Day 5: The Mile High City
This morning I left the Motel6 behind and headed across the Missouri River into Omaha and the state of Nebraska. I was on the hunt for ‘The Egg & I’ restaurant and found it among the still sleeping suburbs. Refreshed with more benedictine eggs (I’ve got an addictive personality and I can’t get these as good at home in Ireland) I headed west toward Colorado.
This would prove to be a real litmus test for the whole journey; an entire day spent driving. Well I say driving, the car pretty much does all the work. All I have to do is get it onto the Interstate and bring it up to the right speed and hit the cruise control button and sit back. Stopping only twice to fetch more water from the trunk (boot) which was about 40 degrees itself, I made great time to Lincoln, Nebraska and onto Denver. I had intended going along State Route 6 which follows almost the path of Interstate 80W and would probably expose me more to “real America” but time wasn’t my friend today and besides, most people travel along the Interstate system so that’s the “real America” of the now.
Crossing into Mountain Time I was given a nice surprise by going back in time by one hour which extended my day but also took the pressure off mentally as I had hoped to get to Denver before 4pm. I managed that without fear or failure. I booked the hotel en-route using the HotelTonight app and set the GPS and landed on the outskirts of the Mile-High City just after 3.30pm. The hotel incidentally is a disappointment given how much the anticipation that those on the HotelTonight were kind of ‘hand-picked’ – this one is a bit of a mulligan.
I headed into Denver and I must admit, I wasn’t in the best of moods. Between the hotel and the angst I’ve been feeling about how do-able this whole project is, and getting worked up over the state of America in 2012 from what I’d seen so far, I didn’t much want to get out of the car in Denver. But luckily I came across a car park, dumped the Fusion and walked to the State Capitol building. Less ostentatious than the Iowa Capitol, this looked like a busier building. As I sat on the steps facing the sun setting westward, the heat began to warm my legs to the point where I remembered not putting sunscreen on them and decided to get moving again into the shade of skyscrapers. Then I noticed my nose was stinging – this would be the altitude and thinner air. It’s still bugging me. I keep thinking its conditioned air. As I strolled through the streets of Denver I mellowed once more. Denver is a really beautiful city. I arrived just at the end of the business day as the buildings and city breathed a collective sigh of relief that the working day was over. The air was warm (albeit thin!) and cool at the same time. Everyone was going about their end-of-day routines; the first cigarette of the evening, de-stressing after a long day, loosening the tie of labour. I was struck by the physique of both the men and women – most if not all were in great shape. This was a pleasant surprise considering the unscheduled trip to WalMart I made about 40 miles east on the way in – I was struck there by post-pregnancy shapes, overweight young guys and the loud wheezing of many in the aisles.
I had it in my head to go to the Buckhorn Exchange restaurant just on the fringes of downtown Denver. I’d seen it many years ago for the first time on TV’s “Man Vs. Food” and had yearned to go there. I left downtown before 7pm to head out there (I hadn’t made a reservation – dumb I know!). There were some stragglers outside debating whether to wait or go – I made my decision by performing what my GPS loves me doing – a U-Turn. I headed back into the city quickly to eat at somewhere I’d seen when walking up the 16th Street Mall. Marlowe’s had terraced seating and a packed crowd. By the time I’d gotten back there it was emptying out but none the less I called for a table and the bill of fare. I ordered the New York Strip (and was annoyed at the lack of other native Coloradan meats such as elk and ostrich). It was delicious – but then again I hadn’t eaten since Nebraska. Filled with the fillet, I left the tip and walked back to the car to try to catch Michelle Obama’s speech at the DNC in Charlotte on CNN. All that done, now I need to plan tomorrow. Night all!