That John Denver was full of shit

After our delightful stay in the Mormon City, we began our drive to Denver which took us back through Wyoming. As is often the case on long days of driving, we were forced to stop for gas. About 80 miles after we filled up, the engine malfunction light comes on. Yippee! Kate looks in the owner's manual and learns that this usually indicates a problem with the emissions system.........or that we didn't put the gas cap back on properly. Like I said, it was 80 miles since we had filled up so it seemed unlikely that was the problem. Using our trusty GPS, we found a few Honda dealerships to call to see if our automobile was about to explode. At least two of them turned out to be motorcycle/lawnmower dealers and were no help. Finally we talked to someone who told us that we probably weren't in any immediate danger. Fortunately, we arrived in Denver (Aurora, CO, actually) safe and sound. We had a tame night in the hotel room and went to sleep.

Feeling a bit tired from our adventures in Vegas, Zion and SLC, we essentially decided to waste our time in Denver. We did have a nice picnic lunch in City Park and then took a short drive through downtown but after that we just ran some errands and watched football which we hadn't had an opportunity to do in awhile. So, sorry, Denver.

I bought new running shoes to replace the ones that I decided to leave on the curb in Minneapolis. Equipped with new kicks, I went for my first run in about...........5 months. The combination of being out of shape and running a mile high in elevation kicked my ass. I did two miles and thought I was going to die. Happily, I did not.

In order to cancel out the progress that I had made by running, Kate and I decided to go to Outback Steakhouse (which shared a parking lot with our cheap hotel) for a Blooming Onion (accept no substitutes). We made friends with the bartender, had a couple beers and went home.

We spent Monday morning sitting in a Honda dealership while they fixed our problem. It had something to do with an oxygen sensor and the catalytic converter. I stopped pretending to care about what the actual problem was once I understood the fact that the service would be free because of our warranty. Otherwise, it would have cost over $400. So, it looks like that extra $6 per month was not such a bad choice.