Day 5.
Sept 14. The long trek across Kansas (KC → CO Springs)
Since we got off track in Missouri’s magical wine country (…worth it!), we had to make up some time. Which meant a loonnnnggggg car day. Which is exactly what we’d been trying to avoid in all our careful planning. But you know what they say about the best laid plans.
Given the longer than usual trip time, we built in some extra stops — like Cedar Bluff state park — to hike and let the dogs stretch their legs.
Dave laughed when I showed him the map for the day, featuring a prominently highlighted stopover at… QDoba. At a truckstop. Marked on our map as a “point of interest,” just like the national parks and major cities.
Listen, there’s just not much on this stretch of road, and roadtripping meals don’t all have to be glamorous! Plus I’m a big fan of truckstops. Genuinely. I love them. And this one even had a little “dog park” where the dogs could get out and run around while we ate, so it was perfect.
On top of the already too long car ride, the elevation gain was unexpectedly hard on the dogs. From flat-as-a-pancake Kansas to the Shelf Road climbing crag outside Colorado Springs was a major jump (~7,000 ft). The next day they slept nearly the entire day to recover, then eventually perked back up.
The elevation gain also meant a change in temperature. We went from sweating in tank tops in the first half the day to bundled up in layers at the campsite that night.
It was our first chance to try out the car-tent-contraption that Dave got us for the trip. It goes around the back end of the car, so we can sleep in the car bed and the dogs can sleep in the tent, but we are all still in one space together. It worked out pretty well!
So we rested up to get ready to climb the next day.
- Eat: Truckstop Qdoba :)
- Hike: Cedar Bluff State Park
- Sleep: The Bank Campground
