The Volkswagen Vanagon is all loaded. We each have a duffel bag, two tubs of food and absolutely no plans. We only know that we will eventually end up in Colorado. 

   It’s 4 p.m. on Friday, July 17th before we actually take off. Only four hours later than we originally planned to leave.

   I drive until 3 a.m. into a town that I’ve never heard of: Mitchell, S.D: home of the infamous Corn Palace. The main thing that kept me going into the early hours of the morning was music. I made a playlist specifically for this trip. Each time a Bob Marley song would come on, my dad would proceed to put on his dreadlocked Rasta hat and we would jam right along.

   We wake up the next morning with our first plan: to see Mt. Rushmore.

   “I want to take all the back roads and scenic highways,” my dad says. “It may take a little longer to get places, but we will see so much more.”

  Sometimes it would get a little steep. The speed limit says 65 and we’re going 50. However, when you’re in a ’91 Vanagon with all of our traveling gear in the back, you can only go so fast.

   South Dakota. Population: 804,194.

   We arrived in Keystone, S.D, just as night fell, where Mt. Rushmore is their claim to fame. Our original plan was to stay the night and get an early start the next day. However, when we realized Keystone was a smaller version of Branson, we decided that we would head to Mt. Rushmore for a night viewing and the lighting ceremony and continue on the road to somewhere. We made it 20 miles into Wyoming.

   The next day was spent driving south.

   “Have you guys been to the rodeo yet?”

   This was the most frequently asked question in Cheyenne, W.Y. 

   I half expected John Wayne to come riding up on his Palomino, tie it up and walk into the saloon. 

 That night, when we arrived in Fort Collins, we were greeted by typical Colorado weather. It was sunny when we first arrived but the  weather soon gave way to thunder, lightning, rain and a large amount of hail. 

   Estes Park. Elevation: 7,522 feet. Home of the Rocky Mountain National Park and some of the most beautiful and challenging hiking trails in the state.

   Walk 10 feet. Stop. Rest on rock. Drink water. Walk 10 feet. Stop. Take picture. Rest. Drink water. Walk 10 feet. Stop. Heave over. Catch breath. Drink water. 

   I finally decided to take off on my own and leave my parents behind if I wanted to make it back before dark.

   Within three hours, we experienced sunshine, rain, snow and 40-degree weather.

   It took us about one hour to hike back to the trailhead. Funny how going downhill is much faster than going up.

   Lake Dillon. Elevation: 9,000 feet. Water temperature: way too cold to swim in. Literally. It’s a regulation that due to the cold temperature, water contact sports are prohibited.

   The only one of us that didn’t mind the freezing water was our dog, Maggie. In fact, I taught her to swim in Lake Dillon. I was waste deep in the water with Maggie “doggie paddling” around me. 

  My family and I spent the day going about 20 miles an hour in a Pontoon boat that we rented. 

   The next day we had our second plan of the whole trip: drive up Pikes Peak. It took us a little while to get there mainly because of all the stops we took. We got there with just enough time to make it back down before the mountain closed for the day.

  Pikes Peak. Elevation: 14,110 feet. A 19-mile drive to the summit, paved only part of the way. 

   Guardrails?

   Not many.

   You look out your window and see clouds. You look down…

   We get to mile-marker three when it starts raining and lightning. Finally, it stops and we are literally at eye-level with a rainbow.

   We reach the summit. It’s 42 degrees. 

   The altitude began to take its toll on us. We’re all getting headaches, having trouble breathing and feeling pretty weak. 

   Of course, that doesn’t stop my mom and I from buying sweatshirts at the gift shop.

   On our way down, we got a whiff of something burning. It was the smell of overheated brakes. Little did we know, it was us. 

   We get to the midway point where they’re doing brake checks. 

   “The car in front of you told me that your brakes are on fire.”

    He takes the temperature of our brakes.

   450 degrees.

   They don’t let the temperature of car’s brakes exceed 300 degrees.

   We had to pull over for an hour to let our brakes cool down.

   The next day is very important: my birthday.

   It was one of the most interesting, random and memorable birthdays that I will probably ever have. 

   I walked outside to find that my parents had decorated the inside of the van with birthday banners, streamers and confetti. We called it the party bus for the rest of the day.

   I wanted to be in Boulder, CO for my big special day. And that’s where we went. 

   Of course it’s about 85 degrees; the hottest its been on our whole trip. And that’s the day we decide to walk everywhere. 

   After being asked to get off the street twice and getting a citation, we finally sat down to a nice birthday dinner.

 The next day, we left Colorful Colorado around 4 p.m. 

   Remember this: the best time to drive through Kansas is at night.

   We drove straight through. It was around 5 in the morning when we got back home.

   Total distance: 2,984 miles.