Date: 2014-04-27
From: Chestnut Knob Shelter

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Hiking Day 46: Sunday 27 April 2014On Friday, 25 April, we got into Denver, and found my cousin Frank and Judy's house - five ring circus with our 2 dogs and their 3 dogs. Our Chena is not only "Warrior Princess" but also BULLY! She moved in on George while he was eating and started chowing on his food! He just moved away!Great visit that evening. We went out to dinner, leaving the dogs "Home Alone"! We had a nice dinner and conversation, AND the dogs didn't destroy the house or each other.Saturday, Frank and Judy took us into Denver for breakfast at Dozen's, and then we walked around the area of the state Capitol Campus. What a beautiful day in Denver. Hope it holds out for the wedding we're going to later this afternoon.The wedding, sort of the impetus of this trip, is the son of friends we knew up in Alaska 30+ years ago. The son, Scott was about 4 years old at the time! Scott is the youngest of three siblings and we've gone to all their weddings! Before the reception, we were talking with Scott's mom Susie. She asked if we got the "Save the Date" email. She's remarrying and invited us to her wedding. As it turns out, We were plannning to be back home about the time of her wedding in California. Well, we're looking at a bit of change in our final plans!We woke up Sunday to high wind. Judy made us fluffy pancakes, and Frank whipped up some berry sauce. Yum! Yum! Sorry, Buffalo, I don't think I can be that good to you on the trail after driving across the country! But THANKS, Judy and Frank!As we headed east, we got heavy rain and even some snow. Our car's thermometer said 34. As we drove east, the rain eased up and we decided to stop at Seibert (Colorado) Travel Plaza, a small gas-and-go with nothing else around, just off the highway, thinking that we ought to top off the tank while it's not raining. It was an upper body workout to open door! As I "walked" to the store, I got pushed to the entrace to the point of "running" without knowing I was running! Afraid to take dogs out for fear that Chena would fly away, but it wasn't raining very much (eye of the storm?) so we parked around the side of the building and I first took MacGyver, at 20 pounds. He did not fly away so I took Chena at 10 pounds! All's well, so on the road again.The rain pretty much stopped, but as we were getting closer to Kansas, we saw a blue spot in the sky! We crossed into Kansas with no rain but we saw a haze out in front. We hadn't driven 90 miles from our last fill-up, but when we saw the Travelers' Oasis in Colby, KS (complete with fake palm trees), Marty decided to fill up again in case that "haze" was a dust storm, or worse. Nice and sunny, at this point, We decided to take the dogs out. When Marty opened the door to get MacGyver, he got past Marty and escaped! Oh great! Fortunately, there was a fence that kept MacGyver going in a straight line and Marty was able to grab him. This dog is NOT a "Come here" kind of dog. That got the adrenaline going, unnecessarily!Saw a billboard: "You're in LIQUID Country - Agro-Culture Fertilizer". Hmmmm.Got into Salina, Kansas. La Quinta was just off the highway. We try to find easy on-off places! We went into town for dinner at Martinelli's Italian Restaurant. A lot of their dishes come in sizes: Family, Half, Quarter, including the salads. We decided to order a Quarter salad each and Half of the tortalini entry. Our waitress suggested that the Quarter portion of the pasta dish would be enough to share, with the salad and bread, so we went with it. It didn't look like much, but for the two of us, it was satisfying but not filling, which is a good thing. It was a rather large "side salad".We were still eating the salad when the server brought the dish of pasta and extra plate. He asked, "Would you mind if I split this for you?"To that, I replied, "No thank you, we'll serve it. He (indicating to Marty) may get more of it anyway." The server walked away.Our waitress came by, and seeing the dish of pasta with the empty dish still on the edge of the table, she asked, "Can I serve you your pasta?""The other waiter already asked us, but we can get it. Thank you.""Well, this dish of food and empty dish near the edge of the table and the low water in the glass are making all of us nervous. We're trained to be of help!""OK, feel free to serve us! We don't want to make you all nervous!"   I guess it's like not being able to pump your own gas in Oregon!At the end of dinner, Marty told the waitress that we're just passing through and would like to find a grocery store."Hmm, we're not big into grocery stores. We have Dil.... Oh, Dillon's. That's where you should go!"We found that to be an interesting comment. She must have thought that we were looking for something like a Walmart, Costco, or big national food chain. She then proceeded to give directions to Dillon's.It is always interesting to travel to different places!Thanks for reading. We'll be seeing Buffalo soon and I'll get him to update for you "Buffalo Groupies"!The Mum (or Mummalo, as a "Groupie" called me!).....