Brandee's Trip to Denver for Jan Harris Area Mary Kay Retreat PART 1=The drive---its a hoot

Okay, well the day started off okay...I guess. I still went to two of my three classes, and thought about showing up at the third one to sign the attendance and leave--but decided I should just go. I met up with Scott who was driving my friend and I to Idaho Falls to pick up another girl, then drive on to Utah. While I was in class, Scott had been packing--and I hadn't cleaned the house before we left, so of course, it stayed a mess. I picked up my friend Brittany, and we went on to IF to pick up Melissa. This first part of the drive was really boring.....
The more interesting part begins when we kick Scott out of the car in Tridell, spent all of ten minutes there, then got back on the road to Denver. It is dark by now at about 7:30 when we were leaving the tiny town of Vernal.
As, most of those reading this know, Dinosaur is the first town in Colorado one comes to on hwy 40, before the turn onto 64, and they also know the speed limit drops to 30 mph. I however, did not know that and when in doubt, in North Carolina, one drives 55. I was driving 55, and upon seeing the sign for 30, I began to slow down. As soon as I saw the sign, the pretty blue and red and white lights came on behind me. The officer comes to my window after making me sit there for about 10 minutes, and tells me he clocked me at 54. I said, "I know officer, I was going 55. Until I saw the sign and began to slow down." He said, "Well, it is 30 through here, and I have never not given anyone a ticket for driving that fast. License and registration please." I am thinking, are you kidding me?! I just told him that I was sorry, I admitted guilt...I could see the sign that said 30 in my rear view mirror. Melissa and Brittany were shocked too--until he came and told me how much he was going to charge me= $243! I was shocked. I couldn't even say anything. The cop explained to me the procedure, and Brittany had to say, "Okay, thanks officer." Because I had not spoken yet. Getting back on the road again, we had not even gone a quarter of a mile, and the speed limit went back up to 60. LAME.

Well, the rest was pretty good. We did not miss any turns, until we reached the outskirts of Denver. Because of my ticket, we had added a little extra time, and it was around 12:30 in the morning. I knew from the directions that we were supposed to get off on something that had a 6 in it and upon seeing the road that said hwy 6, I took it, not knowing it meant 6th Ave in downtown Denver to merge to hwy 25. This detour cost us an hour in what I am sure is beautiful countryside. There was a really turny part in the road and it dropped down to about 40 mph, and the line of cars got kind of tight, becuase I was try to going 40 and the person in front of me was not, I was pretty close on his tail, and he flipped me the bird...oh well.

Well, we finally got off the highway and saw some Denver lights, and went where we thought we were supposed to go. Brittany kept getting mad becuase the map quest maps we had were not very good. They had no major roads, and there was no help for where we were. So, we had the brillant idea of calling the hotel. So Brittany calls the hotel and asks how to get to where they are from where we are. (Keep in mind we are trying to find hwy 25) So, the hotel person said "well, just find 25." "That is what we are looking for." "Well, where are you again?" "We are on hwy 6." "Oh, I have no idea where that is." "Thanks anyway. (hung up). Brandee, it is 1:40 in the morning, the gas stations are closed our only chance of finding directions is getting to a bar. So lets go."

So Melissa is asleep by now, in fact she missed the entire detour, and when we pulled into the bar, she woke up--kinda. Brittany runs in and Mellisa says from the back seat, "Should I go in with her?" I said, "I would feel more comfortable if you would." "Okay." Then she just sits there. So, I wait a few minutes and say, "I'm gonna go and check on Brittany, you just stay here." "Okay." With no movement, Melissa stares off into space--I don't think she was awake yet.

Well, the bouncer at the bar gave us perfect directions, but as we got back onto a road that we had been wandering on, Brittany was like, "I wish we had a better map, or an atlas or something, this is driving me crazy!"

This is when I brilliantly reach behind the back of her seat, and pull out a big red atlas of all the states, and state, "Oh, you mean like this one?"