ROAD TRIPPING! Part One

Finally, July 29th arrived! A day I had been awaiting for since first finding out the Brandon was going to Morocco to study abroad. We talked about a road trip to bring his car back home and then it suddenly became reality, then it became a countdown. If you are ever in a long distance relationship then you will know how much a countdown means, however, it is also a bit saddening thinking back on it now. I had been looking forward to that day then the two weeks to follow since at least March and now it is over. Enough dwelling on that factor because this is about happy and the fun times we had spending seven days getting from Colorado to Virginia.  Before I left Virginia, Brandon and I had planned the trip out, and we decided to try avoid big chain/fast food restaurants, which in turn made us eat at places featured on Man Vs. Food. I will have to tell you we ate at some amazing places too!!

My flight did not land in Denver until midnight (2 a.m. EST) and then the next morning we headed out around 9, so my time in Colorado was short.

Heading out! 

We grabbed breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, The Egg and I. There is one in Midlothian, but I have never ate there, but the few in Colorado are amazing! Once we got past Denver, Colorado started to look different. No more mountains, instead the great plains embraced us for the rest of the day driving.

No cars in sight!! 

This was our view for most of Friday between Colorado and Kansas. 

Once we finally reached the border we stopped at the rest area to see if we could find anything fun to do in Kansas along the route, but the man in there said we needed a year to explore all of Kansas. Quite an answer when we only had the day! In turn, we kept trekking eastward! 

A few miles into Kansas, we started seeing signs for "THE WORLD'S LARGEST PRAIRIE DOG!" Brandon's friend had mentioned it to him before leaving and said he always wanted to stop but never had. Well...we were shammed. We paid our money to enter this run down building and make our way outside when the woman said all of the animals were alive (Brandon was so excited to see this prairie dog) but the "World's Largest Prairie Dog" was a monument. Not a real prairie dog. We were a bit let down, but it was our own fault cause we were saying how it is going to be a spam like the ones at the fairs or something! 

The goats were the best part! They were real...

The world's largest prairie dog was not! 

We went through the farm pretty quickly and then were back on the road. We weren't on the road too long before I had to use the restroom. I am probably the world's worst road tripper by the amount of times I needed to stop, but it also gave Brandon a chance to clean of his car, named Pearl. Have I mentioned the bugs yet?! They were splatting left and right onto the windshield and front of the car. It was pretty gross and there were some big 'ol bugs hitting the windshield!

Can't really see the splatters except on the bottom, but they were all over! 

Abilene, Kansas is not too far off 70 and is also the childhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although it was a bit late, we were able to still walk around and we met a man who retired from working there so he was able to tell us a lot about the history here. It might have been a good thing that the museum was closed because Brandon can spend forever in a museum and we did need to be in Kansas City that night! 

The house that Eisenhower grew up in!

The tripod Brandon got me came in quite handy on the trip! 

Getting closer and closer to Kansas City and Stroud's Fried Chicken, Brandon points out a casino and I put my raging hunger on hold for a few minutes to go try our luck (Brandon had never been in a casino so I wanted to show him the ropes (; ) 

Happy we won! 

After leaving the casino, we were trying to book it to Stroud's. We had only ate breakfast and that was about 12 hours earlier so we were both starving and pretty much inhaled the meal. I do not eat fried chicken at home, but let me tell you, this chicken was amazing! They also gave you cinnamon rolls and they melted in your mouth. We ended up eating the leftovers for lunch the next day at a picnic bench at a rest area and it was just as good! 

With a full belly, we were able to get a good nights rest and head to our next location!