Day 54: Colorado Springs

I get up pretty late. I am in no hurry and I stayed up late getting my blog updated. I shower and pack up all my stuff. I drag my huge suitcase down the stairs and stand in line to check out. I see some touristy brochures. Some of them are for things that we had talked about doing so I grab a few. I find some coffee and grab a cup. I wish I had not forgotten my thermos... I have no lid. I make it through the checkout line and am ready to go.

Now that I have coffee to hold, I don't have enough hands to carry all of my stuff. I stand there for a bit, rearranging things trying to figure it out. One of the guys that had been in the lobby asks if I want help. That would be nice actually. As a general rule, I try to never ask for help unless it is really needed. However, if someone offers, I generally do not decline unless there is some sort of extenuating circumstance.

With his help, I get all of my stuff to my truck. No one has messed with my cover or stolen my skis! I load it up and drive half a mile down the road to a truck cover place. I walk in. Ummm, hi. So I have this cover and I need help installing it... can you do that? They look at it. Yeah, they can get it the rest of the way installed for me. I make an appointment for 3:30 since they can't do it now.

My phone has been horrible. I have not been able to make a call where the other person can hear me in 2 days. I find an apple store and decide to call and make an appointment. They answer. And can't here a word I am saying. Bah!  I set off in that direction. I arrive shortly after. Awesome. They have Chick fil a here too!! I know where I am having lunch. I go into the Apple Store. Hi, I am a long ways from home and my phone won't work. I explain the problem. They clearly have no idea what is wrong with it. They offer to look into it and tell me to call them back later to see if they have a solution. Hellooo, I CAN'T call you. Remember, my phone is broken? They give me an e mail. Well that was unhelpful. I am about to go find a mountain to throw my phone off of.

On my way out of the parking lot, I spot an AT&T store. Maybe I can buy a new phone there.... I walk in. I am swarmed by 4 employees. Apparently it is slow right now. They ask what they can do for me. "Well, I am thousands of miles away from home on a road trip and my damn phone won't work and the Apple store was useless."  They tell me there is another, better Apple store a few miles away. They make an appointment for me and give me directions. Thank you!!!

I stop at Chick Fil A to get some lunch on the way. They have gotten all fancy. You order your food and then sit down. Someone brings it to you! And they have random people wandering around asking you how the food is and if they can bring you anything. The customer service is pretty impressive. Kind of over the top in my opinion but it is kind of novel.

I set my GPS to the Apple Store. I will be 20 minutes early. Oh well. I arrive in the parking lot a short time later. I can't find the mac store in the huge strip mall. I park and decide to walk. I eventually find it by using the map app on my phone. Make the pulsing blue dot move toward the pin that says "Apple Store".  I finally find it.

I go in and check in for my appointment. A few minutes later someone is helping me. He asks what is wrong with my phone and I explain. He cleans out the speakers and does a test call. Go figure, my phone works just find when he calls. Seriously dude, there is something wrong.  He wants to backup the phone and restore it. Ummm, I am no expert but I think it is a hardware issue and that most likely the speaker is going bad. I don't really want to restore my phone.... He tells me that is just part of the diagnostic process. And mentions new speakers and stuff will be a hundred dollars or so. I do not look pleased.

He then suggests that I get a new phone. Won't that be lots of money?  Apparently, if I am eligible for an upgrade with AT&T, I can sign a new contract, get a new phone for less, and keep my unlimited data plan. Well, if I had known I could keep my unlimited data plan I would have done this sooner! They help me set up the new phone. I run to my truck and grab my computer so I can sync all my info. I spend the next hour or so doing this.  By the time I am done, it is time to go to my truck appointment.

I show up a little early for this as well. This whole being early thing is weird. They take my truck and tell me it will be a little bit. I got outside and call Tanya to finish our conversation that my phone so rudely interrupted last night. Heyyy!!! I got a new phone so I can actually talk to you now!!!

45 minutes later, she has to go to class and my truck is still not back. Well, I don't feel bad that it took me so long last night!  I give my mom a call. I have been trying not to call her when she is at work but hey, I have time so why not!  No answer but I leave a message. I wait a little longer before my truck reappears. The cover looks good!

I check it out. Heyyy, do you mid putting a bracket on the tailgate so that locks up too?  I didn't get that part with the rest of the hardware but could you find something? The truck disappears again. I go inside to pay. The place seems to be a family run place and the desk lady has her young son with her. He walks up to me and asks if I have a baby. Uhhh, no?  He informs me that he was wondering because I am holding a blanket. I try to explain to him that it is my coat. He is confused as to why I need a coat since it is so nice outside. I know it is nice! That is why I am holding it and not wearing it! Curious kid.

The truck soon reappears with a lockable tail gate. I thank them and they tell me to let them know if I need anything else. I take my stuff out of the cab and throw it in the bed. It fits differently than in T Rex. I hope Diana and Ashlyn don't have a lot of stuff.... it is pretty full.

It is almost 5. There is a Dinosaur museum a short ways down the road so I decide to check it out. They close at 6. A short time later, I arrive. I spend an hour wandering around looking at the dino bones. They are pretty sweet. It is a pretty small place and I am the only person there. The employees are dying to tell me all about dinosaurs. They seem to fail to realize how much of a nerd I am and how much time I spent studying dinosaurs as a kid. Most of the information is pretty basic and stuff I already knew. I did learn some interesting things though. This place supplies casts of dinosaur bones to over 150 museums and universities. One of the ladies lets me hold a real T Rex bone!  Super cool!

Megaladon skeleton. That was a biggg shark!

T Rex!!!!!

I wander through the dino-filled gift shop on the way out. I thank them for being so nice near closing time and head off. I make my way to the airport.  On the way, my mom calls. I talk to her for a bit. I miss the turn off for the airport. My GPS starts yelling at me. I yell at it. My mom is mildly concerned. "You guys aren't getting along are you?"  No! He is always so demanding of me! She lets me go so that I can successfully navigate to the airport.

After a few more wrong turns and some more yelling at the GPS, I finally make it 10 minutes before the scheduled touch down. While I am parking, Diana texts me that they landed. Cool, I am here!  I do a horrible job parking and run over a curb. I get another text 3 minutes later, "We are at baggage claim." WOW that was fast. I go running into the terminal. They already have their bags and are walking out. Jeeze that was fast!  Hiii!!! Nice to see you again!!!! They both have decent size rolling (ie non squishie) suitcases. Hmmm, this could be interesting loading everything.

We head out to the truck. I spend a bit rearranging things. NO! You will not have to hold bags on your lap the whole trip!  I will make this fit!  I do. We hop in the truck and talk about their flight and my trip and other random things. Ironically, the hotel we are staying at is the one that I spent 2 hours in last night putting my cover on... hmmm. I hope they don't recognize me. We stop for some dinner on the way and the get to the hotel.

For being reasonably priced, this place is fancy! The lobby is full of plants and waterfalls, there is an indoor pool, and there is a fire place. We head to the room. It is pretty nice too. We decide to wander around the hotel. We find a hot tub. Hmmmm let's go there! We go and change and head back down. It is past 10 and they supposedly close then. No one seems to care though. We meet some random people there from Minnesota. We talk about traveling and wildlife we have seen and some random things.

After the relaxing time, it is time to plan tomorrow. I don't like planning and I always try to cram too many things into one day. We do a good job of making a nice loose plan. We decide what we want to see in the next two days and have a general location of everything. We check the weather to see what might be affected by that. Alright. It seems under control!

The wind has picked up again. It was pretty windy today. However, the later it got, the stronger the gusts got. The walls are creaking a little bit now. I trust some engineer did those wind load calculations correctly......