It's the People

Happy friggin new year. 2010, who knew?

Well, before we hit the road again we'd like to take a look back at all the friends that have been so nice to let us crash with them, as well as all the new friends we've made along the way.

It all began in Posen. One last weekend of partying with our folks before hitting the road

Devil's Lake, Wi

We partied with Meow Moew the broke-ass bumble bee in the Badlands.

Travel Buddha and jungle cat keep watch over the Dod and keep us company on the long drives.

Laura, Wes, and Dharma. Our first away-from-home-friends visit.

We met this lizard at the Canyonlands. He was a jerk.

This guy came from the future to save me from a T-1000 unit bent on my destruction. Later that day I had to lower him into a vat of molten steel. Thumbs up to you, buddy.

These are our friends the Madison High Drum Corp. Thanks again for the warm welcome to Portland.

Playing at the arcade with Kelly and Mike.

The gracious Brian Mosley and all the Halloween partiers.

A great shot of us with Chris and Caitlin all thanks to Chris' extra long arm.

Our in-Dod jam session with Nick.

These loud, fat idiots stole our hearts in San Fran.

Royce, Betty, and Collin. (Betty's the one on all fours)

Our Santa Barbara camping buddies.

More fun with Amanda in San Diego.

As well as with her friends and roommates. Including a little visit from Amy...

... who we stayed with in Scottsdale. That's her roommate Danielle.

And Ling Ling and Saki, too.

And Mari and Thomas.

And to complete the circle, it was holidays with the family.

We're heading back to the Dod tomorrow. We've been itching to get back on the road. Be ready for an all new onslaught of posts which will be coming soon. So look out New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, we're coming for you.

Mountains, beer, and mountains of beer

It was chilly and windy when we woke up yesterday. I ran inside the Walmart and played Wii for about a half hour while Nikki slept in.

At 9:15 I woke her up because we had important business to attend to. A 10 am tour of the Anheuser Busch factory in Fort Collins, CO.

It's kind of neat to see all the time and care that goes into getting you drunk.

We saw the old carts used to deliver the beer, and the Clydesdales used to pull those carts.

And here's a picture of some of AB's more premium brands.

After the tour we got to sample some of AB's beverages. I must say, there's not much better than a flight of beer at 11am.

Afterwards we drove through the Colorado State University campus. Nikki wasn't impressed, so we didn't stay long. Then we drove to Boulder.

By then the winds had picked up and driving was a little rough for the Dod on the expressway. Luckily it wasn't far.

In Boulder we located a Borders and were able to swap out our incomplete atlas for a new one. After copying our information over to our new atlas/scrapbook a couple sitting next to us asked us if we were traveling. We relayed our story to them and they told us that they were also travelers. In fact, they had been splitting their time between their RV and a sail boat for the last 12 years.

It was great chatting with them and trading information so we can keep in touch and possibly meet up in SoCal later on. They imparted some of their road wisdom to us and for that we are very grateful.

By now it was getting close to evening, so we decided to find a place to bed down for the night. Dark clouds were rolling in over the mountains, and the wind was not letting up. So we drove right into those darn mountains.

After a quick tour we located a quaint little lodge set next to a stream. It was perfect. The fresh mountain air was like heaven with a little bit of pine.

It was leftover fajitas and a much needed shower before settling in.

In the morning we ate a free continental breakfast and set out for the Colorado University Campus in Boulder.

The campus was beautiful and I found an excellent record store while Nikki found the Meow Meow, a boutique which had hand bags made out of Archie comics. If you didn't already know, Nikki is nuts for Archie comics. And the bags were half off, so of course she bought one.

After lunch in the Dod we hit the road again, setting our course for Denver.

After locating the cheapest all-day parking lot we could find, we set off on foot to explore the city.

Then we found this giant blue bear trying to break into a bulding.

We mostly toured the 16th street walking mall, which runs the length of the downtown commercial district.

Then we looked for the bar that had the cheapest happy hour specials. We found 1.50 drafts and half off appetizers at a mexican restaurant just off 16th street. We gorged ourselves on nachos and then stumbled back to the Dod.

After a little mix up leaving Denver, we finally made it to our home for the evening, yet another Walmart.

However, after tonight we'll be sleeping underneath a real roof as we shack up with our friends Laura and Wes in Colorado Springs. And according to Laura, we have a heck of a weekend ahead of us. But for now, good bye from Colorado.

p.s.

We were finally able to get our pictures developed from Devil's Lake. So, as promised here they are.