Post-Apocalypse Dead Letter Office by Nathan Poell Page A

bit more expensive there, but it’s worth it to not have to go north for anything.

    Now just switch the comes to gos and froms to tos and vice versa and you’re golden.

    Now, OK, you’re probably thinking, why couldn’t I just take 70 west from Denver to Grand Junction. Well, you could. Could. But if you did you’d regret it. It can be difficult getting through Denver these days, and I-70 from there isn’t the best route to begin with. Tunnels get blocked with snow or boulders. I know that’s not much detail, but trust me when I say that it’s just not a good route for you to take.

    I’d wish you luck, but I don’t believe in it. –Bridgestone BOB

    Hays to Pueblo

    First off, as a general rule, try to get as much traveling done as possible in your mornings. It’ll be cold when you roll out, but will warm up pretty quick, and in the summer there are regularly afternoon thunderstorms right up on the front range. They can be severe enough to wash you off the road, so if you need to, stop and find some way to anchor your buggy or wagon or whatever’s taking you out west.

    OK, day one: Hays to WaKeeney. This’ll be as easy a day for you as there will be on this entire trip, assuming you rested up a bit in Hays (and didn’t get a whiskey bottle smashed over your head) or wherever it is you last stopped. If you don’t have any water or run out, you can take a hardtack road – no dirt roads! – a mile or two south or north and there’ll be a stream in just a few miles. Big Creek, to the south, is the closest and best but can be intermittent and the farmers around there are a little overprotective at times.

    Day two: This’ll be a long one for you. WaKeeney to Oakley. Won’t be a bad little ride, just long. Head out as early as you possibly can so you can make it into Oakley before dusk and get more water. Also, visit the gigantic prairie dog shrine out there. Weird. You’ll definitely want to water up in Oakley, because the next leg is a doozy.

    Day three: Taking I-70 up to Colby and west from there seems like a natural. Don’t go that way. Since BBOB had to bite his tongue and dissemble a bit about it, I’ll explain a bit. Denver has become a tightly-controlled syndicate town. Virtually nobody comes in or goes out without the approval of the mob. They have roving bands of thugs just cruising all around the city, scouting things out, stopping folks who are getting around by any other means than walking, and administering beatdowns if necessary. That’s all they do. It’s been like that since a year after the lights went out, and has only gotten worse since a fire wiped out a huge chunk of town a few years back. They’ve even got an outpost of ex-cons in Burlington, just over the Colorado-Kansas border – not worth tangling with. And anyway, you wouldn’t want to go north or west out of Denver. But BBOB and everyone else have covered that much. So, save yourself the trouble of going northwest to Colby (then having to swing back south to go to Colorado Springs or Pueblo) by just taking highway 40 west out of Oakley. It’s a decent road, and you’ll be able to get to Wallace or Sharon Springs by late afternoon, anyway.

    Day four: OK, you’ll cross into Colorado today. You’ll be able to get to Cheyenne Wells, at the very least, but probably won’t be able to make it to Kit Carson. Stop in Firstview. It’s a nowhere town’s nowhere town, man. Nothing there, not even a bar.

    Day five: Head over to Kit Carson in the morning. Then you’ll have a decision point. You can stay on 40 west or take 287 south. Depends on whether you want to head into Colorado Springs or Pueblo before tackling the Great Divide. Personally, I’m partial to Pueblo. The water sources on the way there are a bit more reliable, and the route itself is less severe. But I’ll describe the first route quickly. To get to Colorado Springs, take 40 west to Aroya, then 94 all the way into the Springs. There are a few creeks in