A Fond Farewell
Waking up early this morning, while not exactly my plan, did have its advantages. The full moon was still out and it was so bright and round, shining over the mountains and pine trees we can see from the log cabin. It was spectacular! We haven’t seen too much wildlife in Colorado yet, much to our disappointment really. With all those fun forest animals just metres away in the trees, we’d hoped at least one or two would peep out and say hello. Maisy held out hopes for a bobcat sighting but I’m not too sure just how friendly they’d be! I was secretly hoping for a moose. This morning Ross excitedly beckoned us all over to the window to see a deer right in our front yard! We were all so thrilled to see it up close and personal and as we crept closer it remained right there for ages. It was so tame.
The daunting task of packing everything up, after spreading ourselves out all over the cabin (no corner was left untouched), was not as bad as we’d thought. Toby was adamant that we make it to Denver in time to watch the World Cup so he was giving us a deadline to work to, which sounds annoying but actually got us motivated and prevented our usual habit of getting sidetracked. Like a well-oiled machine, we stripped beds, stuffed bags, dried and folded washing, took the “trash” out to the bear-proof canister and before long we were packed into the car and Denver-bound.
Toby was giving us a minute-by-minute countdown to the kick off and was eager to get somewhere in a hurry so he wouldn’t miss one minute of the action. We found a great parking spot and hurried over to Katie Mullen’s Irish Pub, adorned with flags of all the World Cup nations and clearly a World Cup hot spot for devotees of the round ball game. We arrived with only….an hour to spare! We’d got the time wrong and had jumped the gun by an hour! In hindsight it wasn’t such a bad thing because we got fantastic seats with 360 degree views of the big screens and surround sound pumping out the commentary. By the time the kick off did roll around, it was almost standing room only and there were German flags and Argentinian jerseys wherever we looked. The crowd was so attentive to the action with equal amounts of cheering and booing to be heard.
We had a great Irish slap up meal while we watched the game and the waitress was outrageously quick to refill all our glasses. Any time you order a soft drink, water or iced tea in the USA, they keep refilling it infinitely for free. These glasses must have been around a litre (HUGE!) and each time they got down around half-mast, she’d whip around like lightning and top them up when we weren’t looking! We must have consumed about 10 litres of liquid each and I’m sure you could’ve heard us sloshing when we walked out. When the game went into extra time, at the 105th minute, we absolutely had to leave or everyone was going to miss their plane! NO! It was still nil all and we fiddled with the radio controls in the car, desperately searching for a station that had the game on. Out of about 40 radio stations, we found ONE that had a sports show on that touched on the score so we continued to listen. As we stopped at a red light, Sam spotted a live site, big tv screen set up with hundreds of people gathered around and just as we drove past, they gave a massive cheer and threw their arms up in the air. The boys managed to glimpse a replay of Götze’s winning goal! The guy on the radio was completely ignoring the goal that had just obviously been scored! Sam checked his Twitter feed and was able to keep us in the loop. He gave us a blow-by-blow description of the rest of the game. What an exciting match!
As we were speeding along the freeway to the airport, the large amounts of liquid Toby had consumed, got the better of him and he was busting! The GPS was informing us of how many minutes it would be until we reached the airport and we were all encouraging Toby to just “HANG ON!” We couldn’t risk another incident in a hire car! We could actually SEE the airport and Molly started doing a countdown for Toby: “we’ll be there in 9 minutes, 8 minutes…” but he was ready to explode! We were on a 6-lane highway where there was roadwork going on and nowhere to pull over! Oh no, please no. Ross whacked the hazard lights on and pulled over onto the side of the road right in the middle of the work zone, not a tree, shrub or bush in sight; just wide, open space on view of every car speeding to and from the busy Denver Airport. But, as we know full well from previous experience, when you’ve got to go, you’ve just got to go! So he went. Right there in the middle of the highway! Crisis averted.
Ross, Molly, Toby and Maisy checked their bags in at the check-in desk and without any effort at all, they were all well under the 50lb regulation! This doesn’t bode well for Sam and I. From now on we won’t have their bags to offload our excess into. Uh oh. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Molly was the first to get misty eyed and then we all started blubbering, everyone giving Sam big squishy cuddles, dotting his t-shirt with their tears. It was really touching to see how much the other kids love Sam and they will miss him dearly. Sam and I weren’t allowed through customs so we waved them off and walked back to the car, our hearts almost as heavy as our bags.
Trading the big family truckster for a smaller model car, we began to exit the airport with yours truly at the helm. Yes, I was behind the wheel again on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road. We prayed before we left. As we were fast approaching the boom gate, it dawned on us that Ross still had the ticket from the parking station and we needed it to get out! Just as it dawned on us, it also dawned on Ross and he gave us a panicked call from the comfort of his departure lounge. Oh well, what could we do? We sidled up beside the cashier and told her our dilemma. She had an indistinguishable accent (and so did I as far as she was concerned!). The kerfuffle that followed was ridiculous! Talk about red tape. She had to call her supervisor, who then had to look up the CCTV footage to make sure we weren’t lying about what time we entered the carpark. She needed my licence and my passport but couldn’t process the ticket because she had never heard of the state of New South Wales! We tried to explain we were Australian but she was totally confused. We actually spent more time at the boomgate than we had spent in the airport saying goodbye to the rest of the family. After all the to-ing and fro-ing between the cashier and her supervisor she finally allowed us to pay the amount owing: THREE DOLLARS!!! (When that kind of money is at stake you can see why the protocol needed to be adhered to so rigidly!)
Our prayers were answered tonight and our drive to Colorado Springs went surprisingly smoothly. I think I may have finally got the hang of it, (even if I did turn the windscreen wipers on every time I wanted to change lanes and put the blinkers on to clear the windscreen when it started raining). I’m still a bit partial to the right side of the lane so Sam just gives me the “over, Rover” signal and I get myself back in line with the rest of the traffic. We were amused at a sign we saw when we were passing the local gaol. It said: CORRECTIONAL CENTRE AHEAD. PLEASE DO NOT PICK UP HITCHIKERS IN THIS AREA!
We were listening to the radio when a computerized voice cut in over the regular broadcast to tell us there was a severe flash flood warning for parts of Colorado tonight. The reception was wavering so we were struggling to hear the list of towns at risk. Just as he’d start to announce them, ZZ Top would cut in with one of their toe tapping riffs. We did manage to hear him repeat: “get yourselves to higher ground immediately” so that was a bit scary! We could see the rain streaking the sky all around us and though we were still driving in the sunshine, the sky ahead looked ominous indeed. We were driving straight into the eye of the storm. Luckily we passed through the storm quickly and arrived safely at our destination, which for the moment is on dry ground.
Sam won the heart of the young girl at the hotel reception with his accent. She told him it was “sexy”! She was flirting her heart out and said she’d always dreamed of marrying an Australian man. Think we’ll have to keep an eye on her!
