Leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming it was a windy day on routes 85 then 66 into Longmont, Colorado. We passed through many small towns along the way and the snow-capped Rockies were a persistent reminder. We would be entering Colorado for the third time after nicking the northeast corner travelling from Utah to Wyoming.
Nunn, 1.8 sq. miles, 500 people, Nunn is the home of Greenfaith Ministry, the nation's first cannabis sacrament church and charity. They had 2 water towers, a modern one lettered NUNN and an older one emblazoned with WATCH NUNN GROW. Farm fields, tractors, grain elevators, prairie dogs, and on the flat land ever present views of those Rockies. We went down a dirt street since it seemed to be built up and found Bellmore Farms on of the water / mining equipment / resellers and a self-storage facility. About a third of the town's budget is generated by citations written by its police department. We passed through without incident.
Ault, Colorado which bills itself as "A Unique Little Town" as a population of about 1500. There is a little bit of a village with a full-fledged set of traffic lights, grain elevator, liquor store and more. More and more we were seeing croplands including corn and major irrigation.
Greely has a surprisingly happening downtown for a place on the edge of nowhere. Turns out it has about 100,000 people tucked away including the University of Northern Colorado. We noticed unique streetlights and light posts, unlike the usual rural styles. It turns out that in 1958, Greeley became the first Colorado city to have a Department of Culture. In 2014 the Greeley Creative District was certified as an official Creative District by the Colorado, Office of Economic Development and International Trade. They enjoy 300 days of sunshine yearly and the town has 40 parks! There is a lot going on with wind turbines, natural gas, other energy. The town did have an obvious sell of cat food. It is home to a Swift & Company meat packing plant.
In Platteville we stopped by Miller Farms. This is one of those classic farms that is trying to be a event destination and looks like a movie studio backlot. Western street facades, playgrounds, spaceships, airplane fuselages, all sorts of trucks and tractors, helicopters and endless odds and ends. Nothing commercial seemed to be going on. We wandered, took pictures and were on our way. It was a classic roadside attraction.
We entered Longmont is search of the World's Largest Sticker Ball at Sticker Giant. Thank goodness for the GPS. After a torturous path though an industrial landscape we finally arrive a Sticker Giant. This is a company that makes stickers. They decided in late 2015 to create the World's Largest Sticker Ball. As of National Sticker Day (Jan. 13) -- which was also created by the company -- the ball weighed 231.6 pounds and had a circumference of 8.8 feet. The ball's name is "Saul." Visitors are encouraged to stop by and slap stickers onto Saul to add to its largeness. Lorna and I did our part, each signing a sticker and slapping it on the ball. They came out to the lobby, were gracious hosts and thanked us for stopping by.
In Longmont for lunch we went to The Twisted Noodle, I had an Italian Sloppy Joe. It was a twist on the classic comfort food. More so the restaurant was a storefront in a busy strip mall, and like a stick in the eye reminded me that we were back from the wide open spaces.
After lunch we checked into the Best Western PLUS Plaza Hotel, we scored with a suite in the Executive wing complete with Sleep Number bed. Having nice place to wind worn as a nice touch, but there wasn't much time to relax. Tomorrow we'd be catching the redeye home from Denver after spending the day in Boulder so we needed to get sorted out and packed to fly today.
If you have read though this journal you'll remember that on the first night we got a cooler and a bunch of odds and ends to use on the trip. There items weren't coming home, not to mention the stray items that you can accumulate in a vehicle during a month. We spent the afternoon sorting thought the luggage and vehicle culling and carefully packing the weighing to stay out of trouble when checking the bags. By the end of the day things were pretty well sorted and ready for final pack-out Saturday morning.
In between we went out and found dinner at the Pump House Brewery. I had the Soft Chicken Tacos, they were good but the spices were a little off for my tastes. We did get a nice open-air table out on the front patio. I was a little surprised to get misted from above every 5 minutes or so, it wasn't all that hot. Now I know how vegetables in the produce section feel. After we ate we did a preflight drive up the street to pinpoint the thrift shop.
