Colorado Trip - Part Four - Sunday

Sunday was, for the most part, just a travel day. Following our freezing-cold night, the hotel was abuzz with stories about the road conditions. We woke up a little later than usual, but we still had to make the airport by 11am or so. Especially since we still had to return the rental car and get a bus over to our terminal.

Now a quick note to everyone about our (Ashley's and my) mothers - they're both worriers. Ashley typically receives weather updates from his mom; for example, he'll hear when it's raining in Aledo even though we're 40 or so miles away. So when she heard about all of the cold weather, Ashley had to continuously assure her that everything was okay.

My mom's no different. Right before we were going to leave, I called her and she told me to bundle up because it was colder than usual in Dallas. It was 50 in Dallas and 20 in Colorado Springs so I was pretty sure I'd be okay.

So, with our mothers being worriers, we simply decided not to tell them that we were going to make a 70-mile drive in the ice. More specifically, that is, I would be making the drive. I'd say I'm slightly better at driving in inclement weather, but I'm still not super-confident in my ability to drive on ice. But I can confidently say that the Camry was up to the task.

So we started out to the airport, driving a little less than the speed limit. The entire countryside was covered in snow, but the highways actually weren't that bad. For the most part, we followed directly behind this one car. When we finally separated in Denver, I checked to see if he was my dream girl, but he was an old Asian dude. Sucks for me.

As we drove, the weather steadily improved. The car's thermometer kept rising, the average speed on the highway increased, and the snow began to fade. About halfway through the trip, the snow and fog were completely gone. And for the first time, since the summit of Pike's Peak, we were actually able to see Colorado clearly. I spent a lot of the driving trying to soak up the scenery as much as I could.

When we arrived at the airport, we handed over the car. I was a little worried because a couple of warning lights had turned on, but they didn't say anything. We hopped on our bus, and we made our way to the terminal.

After enjoying some Panda Express, we headed to our gate. When we arrived, I decided to check on my fantasy football team, and I had a terrible revelation. From the moment we'd planned the trip, I thought the Cowboy game was going to start at 3pm Dallas time. We were scheduled to land at 3:55 so I figured we could start taping the game, and we could watch it when we got home...maybe even catching up before it ended.

But there on my fantasy football update was 13-3 Chiefs in the 3rd quarter. Not only was the game already started, but I saw the freakin' score and we were losing to the winless Chiefs.

And I was pissed. I made a couple of comments about Tony Romo's suckiness, and Ashley got a bit angry about that. Because I was mad (and to not hear anyone talk about the game), I put in my headphones until we boarded the plane. I assumed we were going to lose, and I started hoping Jerry Jones had the balls to fire our coach after such a humiliating loss.

The flight back was uneventful, and I put my headphones back on when we arrived just in case someone mentioned the score (with the game already over) at baggage claim. We'd arranged for Tucker to pick us up, to avoid all the public transportation, and he'd also set the game to tape at his place.

So when we got there, we started to watch the game from the beginning even though I knew what the score would be in the 3rd quarter. I know a lot of people can watch a game that they already know the score to, but I have a lot of trouble with it. When I saw the Cowboys drive into the red zone, I wasn't excited because I knew they wouldn't score a touchdown. And any early excitement didn't really matter...because I knew we'd be down 13-3 in the third quarter.

But if we were going to lose to the Chiefs, I wanted to know who was rightly to blame. I'm pretty critical of these Cowboys, and I want to be able to do so intelligently.

So when the 13-3 moment arrived, I was finally able to watch the game with a sense of suspense. And that's basically when the Cowboys finally decided to play. It's also the moment when Miles Austin decided that he wanted people across the world (or, at least, those people that play fantasy football) to know his name. I was pissed when I found out the game went into overtime, but I was relieved when we got the win.

With that, Tucker took us home. We played some Halo, and then it was time to go to bed. I did some unpacking, got ready to do some laundry, and just kinda unwounded. It was one of those strange trips where it felt like it rushed by...but it also felt like it'd gone on forever.

And even though my computer wasn't working when I got home (Ashley says the starter died) and I realized I'd left my phone charger in Colorado, I was happy to be home. I still had two more days off (and the U2 concert still ahead of me) so there wasn't any need to get back into work mode.

In conclusion, it was a great trip. It was kinda expensive (especially adding in the cold-weather clothes I had to buy), but it was absolutely worth it. I'd like to be able to do at least one road trip for each TCU season because it's pretty fun to go to the opposing stadium and cheer on your team. I realized I've actually been to a road game every season (which is made easier by the fact that the Frogs play in Dallas every other year), and I'd like to continue the tradition.

And I'd also like to make it back to Colorado Springs someday soon. It's a beautiful city with nice people, and it was a lot of fun to be there. Hopefully I'll get to go back, and hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.