West Bound - Part 1

Well, I finally finished up the thesis and turned everything in, my college career is finally over for a while!

Saturday (Aug 9th) was Matt and Dianne's wedding which turned out to be an amazing event in which I am truly grateful for having been a part of it. I wish Fred wouldn't had brought the Jamison in the Limo, I believe that was my demise for the evening, but besides that, the day was amazing and I couldn't be happier for Vitellos.

I woke up Sunday morning in a soiled tux on a plastic lounge chair in the pool room of the hotel, I have know idea how I got there, but apparently that's were I landed sometime after the reception, which I honestly have no recollection of. Needless to say, I was hurting, still somewhat drunk, and completely confused. I made it back to my house where I started packing up the car. Dealing with 100 pound containers full of shit in the 90 degree sun quickly took its toll on me and made packing process that much worse.

I finally got the car loaded up and said goodbye to 405 E 11th for the last time around 2:00 pm. I swung by the newly weds to once again congratulate them, apologize for my drunken self the night before, and say goodbye. Then it was off the Vienna.

New Car fully loaded

Mom put together a real nice farewell dinner for my family and grandparents that afternoon. The food was excellent and it was great visiting with all the family. I'm really going to miss them all very much.

Me and my sisters.

The first stop on the trip was KC MO to visit old high school buddy Joe Barnhart and crash at his place for the evening. Joe had just made some oysters when I arrived so I got to expand my pallet and try some for the first time - I gotta say, not really a huge fan. We spent the evening shooting the shit and jammin' on the Taylors.

The next day Joe showed me the latest project he's been working on - customizing a Honda Super Hawk 996 sport bike with hand built fairings, custom air intakes, seizure inducing lights and more.

Joe's freshly customized Honda Super Hawk.

I left KC around noon Monday to take on Kansas and Eastern Colorado. My final destination for the evening was Colorado Springs. I have always driven Kansas at night because I thought it was such a terrible state that wasn't even worth looking at. I don't know if it was the fact that driving across Kansas was the first mental break I had had in a while, or if it was the new car, but something made Kansas and eastern Colorado very enjoyable and relaxing.

About 150 miles into Colorado on CO State Hwy 94, I intercepted a group of 6 guys who were biking across the country. They started in Vancouver B.C. and were traveling to Mane. I stopped and chatted with them for a while and offered them some of mom's lemon squares. They seemed to be a pretty cool group and I would have like to camp with them that night, but I already had plans. They're making a documentary on their trip, check them out at www.bikethestates.com.

I met up with Uncle Don, Matt and Josh at a local brew pub (Rock Bottom) in Co Springs. I enjoyed great conversation and tasty beers with them. It's always nice meeting up with my CO cousins.

We headed back to Matt and Josh's house near Garden of the Gods in CO Springs - both the house and views were amazing.

The scenic view from the front porch.

Matt and Josh's house.

Josh gave me a grand tour of the house which included an 8-foot Burmese Python. The snake was really cool and loved to check you out very inquisitively - non-typical of a reptile.

The Snake with No Name.

Josh and I jammed on the guitars for a while before calling it a day. Day One of my trip was amazing.