Golden

On Friday we completed the second to last leg of our trip around the world. (Though we've been back in the States for a few months now, we won't consider the loop complete until we get back to Boston where we began our journey on August 11, 2004). We made it to Scott and Charlotte's new house in Golden, Colorado late Friday night. It turned out that we had collected enough vegetable oil during that first stop at the Chinese restaurant in California for the whole trip, and didn't have to stop again as Michael had mentioned.

It was great getting to see parts of the States that neither of us had seen before. After a yummy dinner and comfy night's sleep at Dave and Lexa's friend Kathy's new place we got back on the road and enjoyed some beautiful views of Lake Tahoe. Then it was into Nevada and onto HIghway 50, "the Lonliest HIghway" as it's officially called even on our map. I guess there's not much to do out there, so people find creative ways to entertain themselves, like writing messages in rocks on the side of the road and throwing their shoes up into trees.

We didn't quite make to Ely, our goal for the day, but we pulled off on a small dirt road and camped for the night in blissful silence. Dave's camper turned out to be a surprisingly comfortable for all three of us and Dave cooked some great meals for us in there. We made it to Ely the next morning and enjoyed some lunch and gambling at the Nevada Club. We spent our third night in Fishlake National Forest near Salina, Utah. Dave got a little excited after the turn off and drove us just about all the way up the mountain. We noticed from the burning smell that ride down the next morning was a little tough on the brakes, so we had to stop for a bit to let smoke and cool off.

On Friday we got to enjoy the beautiful red cliffs of Utah and a brief blizzard near Vail before making it to Golden around midnight. It's great to see Charlotte again and finally get to know Scott a little better. We spent the weekend catching up, hiking the hills behind their house, eating good food, wandering around Boulder and helping Scott win his hockey game. Wednesday we fly to Boston to complete our journey! More from there...