Our last day in Denver. I woke up a little earlier to prep
the bike, had a healthy breakfast and was feeling fresh. Okay, that’s a lie.
After yesterday’s Pride Festival I woke up late, smashed in some fried bacon
with a pot of coffee and was feeling the opposite of fresh. Last night was a biggie.
Ye' Old Mining Companies
The Godparents packed us into the car and we headed out on a
scenic drive through the Denver outskirts to a small town called Central City.
The town was, back in the day, a hub for the prospectors with evidence of
shafts and old wooden hoists scattered all over the mountain side as you wind
along the dirt roads. The town has since become a mini Las Vegas with
tastefully reclaimed historic buildings turned into casinos and show houses.
Barbara and I do not care much for gambling but the setup there is quite
impressive. Of course there is something for everyone and this particular casino
knew just how to make Barbara and I hang around a little longer: Buffet. Pie
buffet.
We smashed one of every single slice of pie they had.
From there we “hit” the floor with our 20 dollars. The casinos
there are super tech with very few actual one arm jack type machines. Those analogue machines
have been replaced by the love child of Sega and Trump Towers. Flashing lights,
seismic amounts of noise and ergonomically clever designs that have no arm
rests. No, no minion – keep pushing that little flashing button…no time to
relax here.
Grievous Machinery Harm
Barbara’s Godmother sat down in front of one machine with a
long portrait style touch screen and a few blinking buttons on the side. Perched
on her bar stool type chair she set off to blow her 20 bucks. She was down a
few dollars when the screen changed character and went off on a another tangent
– reminded me of the secret bonus stages in the old Sonic the Hedgehog games-
where there is a turbine type thing blowing cash dollars around the screen? Remember that?
So
we all stood (and sat) there staring at this screen with the money spinning
around on it when all of a sudden the lady next to us erupts like a volcano. SMACK SMACK SMACK!
As this little old lady goes full retard assault mode on our screen. “You’ve
gotta hit der money te collect it” she shouts and the light dawn on us. You are meant to
“catch” the money by tapping the screen. We beat the hell out of that screen.
Barbara’s Godmother lost her cool completely and starting
laughing hysterically and screaming while still smashing away at this screen
with her wedding ring sending piercing snap noises throughout the casino. It
was quite frightening. I just hoped she did turn around and see dollars
floating around me or something... I just froze in place from fear.
The pit boss arrived, gave us all the eyeball and we headed
out the door with her winnings.
We headed back to the house with the plan of packing up the
Harley and setting off on our way towards the Kansas State. It was a pretty
emotional goodbye and with a tear in our eyes the rain clouds started up a bit of drizzle.
We headed out of Denver with rain in the rear view mirror and a storm cloud up ahead. Even the weather
was sad.
Sadness to Sweetness in the Air
The first hour or two of the journey was quite solemn. I could sense Barbara was upset and I was feeling pretty down as well. A hundred miles into our journey we hit Kansas State with these huge open stretches of land and this sweet smelling grass that warmed
us up again. The journey planned for this afternoon was only a few hundred
miles to Colby. Then a big one planned for tomorrow.
We pulled into a great American Inn with this awesome little Indian family running it. Dad was front desk and maintenance, Mum was breakfast and coffee chef while Grand Ma ran the cleaning crew. Without dinner on offer we popped over to the gas station and ate ham sandwiches, few bits of taffy and a couple of beers for dinner then headed off to bed.
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