US Road Trip - day 2

Oct 7, 2005

This was the first time I had ever been to Colorado. 70E winds right along side the colorado river for hundereds of miles. Its one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. I stopped at a gas station to decide whether I should head back, not that I had touched Colorado. I looked at the map. If I decided to proceed any further, driving towards chicago would be the next logical step. I had heard a lot about Chicago downtown and the sears tower. I had always wanted to visit Chicago. I took out my Rand McNalley and tried to estimate of when I could reach Chicago. I would be taking 75N in Denver and then 80E towards Nebraska. I would have to cross Nebraska and then Iowa into Illinois. The distance was flabbergasting. I would have to drive until late night today and then pretty much the entire day without any significant breaks. Then I would reach Chicago in the night. It was quite daunting. I sat there trying to decide for sometime and then told myself, "KK you will probably never get this chance after you join your job next month, your time will no more be yours, it will belong to Bosch. If you do not do this now it will remain an unfinished dream." I made up my mind and continued eastwards.

The beautiful view of the colarado river along 70 made me forget my tiredness. Soon it got very dark. The road became very windy around the eagles nest national park and it started to snow. The truck drivers were merciless, they were ddriving over 80 mph on the windy roads with snow. This was perhaps the hardest part of my drive. I was very tired from the hike in the morning and was feeling quite sleepy but I was on the mountains. It was very relieving when I finally reached Denver. I took 75N and continued towards 80 but I was completely drained. I could not continue for much longer. In general I found this rule quite useful in saving money - "Always take a motel far away from any city and always fill gas inside a city." I decided that I could not go any further when I reached Keensberg. It was 10:30 P.M now. Keensberg is a really small place with perhaps only one motel - the Keensberg motel. I was very very hungry but there was no place to eat here at this time. I went into a local store and bought some bread, tomatoes and potato chips and that was my dinner.

I got up at 3:00 A.M and started off very early (4:00 A.M), since I knew I had a really long distance to cover. It was very cold here. I started along 75N and then took 80E. I reached Nebraska at around dawn-break. The drive in Nebreska was quite scenic with vast stretches of yellow fields and occasional lakes. I had my lunch in Nebraska at Henderson. After a few hours Nebraska never seemed to end and when it finally did - there was now Iowa to cross. Iowa slowed me down a lot, there was a long traffic jam along 80 because of construction and there were a lot of cops on the highway. Unlike in California cops take speeding a bit too seriously in Iowa and cop cars here come in all shaoes and sizes. I took a break after corssing Des Moines and had a pizza. I was running very late by now. It was getting dark and I had just entered Illinois. I called up Bhuvana to tell her I may be very late by the time I reach her place but could not reach her. I looked at the map and remembered that Manisha and Kaustub were at Urabana Champaigne. I called up Manisha,
"Hi Manisha"
"Hey KK how is everything in LA?"
"I am a few hours from your place, can I drop by?"
She was very surprised, "Oh really cool. Where are you?"
"I have been drving from LA and just entered Illinois."
She was quite shocked. That was the last thing she expected me to hear.

Instead of continuing on 80 to Chicago, I took a diversion into 74S to Urbana Champaign. I reached Manisha's house at 12:00 in the night. I had driven for almost 18 hours including breaks. The last two hours of my drive were the hardest. I was feeling very sleepy but I knew I was not too far and had to go on. Seeing Kaustub and Manish was an amazing feeling I cannot adequately describe. Manisha made some really delicious food and my sleep dissapeared upon seeing the couple after such a long time. We chatted for two hours until 2:30 A.M and then I slept. That was the longest stretch I have ever driven in 24hrs.

As I slept I realised that only two days ago I was in Los Angeles and it seemed like a long time ago. LA seemed so far away and it was hard to believe that I had driven this far. It seemed like a dream that was coming true.