Miracles still happen, even in November. Perhaps especially in November.

While I wouldn’t say November is an especially good time to visit Denver (it isn’t), it was a necessary stop on my way back to the Midwest; and just as in Las Vegas, I had no idea who I was going to carpool with for the next leg of my journey to Chicago.

Yet I had faith that things would work out in the end, as they always had. And so, I did my tried and true methods: I posted on craigslist’s rideshare, as well as voiced my desires to my friend who was hosting me. He didn’t know anyone heading that far, but I was still confident something would work out. After all, I’d already gone over 5,000 miles via carpooling; so with just a thousand miles to go, I didn’t think it would stop working now.

While I waited for an opportunity to manifest, I visited the Colorado Capitol Dome once more (the one with the awesome tour); and soon realized that the intervening five months had sucked most of the green out of the view.

A Match Made in Heaven

Don’t get me wrong. Exploring Denver is always fun, especially if you’re a member of Couchsurfing.org. And I enjoyed seeing some familiar faces at the weekly Couchsurfing meetup. (I also seized the moment to enjoy one last hummus wrap from the City O’ City cafe.)

And then, after a few days, I was contacted by a woman (a middle-aged professional) who was moving to Chicago, of all places. Best of all, since she didn’t feel comfortable driving on freeways, she not only offered to pay for all of the fuel to reach Chicago, but also offered pay me a bit extra for being her driver until we reached the city.

Say what? Get paid to get where I’m going?
I could practically kiss my driver’s license at that point.

Quite simply, it was a match made in heaven, and I’ve written about that experience in greater detail in my article about how to get paid to travel 1,000 miles. Because that’s exactly what happened. I was determined to complete the trip in one day… and I did. But you don’t have to read that article to understand the next (and final) article in this series, because when I finally arrived in Chicago over 16 hours later, a few surprises were still in store before my grand adventure came to a close.

Photos

— Bonus —

Marco appears in all 5 photos in the accompanying photo gallery. If you’re new to the “Where’s Marco” game, it’s similar to “Where’s Waldo” or “I Spy”. But this time, he’s cloaked in every single photo, so be sure to look for him in the dark shadows.

Learn how to play →
Then find him in the photos! →

Coming up Next:

The final part in the West Coast Adventure series, in which I bring it all together, featuring the discovery of a hidden Chicago alley, a bizarre vertical house, and the power of an intention journal.

Don’t miss this.

See what happened in the end →

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All accompanying photos are in the Denver in Late Autumn photo gallery. With so much free, high-quality content, why not tell a friend and share this article?