.....through to Colorado.

Dateline Denver, Colorado. 2150hrs Saturday 16/6/12

Day 8

Yes a cruisy day today, back on track after yesterday's hiccups. Checked out in Amarillo and was able to board the 9.25 am bus to Denver, which actually left at 10.25, it was late getting in from Dallas and it was given a full grooming at Amarillo. Bus only about half full. Athough it did fill up along the way and was pretty full by the last pick up in Colorado Springs. The terrain as we left Texas was pretty much all farms and ranches which stretched for miles. Some of the irrigation / spraying equipment I saw was the same as when I was on the Canterbury Plains in NZ back in January...great big mobile arms mounted on wheels which can cover the whole field at one go. As we sped north the countryside turned greener and we had heavy rain in Pueblo. So the stops today in sequence were Dumas (where there was a parade going on), Clayton, Raton (where we stopped 30 minutes for lunch), Trinidad, Walsenberg, Pueblo and Colorado Springs.

I got chatting to a guy who got on the bus at Pueblo and sat next to me. He was going to a truckers training school up in Salt Lake City. And there are so many trucks on the freeways I've been travelling on, much bigger than our NZ trucks. He was telling me that he will be buddied up by his company and the 2 drivers will take turns driving and sleeping (in the bunk behind the cabin) as they cover the vast distances across the continent.

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I sometimes try to compare prices with New Zealand.

Accommodation: Motel accommodation is definitely cheaper in the States. My average cost so far is around the NZ$60 mark per night, whereas NZ would be $120 or $130. However I've only had cooking facilities once here, in Amarillo, and then it was only a microwave. In NZ we get the full kitchen facilities for that price.

Petrol: Again cheaper in the States. Most petrol stations are advertising unleaded at around US$3.50 per gallon. The Auckland NZ price is currently $2.06 per litre. There are 3.785 litres in 1 gallon, so that gives the NZ price at $7.80 per gallon, more than double.

Fast Food: Surprisingly, NZ is cheaper. Perhaps not surprisingly. A Big Mac is NZ$5.50 in NZ. Today it was US$5 in Raton. Thats about $6.78, but I suspect the server short-changed me!

Walmart / Warehouse: I just did a stroll around Walmart and tried  to compare prices. Lots of variables, but clothes and the slow cooker I recently bought (not quite the same model), appeared more expensive than our Warehouse (The Red Shed).

Ok thats enough figure work.....time for some shut-eye...catch you tomorrow.