Thankful Thursday: Road Trip Edition

All through college, I cringed at the inevitable Monday question “What did you do this weekend?” While my peers were road-tripping to a baseball game or a football game or to ski in Colorado, I was being boring. Inevitably, my answer was “I worked. I read. I went to church. I hung out with my family.” That’s what I did over the weekends when I was a student.

This last weekend, though, I enjoyed one of those crazy college-like road trips, traveling to the West Slope of the Rockies in Colorado for a friend’s wedding.

This week I’m thankful…

…for wise advice
Anna encouraged me to work in the afternoon and let the girls pick me up from Grand Island, saving me 1 1/2 of travel time. It was wonderful.

…for the W’s van
The W’s “borrowed” us their van for our weekend trip–and it was lovely to stretch our legs out.

…for Holiday Inn Hilarity
We had plenty of fun that first night–and not a little embarrassment. Men around a non-existent bar, a workout room that looked bigger than it was, a swimming pool but no bathing suit, spilled Fruit Loops and military men. We had fun.

…for beautiful views
The drive from Denver to Montrose on Highway 50 was awe-inspiring. “How can anyone say there is no God?” became our oft-repeated refrain.

…for the Flamenco room
Our bed and breakfast was, um, interesting. But we had fun with it–and it was wonderful to have a place near the action. We met Grandpa (a Husker fan from Wyoming who gave us a little advice for Coach Pelini) and Step-Grandma while still at the B&B–and ended up spending not a little time with them over the weekend.

…an unexpectedly gorgeous gorge
See pictures and description here

…for something to do
When we set out, Ruth was the only one with an official job at the wedding (photographer). By the time the rehearsal dinner was done though, we’d all picked up jobs to do: Bout/corsage pinning, cake cutting, and on-the-spot orchestration. I’m not sure about the others, but I felt right at home once I had a job to do.

…for the gas station guy
For the record, we didn’t go to Colorado to pick up men (or even to watch for them). And we didn’t pick up any men–but we did see some. We had some rather shocking encounters. For instance, there was the rather good looking guy at the gas station who walked right up to our window to ask us if we could back up–or, maybe we didn’t need to back up–oh wait–well, thanks anyway. And then there was the teenager in a truck with a fully loaded gun rack who gave us that “head tip” thing as we were driving along (Um, honey? Don’t go after older women like that.) We had plenty of laughs over the various male sightings we had (Like that? I speak of them as though they’re wild animals seen unexpectedly. But sometimes that’s how they seem.)

…for safety through the snow
It started snowing Saturday night and we chose to start our drive back that evening lest we be snowed in. It was pretty clear until Rifle, but then the weather got bad quickly. I’m thankful Anna had the wisdom to know when to call it quits–and the level head and sharp reflexes to get us through the slick mountain passes on Sunday morning.

…for talking things out
I think you might call what we had on our drive an argument, maybe even a fight. It was definitely disagreement. But it was an opportunity for all of us to speak from the heart, to listen to one another, to seek to come to a compromise. It wasn’t fun, but it was good.

All in all, it was a wonderful getaway. I’m so thankful that God brought me into community with the ladies I traveled with, that He brought Laurie into our lives and enabled us to go to her wedding. God has been good to us, very good.