First Bag!!! (& TR)

I'm sure most everyone knows that sometimes life can really surprise you. Our recent trip to Colorado provided one such experience:

My bag was the very first bag off of the luggage carousel at the airport!! I have never, ever, ever-ever-ever had the first bag and I consider it akin to winning the lotto...minus all the cash and running around naked.

And a second surprise: One of the clinics that we looked at in which Rene could practice chiropractic was very much a diamond in the rough. Imagine splitting open the skull of Don Knotts (rough) and finding a stash of cash (like diamonds...err, you know what I mean.) We pulled into the parking lot and though it seemed a bit tacky, as it was decorated with window graphics that were purple and white and very large, we opened the door and WOW! a very well laid out clinic with fantastic finish work, new equipment, and a doctor that knew exactly what she had going. We're very excited at the opportunity that has presented itself to Rene and will have updates as we move forward.

I also visited with an exhibit design house that I have kept in contact with for the past few months. They are still very interested in me and my work as I am with them. We'll be talking over the next few days to try to get something lined up on which we will both agree. I'm looking forward to see what's in store with that situation.

The rest of the trip was a fun experience which helped cut the stress of the interviewing process. We stayed with a friend from Illinois, Nat, who now lives in Arvada, CO with his wife Jackie. Nat and I are from neighboring small towns and were both pretty successful with our high-school track and field careers. We competed in similar events and I always enjoyed our post-church-service tales of how our respective track-meets fared for the week. We also shared time together during our hunting trips with our fathers, including the near-freezing to death November-rain ordeal. Catching up with Nat was a great experience and I found it amazing that although many years and miles had separated us, we turned into very similar people. It might be a bit eerie, even...but a very, very cool eerie.

We were also able to spend a day with Rene's family who live in Cheyenne, WY which is an easy 2 hour drive from Denver. We finished up our day in Denver on Friday and made the drive up I-25. It needs to be mentioned that the wind that blows from the west is strong, crazy strong. Strong enough that there are digital roadsigns that have messages which warn semi drivers of the potential for tipping over. That's right, the wind is so strong (upwards of 60+ mph gusts) it can turn a moving semi on it's side. And sure enough, about 15 miles south of the border of Colorado and Wyoming, on the southbound side of the road a semi had been blown over into the median and tipped on it's left side. The driver, we assume, had already been picked up and most likely taken to the hospital. The driver's side of the cab had been bashed in and broken glass littered the crash site. There also was a large mound of dirt and grass that piled up in front of the cab as it bulldozed it's way to a stop on the median. Straight out of Hollywood.

After spending Friday evening and the majority of Saturday with Rene's parents, brother/sister-in-law/niece, we headed back to Arvada to stay with Nat and Jackie before our 7:30am flight from Denver to DFW. Let it be known that getting up at 4am to catch a plane after only 3 or so hours of sleep is in no way, shape or form, fun. Not even a little.

P.S. TR = Trip Report