few hours were completely uneventful. Traffic was so light that is actually routed us right through Dallas. It wasn't until we got to Quanah, TX (in between Wichita Falls and Amarillo) that things started to go sideways. The kids had been sleeping when the peace was disturbed by a crying Kendall. She wanted to know if it was possible for her AirPod to fall out of the car while driving.
When we stopped for gas and snacks, we checked EVERYWHERE! She tried "Find My" and still nothing. We assured her that it would turn up, but that we had to move on. Yeah...she was not happy! She asked to drive, but she was waaaaaaay too emotional for me to trust her behind the wheel in an unfamiliar area.When we arrived in Amarillo, it routed me to the loop as expected, but it had me turn ahead of my normal turn-off. I wasn't overly bothered because it still looked like we'd be taking the southwestern route and I'd be avoiding this canyon section I don't love driving. It wasn't until we hit the town of Dumas that I realized it had rerouted me onto the eastern route. It was too late to change course. We'd lose too much time. So, we just pushed on and accepted the fact that we wouldn't have all of the great scenery and would have to settle for lots of prairies and grasslands. Our new course took us through the Oklahoma panhandle, which is a short portion of the journey, and then into southeastern Colorado.
It's a good thing there were lots of pronghorn and prairie dogs on this route, because there was also a lot of construction. In fact, I'm shocked that it sent us this way. We had one portion of road maintenance that went down to 1 lane and led to a 30+ minute delay. At least K slept through most of it, because every time she woke up, it was something about those darn AirPods. She kept saying that I'd be angry if she lost something that expensive, but I kept insisting that there's no anger when I'm not having to pay for another pair. She made her next attempt to find them when we got onto I-70 in Limon, CO. I used it as a chance to change drivers so I could try to change our Rocky Mountain National Park entry time. The app gave me errors about rebooking as soon as the window opened (same thing happened last year) and I wasn't fast enough to book on David's phone, so we were stuck with what I'd previously booked. At least we could now see mountains in the distance through the haze.
While we had gained an hour when we crossed into Colorado and shifted to Mountain Time, we were pretty road weary. In light of that, it was a very pleasant surprise to hit absolutely ZERO traffic in the Denver area. Sure, it was now early Sunday evening, but no traffic is a blessing at any time. I guess that was good, because the hotel lobby and check in line were anything but quiet. Colorado is home to a couple of massive softball tournaments and related events that all take place around Independence Day, including some smaller showcase events, camps, and identifiers. So, just imagine the chaos of having around 2,000 softball teams as well as college coaches/scouts descend on the greater Denver area for a week. Our check in last year (different hotel) was a breeze, but this year, we showed up to a packed parking lot, a long line, and people waiting on management over a growing list of issues. They also were doing some construction renovations, which added to the chaos. Thankfully, our check in went smoothly and we were done in time to partake in the hotel’s “kick back.” Part of why we picked this place over going in on a house with other teammates was the food and drink situation. Yes, they have a full breakfast, which is now super common, but they also put out a dinner buffet spread, adults get three cocktails each night of their stay, and soft drinks are available all day, so I could easily grab a can of Diet Coke. Dinner tonight- pasta alfredo and grilled chicken. Each night, they also usually had hot dogs, nachos, and some kind of soup as well as popcorn in the lobby.
We actually ate dinner before ever unloading the vehicle. It was just so nice to sit down and relax. We did eventually pry ourselves from our seats and unloaded the car. It doesn’t look like I took any room pics…which is SHOCKING, but it was a really nice sized room. You entered the living room area, which had a sofa that converted into a queen-sized bed. We also had enough room for a twin air mattress, so the girls didn’t have to share. Splitting the rooms was a large bar area with a hidden fridge and microwave. Across from that was a standard bathroom and then the main bedroom (with a king- yay for extra sleep space!!!) on the other side of this central hall/bar/bathroom space. While the girls’ area had no natural light, we had a lovely view of a nature trail and stream cutting between the various hotels. Of course, I didn’t photograph any of it this day and the one video I took focused primarily on what mountain/foothill areas I could see from the room.
Once we got everything unpacked, Kendall asked if we could check my car one more time for her missing AirPod. She was still having no luck and the vehicle was now totally emptied out, so hope was fading. We dug through the vehicle and still nothing. She was in a much better mental place in this moment, so I asked her something that I wanted to ask earlier, but knew I’d get a nasty attitude if I didn’t time this accordingly.
ME: Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: MOTHER!!?!?!?!
ME: Hear me out and just humor me. Have you checked your bra?
KENDALL: Mom, I would have felt it if it were in there and I would have heard it beep.
ME: Just check, PLEEEEEAAAASSEE!
KENDALL: Fine. *giggle* OMG!!! It was in there!!!
So yea, K had her AirPod with her the ENTIRE time.
After this, we just cleaned up and relaxed for the night. David never got around to going out for extra drink fixings, but I brought a bottle of Kahlua premade mudslide. I thought he'd just have a little bit this night, but he's now a fan of the stuff. Softball stuff wouldn’t be starting until Tuesday and Sam decided to pass on a couple of camp offers for that Monday, so we’d just be using the day to acclimate to the altitude and enjoy. We had an 11am entry for Rocky Mountain, so we could even sleep in a little. Yeah…this looks relaxing!
She's dressed more for winter, but I had turned the room A/C way down and it was significantly cooler than the triple-digit heat we'd left at home.
Before I went to sleep, I remembered that I could buy a day pass to the park (since you need that with the timed entry) on the Recreation.gov app. I didn’t want to pay for it until we knew for certain we’d be visiting, as it’s $30 (compared to the $2 for the timed entry) and there was no risk with waiting to purchase. At least it was easy enough to buy and add to my phone’s wallet for easy viewing and it would save us a few minutes at the park entry areas.
I promise there are more pics and things get more interesting! LOL
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