Pt 31 – Aggravating Women & The Land of Painted Pianos

Tuesday, May 14th – Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

Most of Rocky Mountain National Park was closed off due to snow, so before leaving, we utilized the $5 showers at the laundromat in Estes Park, CO and cleaned some clothes. I headed to the post office to send some gifts home. It took me a while to find the smallest box that would fit everything inside and the red-headed woman had watched my every move before handing me tape to use. After doing so, she immediately (and rudely) told me to get out of the way. I walked up to the other person behind the desk and he kindly informed me I used the wrong tape (“priority,” which she personally handed me), for the box I was using and it would have charged me more to do so. I’m convinced the lady hates her life and got some sick enjoyment out of me re-boxing everything all over again. Some people are just a**holes for a living.

I tried to shake off the rude postal worker and got some coffee with Trevor at “Kind Coffee” in town before we headed out. On our way along US-34 East, a woman laid on her horn as she illegally passed us. The day was off to an aggravating start. I secretly hoped she would drive off the road at high speed and fly down in the river below. These things never happen when you want them to.

We took US-287 North to Fort Collins and stopped at REI to buy climbing shoes (we had intentions of doing some bouldering at one point). I was astonished at how flat the area was. We had been around colossal peaks all throughout Colorado, and this was the first time none were in sight. We cruised down College Avenue which reminded me a lot of Congress Avenue in Austin, TX.

Unfortunately most of the shops were closed for the day so after purchasing chalk bags in the outskirts of town at an outdoor gear store, we went to Loveland, CO to sleep in the Walmart parking lot. I did some reading as Trevor struggled to find the word, “ascend” in his word find. A car blasting his bass playing Dr. Dre’s “Dre Day” passed by. I wondered what year it was.

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We ran inside Walmart to grab a few things and when we returned to the van we noticed someone had added a heart-shaped Colorado Flag sticker to our sticker collage on the window. We approved. After going to Looba Looba Jiffy Lube for an oil change, we treated ourselves with some french-pressed coffee at “The Little Bird Bakeshop” where hipster doppelgänger Ryan Gosling worked and made fancy designs in foam.

We did our fair share of walking around town before grabbing lunch at “The Red Table Cafe” which had some excellent food.

Afterwards, we decided we’d take our butts down the road to “The New Belgium Brewing Company” since we were so close by. We still were rolling sober during this trip for the sake of saving money, but we figured we’d check it out anyway. The hops smelled amazing as we approach the brewery. It was a pretty cool set up and they offered free postcards which they would mail anywhere for no additional charge. I’ll have to return for their brew tour.

We took I-25 North out of Fort Collins and after driving through the middle of nowhere for quite some time, we finally arrived in Wyoming.

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Jump Back to Part 30: Ghosts, Delirium & Talking to Turkeys

Jump Ahead to Part 32: Clown Cookouts, Bones & Vedauwoo

OR

Start Over at Part 01: The Blue Bubble, Freebies & A Rude Awakening