We left Des Moines around 2:00 Monday afternoon. Dave did some errands for the trailer that morning while I worked and then went for a pedicure. I needed some self-care. 😉 We said a last goodbye to Bryan and Cuda at Farm Boy Garage, also breaking down their booth at the fairgrounds. Then we hooked up the trailer and put Des Moines in our rearview mirror. 

We knew we had an event in Julesburg, Colorado on Wednesday, August 21, but that’s all we knew. I emailed the one contact I had for info, we crossed our fingers and headed out for Lincoln, Nebraska, our stop for the night. We’d planned to stop at a trailer/RV place just outside of town that had exhibited at the fair. For more–you guessed it–trailer supplies. By then it was nearly 4:00 so we looked for a place to eat. We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we called it a late lunch/early dinner. I found a place called Kue’d that looked good. It was a bit out of our way, but we weren’t in a hurry.

We shared a salad with burnt ends and it was amazing! The brisket ends were tender and smoky and the salad was very welcome after the 9 days of fried foods at the fair.

So it was almost 5:00 by the time we were truly on the road and headed for Lincoln, Nebraska. We had about two and a half hours to go. This was our first time pulling this new trailer in a new truck. We weren’t sure what to expect. The new trailer’s hitch seemed to be sitting quite a bit lower than the other trailer.

Well.

This trailer pulls much more smoothly. No major swaying, no being buffeted around by the wind, or by trucks passing. It’s a huge difference. I don’t feel my heart in my throat and grip the armrest whenever a vehicle approaches on the left. Dave’s going to see what adjustments he can make to the other trailer when we take that one over again in September.

We arrived in Lincoln about 8:00 and stopped for runzas at a restaurant called Runza’s. I did a little reading on the way and discovered Nebraska’s claim to culinary fame is the runza, which is very similar to what we in the Central Valley call bierocks. They’re a kind of savory meat pie/turnover. I liked it, but Dave didn’t care for the spices in the meat.

We got checked into our hotel just after 8:00, which was unfortunate, because we discovered we’d missed their complimentary Happy Hour of snacks and wine. Someone took pity on our forlorn and bedraggled appearance and gave us a plastic cup of red wine, but the snacks were gone.

Tuesday morning, we had a bit more information about the Colorado schedule for the week, so I made some hotel reservations in Denver since we finally knew where we needed to be when. There are no hotels in Julesburg to speak of, so I made a reservation in Ogallala, Nebraska. That’s about three hours from Lincoln, but half an hour from Julesburg. We took our time again in Lincoln Tuesday morning before heading to Ogallala.

 

The scenery in Iowa and Nebraska is beautiful. Lots of corn. We crossed the Platte River many times. Several different forks of it, I think. According to our atlas, I-80 roughly follows the Oregon National Historic Trail, the California National Historic Trail, the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail, and the Pony Express National Historic Trail. Do you see the theme there?

The details of our event in Julesburg were pretty fuzzy. We were told Colorado’s US Senator Cory Gardner would be visiting the trailer between 1:45 and 3, and the trailer would be open until 5. But we weren’t given a beginning time. When I asked, I was told, “umm, maybe, 11?” So we planned to get there around 10:30. We were given cross streets to set up at, but that was it.

When we arrived, we scoped out where we thought would be a good place of the four corners. Then two men joined us. Whew! Someone who knew what was going on. Except where they wanted us to park, there were vehicles in the way. So we compromised and ended up in front of the town hall, which worked just fine.

We got to work unloading the trailer and setting it up, then I walked to the local diner, had a quick lunch and brought a sandwich back for Dave. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it on the menu: A Rocky Mountain Oyster sandwich. I knew he would love it. And he did. I did not take a picture of it. You’re welcome.

Our RALI Cares consultants showed up then and took over the set up of the outside display tables and giveaways. A few people came by and we gave tours. Then the senator and his entourage arrived. I started their tour with my usual intro and showed the first few items. Then I started getting the hurry up signals. What!?!? I just got started. But I talked faster. Then I got another signal. Fine. I talked faster and skipped things. Then someone told the senator he had just a few more minutes. So then I was skipping lots of things and giving the highlights. But whew! I guess I finished in time, because then he stood around outside taking pictures, accepting a plaque, and then they left. On the dot of 3:00.

We gave a few more tours. I think we showed the trailer to about 20-some people total. Julesburg is a very small town of around 1200 people. We stayed until 5:00, then packed up. 

The building across from us is the home of the Sedgwick County Economic Development Agency. Several of us were given a tour by the director who has been restoring the building which used to be a bank. Now it houses his offices, as well as some other businesses and offers meeting spaces to local groups and houses a military collection. It’s a really beautiful and amazing old building.

 

When we were done, we were still three hours from Denver. Our new colleagues were arriving the next day around 11:20. We had reservations at a hotel about an hour and a half away. I thought that was a good compromise, rather than driving three hours after an event, or three hours the next morning. So we drove to Fort Morgan, Colorado, to a Comfort Inn, took a quick dip in their pool, and went to bed.

We were up early Thursday morning, and on the road to Denver. We have an event in Greenwood Village on Sunday and two events at the Capitol Monday and Tuesday, although we’re leaving on Monday. So I wanted a hotel midway between those events, and convenient to the airport, since we were picking up our replacements and leaving ourselves.

We got to the hotel in Thornton about 10:30, found a place in their lot to drop off the trailer and then hurried to the airport. We made it just in time to meet our new colleagues, Jeff and Katia. We’re training them today and tomorrow in the trailer, on setting it up, giving tours, hooking it up and unhooking it, as well as driving it. We’ll do Sunday’s event together, then we’ll set up Monday at the Capitol together. We’ll take a bus and a train to the airport and fly home and the trailer will be all theirs.

The adventure continues! Thank you for reading!!