The giant pile outside our apartment intended to be packed into our Subaru turned out to be twice the size of the car itself. I was hopeful, but E was doubtful that we needed to take the crib mattress, a dustbroom and a tape gun. I just wanted to make sure we were prepared for anything, but the look he gave me made it clear we would be making one last trip to storage before we left. We enjoyed our last night in Denver with friends A&D and E enjoyed a rather large quantity of margaritas. It quickly became apparent that I would be driving the first leg of our journey. The next morning, we headed out early stopping at storage where we deposited my “unnecessaries” and E’s dinner from the night before. And so I drove out of Denver for what would be the last time for a long time with two sleeping passengers. The little one blissfully, the big one not so blissfully. I was grateful we were heading in the opposite direction of the miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic heading into the city and I took one last look at the Denver skyline in the rearview before setting my sights forward.
The drive across Wyoming was marked only by an onset of carpal tunnel due to the relentless crosswind. Had I let go of the steering wheel at any point, we would have surely ended up in Canada. Our intention to avoid all fast food for the next ten months landed us in a small Thai food restaurant in a tiny Wyoming town in the middle of nowhere (redundant?)
We arrived in Park City by early evening, where we would be staying at R&R’s place. After a hour of driving around lost with a hungry, tired, fussy passenger (me) we thought we had arrived at the right place until E set of the alarm of what turned out to be the neighbor’s house, and had to turn himself in. I told him he was lucky he didn’t happen to be carrying a vase at the time. We did eventually get settled and had a very restful evening. Thanks R&R!
The drive across Nevada the next day was, well, Nevada. Our destination was Reno where we would be staying with G, B & C. The only part I remember about Nevada was the way the snow on the ridges of the distant mountain ranges reminded me of rippled satin sheets. This may have been my sleep mirage in the desert, because a giant nap would have really hit the spot. Our friend, the CHECK ENGINE light, made a reappearance about 100 miles from Reno and this time we decided to drive until the car left us stranded in the ditch.
The third and final day travel day, we were blessed with nothing more than a little rainy weather and a very smooth drive. Rebels that we are, we illegally traveled over a California mountain pass without chains despite warnings (the road was only wet) but the whole time we were waiting for the check station and preparing ourselves to be stripped of our licenses, handcuffed, and deported. The only outcome, though, was feeling dumb that we had actually considered taking the 100 mile detour to avoid the pass.
And so we arrived at GF Farm and enjoyed a lovely dinner cooked by and wine vinted by the owner G. Dinner was made predominantly with tomatoes, kale and cabbage harvested straight from the farm. We then settled in for some rest before the real work started in the morning.
Gone Farming 
