We’ve been to Denver before. Denver is not new to us, in fact it was a little like coming home. Right now, if I could pick anywhere to live it would be there. I love it. I love the people, I love the landscape, I love the city. I love the outskirts of the city.

Turns out though – neither Sam or I have ever driven PAST Denver. Nope. Denver was the edge of the known universe. Up to the eastern city limit, we could recognize landmarks and have a general idea of what to expect. Past it and my brain had a hard time even visualizing what to expect. Is the middle of the country as flat as I think it is? What’s out there? Does it all look like…gulp… Nevada?

In some ways our journey really starts here near the edge of the Rocky Mountains. From here everything is new – we have to work together a little better to make sure things don’t go sideways. To make sure that we stick together as a family. I’ll admit I’m a little nervous.

We pull into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and I have a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Are we really going to do this??” I think to myself. I look out over the brown, desert Eastern Colorado landscape and just for a moment I am afraid. There are so many things that could go wrong, yet at the same time there are so many that could go right.

Once again we leave the known for the unknown. Time to take a deep breath and just drive.