Day 1 - 1/20/10 - Leaving Boston

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Hi there! I've set this blog up as a means for everyone to have a first view of my Colorado adventure. I know I am only away for two months, but anytime you leave for more than a week, it seems like a long time. This adventure will be my first (and maybe last) cross country trip. Final destination is Telluride, CO. Stops will be in Columbus, St Louis, Omaha, Denver and Steamboat Springs. A good friend, Colm Kennedy, was a late addition for the drive out there. I'm sure I will enjoy his company and he will soon understand why this trip will impact the rest of my life.

We left the Boston area at 9am today. Departure time was supposed to be 7am, but the Kennedy family has a history of being late. Or maybe that is the Richio family! I picked Colm up and we hit the road. Music was cued up and ready to go. Anything audio (especially music) is probably the most important item to take cross country with you. I had great play lists set up on my Ipod and the only thing Colm had to get used to was several hours of air drumming and the fact that I'm partially def (from years of drum playing) and therefore like the music loud.

We cruised through MA, CT, NY and into PA. PA is a wide state. The highlight here is the place where we stopped for food. It is called Denny's Beer Barrel Pub and they claim to have the worlds largest burger. I have not done the research, but the picture of these burgers surely puts them up for some award. Check out the 100 pound burger picture in the link (the upper left pic of the 8 pictured burgers)

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=12

Ridiculous. Anyway, Colm got a half pound and I got the one pound. You'll find a pic of our meal within this post and it should be noted that I wanted the two pounder (I could have had my picture on a wall of fame) but Colm talked me off that logic because driving 300 miles after that could have been troublesome. Colm and his half pounder to the left and my one pounder to the right! It was fun.

Leaving PA we had a decent drive to Columbus. We arrived at Vicky's (Colm's friend) home around 9:30pm and within about 5-10 minutes Colm was two shots deep and we we're in a bar. To be honest, this move was welcome after a 13 hour drive. I'll sum up Columbus and our next few days journey in my next post. Things are well and it already seems like I have been gone for a while. Hope everyone is well!