Packing up and leaving Rochester without Porter was an act of sheer will. We didn't want to do it. We didn't want to do anything but sit in silence and try to bridge the gap between what our hearts and heads knew. He was gone, but a very real part of each of us could not accept it as reality. He was supposed to be with us and thats all that mattered. We received our hugs from Jane and Tony and set out with the Winnie, Zo and ourselves. That night, our destination was Thunderhead Brewing in the heart of Nebraska. They participate with Harvest Hosts, an app that serves to locate overnight parking for members at any number of breweries, wineries, golf courses, farms and any other type of business that might like an additional scrap of business in trade for a square of real estate for the night.
We took our time getting there. Erin pulled the Winnie with the truck for the first time. It was a nice respite for me as I'd been doing the driving. We showed up sometime in the evening, checked in, put some water from the spigot into the tank and settled in. It was in the middle of nowhere. I was sure we were in for a very quiet night. Boy was I wrong. It became evident soon after we laid down that the highway traffic of cattle transport trucks and trains every hour blaring their horn would do all they could to insure a broken, low quality and short nights sleep for us all.
The next morning we were Denver-bound. We got going early. After some deliberation over taking backroads or the highway, we merged onto the interstate and picked off the miles west. Erin's brother Randy lives in Arvada, CO, which is a lovely suburb of Denver, and where we spent the night. None of the home's inhabitants were in attendance that evening as they were beginning a summer adventure of their own, but were gracious enough to allow an overnight stay. We really needed it. We had Indian from Yak and Yeti, our favorite, and went to bed rather early. After about 5-6 hours of the 4th or 5th night of crappy sleep in a row, I awoke somewhat nervous about the days events. The drive from Denver into the mountains is not for the faint of heart. It's steep up and down with many many curves and turns along the way. It is, however, spectacularly beautiful, much like so many things in life that can and will kill you in an instant if you're not careful. It wasn't just the driving of it that gave me pause, it was pulling our trailer with my modest truck. Ive done a lot of work to it to make it as capable as I can, but it had never been tested the way it would during this 2hr journey.
We left Denver around 1 or so. We spent the morning visiting with my brother Matthew and a friend of his who happened to attend a concert at Red Rocks the evening before. I always consider myself lucky to spend time with Matt. As many wonderful things in life his company is often fleeting and can be difficult to nail down. Once we said our goodbyes, Erin, Zo and I piled back into the truck, Winnie in tow and headed west once again.
The drive went surprisingly well. There were a small handful of times I was nervous, but the more I got used to using the sport shifting feature of the trucks AT, the more control I had climbing in the right gear and more importantly descending in the right gear to keep brake use to a minimum. We arrived without issue, unloaded the trailer and truck and got to bed early for another miserable nights sleep.
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