NY or Bust - Day Three: Colorado Springs to Overland Park (Kansas City)

Phew. I'm a little tired while writing this one, so pardon me if it rambles a little in places.

Highlight of the freakin' trip happened today: one of my best friend's, Jenn, went into labor when I was staying with her and her family in Colorado Springs, so I got to go to the hospital with them! I popped on a little 'Still Fighting It' by Ben Folds on the way, and even though Jenn had a daughter, it was perfect. I met her new daughter, Tischel Leanna, just a couple hours after she was born!! I was super excited to get to share that experience with Jenn and her family, one of the coolest things I've ever done. I guess that's just how my vacations roll: went to Catalina Island and saw a wedding, went to Ensenada and got stuck at a Mexican funeral, go to Colorado Springs and take part in a birth :-D

After that whole experience, I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a dad. Watching her go through the contractions knowing I couldn't help was pretty hard; that male instinct to protect kicks in pretty strong. But if I experienced a 1/10th or a 1/100th of the concern for her that a husband would experience for his wife, I know I only experienced a 1/1000th of the excitement that a new dad would have! So to all the dad's out there: props, and congratulations, and now I can't wait!

As cool as that was, though, it did mean instead of sleeping at a house and getting a full night's sleep, I caught naps on the couch in the waiting room of the hospital between grabbing stuff from the car for Jenn and her family and getting updates on how it was going. Her sister told me a lot of things about 'triage,' and 'posterior,' and '81%,' whatever the heck those things mean, then she finally said something about 'water breaking' and 'epidural,' and I totally know what those mean! So we spent the night at the hospital, Jenn had the baby at about 11:30, and I hit the road entirely later than I intended to, at a little after 2p (sans a shower and changing, mind you). I said yesterday how much Colorado reminded me of Oregon. Well, as I was leaving town, it was sunny and started drizzling on me. Yeah, that's how similar they are :)

Now, I was fully prepared to eat my words about Wyoming when I drove through Kansas. Of all the states I'd expect to suck, Kansas is right up there on that list. It actually wasn't bad! It was clear skies almost the entire way, the first really sunny skies of the trip for me, and that was great. Not to mention it's much flatter than Wyoming, so my cruise control was working great for quite a while, and I got to drive some killer back roads (CO 94-E and US 40-E) where I had a chance to enjoy scenery and make up some time. And Kansas is so much greener than Wyoming! I will say this about Kansas, though, and this is coming from a guy who grew up next to a farm in Oregon and lived on a farm in Montana: Kansas smells. Seriously. Entire parts of the state just smell funky.

The drive through Kansas went very smoothly. Huge thanks to the sheriff in Topeka who helped me out: there was construction on part of I-70 and I had to exit the freeway, so he let me follow him off the exit and back onto I-70 on the other side of town. After Topeka, I did push Gracie pretty hard, and probably should have stopped for gas a little sooner. I thought I'd make it fine, but I swear, it's like the Kansas Turnpike never ends. I was starting to doubt whether or not Kansas City even existed! So I did wind up making one last stop for gas before I got to Overland Park.

Now, my good friend Robby took it upon himself to book me a room in Overland Park, just outside Kansas City. I had no idea where I was staying until I got there, and the hotel looked nice. As I walked in, I was excited, because even the lobby smelled good! The clerk promptly greeted me, asked me if I had a reservation, then informed me he was sending me to another hotel because some of the sprinklers in the rooms weren't working. I got sent down to the Hampton Inn (which I at first misread as 'Hilton'; that was a letdown). As I got out of my car and started walking to the entrance, two cops were circling the parking lot. I'm pretty sure this entire floor was at one point a smoking floor, based on the smell. The room was definitely a smoking room. But, as Robby said, it wouldn't be my road trip or a funny story if everything went well.

So I decided to head to a bar across the street for some food and a beer before bed. The place is called 'Fox and Hound,' but according to the sign out front, it's the 'Fox an- --und.' Props for burnt out lights. Inside it actually wasn't bad at all, and the hot wings were good (I don't even have heartburn from them!). Then, when I got back to the hotel, there were six, yes, six police units outside the hotel. Apparently a guest had seem someone walking around the parking lot checking car doors. I parked in the front of the hotel, in view of the clerk's desk, and approached the cops to ask if everything was alright. They told me there was no concern for anyone's safety, and one of them adeptly pointed out to me that this is probably the safest hotel in Overland Park tonight. All-in-all, I'm just really glad to be done driving for the night and to have a bed to sleep in.

So, I'm another day and 580 miles closer to NY! I think I'd be mad at Kansas, too, if I hadn't been so entertained by all the misfortune that took place here. Now, I'm ready for a shower, bed, and starting at a decent hour in the morning!