Western Road Trip 2017 Part 4 – The Final Installment
I make no promises that this will in fact be the final installment but as I mentioned in Part 3, I’m not sure what kind of person keeps brochures and receipts around from a road trip in 2017 and then writes a single post every year. But I’m that person, whatever kind of person I am.
At the end of Part 3, our adventure found our heroes leaving Seminoe State park in Wyoming after seeing the eclipse of the century, driving towards Steamboat Springs. We left at 2:39 PM 8/21/2018 after the eclipse because the drive wasn’t too far. 208 miles we arrived in Steamboat Lake State Park. The trip went up over the top of the state of Colorado on County Road 129. County Road 129 was not the same as most Farm To Market roads in Texas that are well paved, at least 2 lanes at all time and pleasant to drive on. It was only the latter. Other than that, it was narrow, gravelly and not fit for dragging an RV over for a big chunk of it. At one point, we came upon a semi truck who had apparently been following the same GPS route. He was very seriously stuck on a bend in the road that no semitruck had business attempting. It was a beautiful road.
I have almost no pictures of Steamboat Lake which is odd because it was my favorite place of the trip I think. It was cold at nights and dark, wonderfully starry and perfect temps during the day. We had one really good meal at The Glen which is between the park and Steamboat Springs. It’s a nice resort that would be worth a return visit on a trip when we weren’t RVing. The receipt says we must have split sliders for an appetizer and then chicken alfredo. There is no kid’s meal on it though I guess that was still largely true everywhere we went since the kid was barely 1 year old. Writing this stuff up 3 years later lends a very bizarre perspective to the entire affair because I have expectations now that aren’t fulfilled, like seeing a grilled cheese on every receipt.
I bought a Colorado Fishing license at the park on our last day there but I really don’t think I used it. The license cost $31 and I definitely did not catch our dinner with it. We ate at the Creekside Cafe & Grill for brunch on the day we left. They had really good Corned Beef Hash. Wobbles actually got a kid’s croissant here so I guess we were buying her some food. I also remember an iconic country and western store where I bought a nice sweater. One thing I notice is that I started taking a lot fewer pictures. In retrospect, I think it’s clear that we were starting to get tired of being on the road. I have a few pictures of our campsite from the day we left and little else. We paid $2.42 a gallon and $49.11 to fill up in Steamboat Springs.
On 8/23, we headed to Conifer to stay with our friends who had recently moved from Texas. We stayed there one night and it was blessed to be able to have a hot shower that wasn’t in an RV or a State Park bathroom. It was also wonderful to see them and spend time with other people after almost 2 weeks on the road.
On 8/24, we left there after discovering Wobbles had come down with something pretty bad. We spent a chunk of time in a 24 hour clinic later down the road to find out she had a bad ear infection. The vacation was definitely winding down. We stayed outside Pagosa Springs for our last two nights on the road in a very primitive campsite which also in retrospect was a terrible idea. We should have been staying in an RV park with wifi and hot showers because the face one of us didn’t kill the other there is a small miracle. It was beautiful and wonderfully remote but better to be done when spirits were high and not after 2 weeks with a one year old in an 18 foot RV.
We ate dinner at Boss Hoggs on that night which is one of my favorite restaurants in Pagosa Springs. We had something called the Slopper according to the receipt which seems like a bad idea while staying somewhere without indoor plumbing and ventilation. Don’t recall how that turned out.
The next day, we spent a good chunk of time at the Springs which was nice and relaxing. It was made more relaxing by quesadillas and margaritas at Tequilas Restaurant afterwards. They have a great patio overlooking the river there in downtown.
On 8/26, we left Pagosa Springs and drove back to Amarillo. We spent the final night of the trip there with my parents and packed up the next day and headed home.
Overall it was an epic trip. Two full weeks on the road away mostly from civilization and out in nature.