Moving Road Trip: Stadiums and Ice Storms

The long-awaited update! Boy howdy, what an insane couple of weeks it's been. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to be settled in my new Colorado home, in my own bed, eating real food and watching my new TV. I don't even want to leave. Go for a run? Are you kidding?

Tuesday the 19th was my last day in Atlanta, and what an epic day it was. Isaac and his brother helped me load my truck (bless them, OMG). Dad flew in that evening, and we got on the road at about 8:30pm. And then...*drumroll*...the driving began.

Day 1, 104 miles: Short day! Our first stop was Chattanooga, where absolutely nothing of interest happened, other than me totally passing out from exhaustion. However, the next morning was all glorious sunshine, and even Dad had to appreciate the beauty of the area. I have always loved Chattanooga.

Day 2, 446 miles:  We headed northwest, up through middle Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Illinois. Interesting Fact from Dad: Illinois is the source of all our problems, and the kind folk of Southern Illinois are not excluded. Dad is a little bit of a raging republican, but I enjoy his political factoids.
That night we stayed at the Renaissance in downtown St. Louis (think that tree will fit in my new place?). We had a spectacular dinner at Mike Shannon's, a Cardinals shrine/steakhouse which caused my Dad to kind of lose his mind with joy. Then we wandered the town to see the Cardinals stadium and the Arch.

 

 

Oh, did I mention that we had to stop and take a picture of every stadium between Atlanta and 

Denver? It's all Dad asked for and it wasn't any inconvenience, so I didn't mind. But it's still hilarious. Here we are, driving across the country, and all he's really excited about is taking pictures of stadiums, which he then promptly emails to his fishing bros. Is this a Dad thing? A man thing? I don't know. Let me share. Please laugh.

LP Field, Tennesee Titans in Nashville, TN. Dad was particularly excited about this one because 1) it's a newer stadium and 2) he thought it was in Memphis. There was a lot of, "Kelly, isn't this COOL?!".

Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis, MO. 11-time world series winners, second only to those damn Yankees. I got a lot of baseball history and nostalgia on this stop, which I've mostly forgotten, but I held on to that factoid. Phrase of the day was, "Kelly, the world series was here only 2 weeks ago. THE WORLD SERIES."

Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis Rams in St. Louis, MO. This shot did not require getting out of the car, because the St. Louis Rams are "as underwhelming as their stadium".

Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City, MO. I mean, it's another football stadium, but I tried to act excited.

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City Royals in Kansas City, MO. Two for one! Right next door to Arrowhead Stadium.

Coors Field, Colorado Rockies in Denver, CO. Obviously we had to do a trip downtown to get this shot.

 

So yeah, a lot of stadiums. Moving on.

Day 3 from Hell, 513 miles: It started out OK. We drove west along I-70 through a steady drizzle in Kansas City and then Topeka. However, as things started to flatten out, the weather began to deteriorate. So we drove for 200 miles at about 45mph through an ice storm. Brutal. Visibility was low, because my windsheld kept icing over. Then my windshield cracked ("Safelight Repair, Safelight replace"), presumably from it being 25 degrees on the outside and 104 degrees on the inside while trying to melt the ice. And yes, it was 25 degrees and raining. I don't even know how that works. The bridges were iced over, which caused a few terrifying moments along the way. By the time we pulled into Hays, KS, both Dad and I were mentally exhausted.

Day 4, 341 miles: The last leg! It was such a relief to see this sign. The rest of the drive was easy peasy lemon squeezy. The roads were in great condition, and we cruised in Denver no problem. Yay! Home!