Following Someone Else's Lights
The drive out to Colorado was relatively uneventful, except for a few things lol — like the motorcycles. Sturgis was happening, so we shared the road with a lot of them, and honestly, I don't love that. Some bikes run slower than others and passing on a two-lane highway can be nerve-wracking. You must stay so much more alert and diligent than usual — watching your following distance, timing your pass, accounting for wind gusts and how exposed they are out there — it's just a different level of awareness than driving around cars. It's not about expecting a perfectly smooth trip — it just makes it harder to keep on schedule when you're stuck timing your pass just right.
The wildest moment came out of nowhere: a bald eagle was snacking on some roadkill right near the edge of the road, just as Xavier was coming up on the end of a slow lane with a camper on his left. (We drove separately.) I'm sure we were both holding our breath as the eagle took off — their takeoff isn't exactly speedy, so for a second, it felt like he could have unintentionally clipped it. I saw an article recently about how moving roadkill further off the shoulder can help save eagles from exactly that. Might have to start keeping a pair of rubber gloves in the truck.
The scariest part of the trip came toward the end: we drove into storms — the heaviest rain either of us has ever driven through. Visibility dropped so much it became clear that stopping in the middle of nowhere, with no towns around, could be more dangerous — we could've ended up on a flooded road without knowing it. At some point a utility work vehicle pulled in front of us and became our lead car, and we just followed its lights. I was so grateful for that stranger. please see this image (its from Disney so not inserting it here) to understand how we felt!!
Dillon itself was beautiful — I almost wish we'd made the trip up there earlier in the day. The drive up into the mountains, with vehicles going 65–70 on either side of us, was intimidating to say the least. I was determined to drive it myself, though looking back, I wish I'd let Xavier take the wheel on the way down after the concert.
The concert was everything I imagined it to be, I highly recommend attending a Welles concert if you get the chance, those songs hit different live. Even with a big crowd, being outside made it feel like we could breathe, and we got to stand right up front again. Jesse Welles even played a new song for us. I've learned that if I'm going to be that close to the stage, I might need earplugs next time. We met up with Xavier's friend and his dad in Dillon — they were holding a spot for us in line! That made the night even better; that friend has stayed with us over the summer and honestly feels like my kid from another family. My one regret is that we got a group photo of all of us, but not one of just Xavier, his friend and I. Also a side note I crocheted this poncho then forgot to pack it!
The less glamorous part of the trip was hauling Xavier's things up the stairs to the house he's renting with a few others in his program — those stairs are something else. I got things partway up, he carried the rest, and after I left, he handled the actual moving in himself. We also ran out to IKEA and picked up a few things he still needed — we always seem to hit IKEA when we're exhausted from the day, so we never really look around, just go straight to what we need. After that we grabbed some Red Robin burgers, so good.
One small, unexpected highlight: Colorado has nurseries and greenhouses open year-round. We have one like that at home, but most greenhouses here only run spring and summer, so getting to wander a huge garden center any time of year felt like a treat.
I think I was there four days — it's a bit of a blur — and then the long drive home.
The drive home made me question my abilities. On the way up to Dillon, the GPS offered alternate routes, we took them, and it worked out great. On the way home, though, just out of town, GPS offered an alternate route, and I thought, sure, that worked great last time. Somehow, I ended up on open range land — flatter than I had ever seen, and I'm from North Dakota, hahaha — on gravel roads. I'm grateful I can read a map; I found a road I was familiar with, headed that way, and got back on track. Between that detour, hitting a few birds along the way (one ended up lodged in my grill), and road construction once I got back into North Dakota, I probably would have gotten home an hour earlier without any of it — and avoided the nerves of driving wide-eyed, watching for deer the whole way.