Washington 2023:
Day 20 - Junction City, KS

	Friday, September 1, 2023: We were up at 6:30 AM, ready to head back to Denver to start the long drive home.
	We were back at the McPherson Square Metro station by 7:00 AM, with freshly reloaded SmarTrip cards for the trip to Dulles.
	The train wasn't completely empty, but it was hardly full, which suited us just fine.
	By 8:15 AM, we were back at the airport, ...
	... walking past the Hubble Space Telescope images again, ...
	... and into the terminal building. We had decided not to check any bags for this flight, and we were surprised when TSA didn't require us to remove our ziploc bags of liquids, or to remove our laptops from our backpack, or even take off our watches before going through the scanner.
	We took our time exiting the shuttle area and realized that it was completely empty by the time we were almost out of the tunnel. We made a mental note that if we ever flew out of DC again, come to the airport on Friday between 10 AM and noon.
	We picked up sandwiches and sodas at a newstand on the way to our gate.
	Our flight was delayed for 45 minutes due to a change of inbound aircraft, but very soon we were on board, in our seats, ...
	... and flying west toward the Rockies.
	Welcome to Denver, where the local time is 12:55 PM. Please stay seated as we taxi to the terminal building.
	We walked from the plane, through the terminal building with its awesome wooden benches, to our van where we were delighted to find that the temperature inside the van hadn't gone higher than 82 degrees while we were gone. We were so glad that we had decided to pay extra to park in the covered west parking garage rather than outdoor long term parking.
	We loaded up our bags, reconfigured the van, and said goodbye to the Denver airport, ...
	... and its blue bronco statue with the spooky red eyes.
	Debbie discovered that there was a Slim Chickens on our way from the airport to I-70, so we headed right there. Their chicken tenders are amazing, especially when paired with fried okra as a side. It probably wasn't as delicious as a trip to one of the Denver-area Black-eyed Pea restaurants that we love, but we couldn't spare the time.
	Look at the prairie dogs! We know that if we lived here we would probably hate them, but since we only see them on other people's property, we think they are adorable.
	Continuing our collection of signs with names from our family, we give you the exit for the town of Bennett, Colorado.
	Meanwhile, back in DC, Audrey and Dean were at the White House Visitors Center, and texted us to find out if we wanted them to buy this Easter egg for us. We responded with an enthusiastic "yes, please."
	Just before 5:30 PM, we left the state of Colorado, ...
	... and crossed into Kansas.
	We were apparently on the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway, which was ironic because there was actually very little smoke in the air.
	What crop is that? A very thick version of wheat?
	As we drove, Debbie watched and Tom listened to more episodes of "The Masked Singer." With Debbie fast-forwarding over some of the more inane chit-chat, we reached the season 6 finale about two hours before we stopped for the night.
	There was a beautiful sunset as we drove through Russell, Kansas.
	Shortly after 8:00 PM, Dean texted us a photo of the moon rising behind the Washington Monument and he commented on how red it looked.
	A little more than an hour later, we were also seeing it, and we agreed that it was very red.
	Just after 9:30 PM, we arrived at the Great Western Inn in Junction City, Kansas where we had a lovely room with a king bed and immediately fell asleep. Day 21 >