We left Tijeras, New Mexico on April 15th and headed east on I-40 to fuel up and then head north to catch I-25 into Colorado. It was a reasonable drive and we decided not to stop in Trinidad, Colorado as planned but instead pushed on to the south end of Pueblo, an unincorporated town called "Colorado City". In that last 30 miles we hit high winds and it was not a fun drive.
After 318 miles we were camped at Pueblo South/Colorado City KOA.
There were many rabbits around:
And nice Colorado views:
April 16th the wind was down and we headed north. Everything looked fine until we hit the south end of Denver metro and then it started snowing:
152 miles this day and we were parked at the Golden, Colorado city campground, Clear Creek RV Park with 50AMP electric only. Here is the motorhome in the snow:
The roads were bare and wet so even though it was snowing we decided to eat out and visited the local Romano's Macaroni Grill for dinner.
In the morning the snow had stopped and the skies started clearing. Here is our view to the driver's side, which is north:
How we looked in the morning with Evita in the windshield.
It was Evita's bath day and here is Evita getting dry in the windshield.
The views around the campground are great:
We took a drive into Denver just to look around and came back the same way we had traveled the day before towards Golden. This is the view we could not see the previous day because of snow:
We had lunch at Red Robin and shopped and got gas at Costco.
After we came back we walked into downtown Golden Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
April 18th we headed to Steamboat Springs to visit friends.
April 18 Photos on the trip to Steamboat Springs, Part 1 (I-70), Part 2 (CO-131)
We met up with friend Liz at the Holiday Inn parking lot and she led us to our campsite, in front of Ann's parents' summer home. We had driven 185 miles.
We had not seen Liz since we visited her and Ann when they lived close to Colorado Springs in October 2002. We had planned on stopping on our way east in September but they had some family crisis going so we delayed.
Nice location:
We had taken the route of I-70/CO-131 to avoid Rabbit Ears Pass on US40 since we had heard horror stories about it. We learned they had redone the pass three to four years earlier and it was now big vehicle friendly. Next time we will take Rabbit Ears pass.
Ann's parents' summer home was very impressive. We had the run of the place if we wanted and did take advantage of the kitchen for some meals. It got into the lower 20s at night but when the sun was out it was pleasant during the day.
This time of year is called "Mud Season" here, when the snow melts everything is muddy and brown or gray. The colors are dull since the trees and bushes have not yet leafed out.
Evita walk in the snow:
Ann and Liz's House, Part 1, Part 2
We ended up out to eat exactly twice, once for a lunch at the local Qdoba and once for lunch at the 4-star Winona's Restaurant, which only serves breakfast and lunch. Liz showed off her culinary prowess for most of our dinners, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
It was a great visit but we need to come at at better time of year next time. We also enjoyed meeting some of their friends both at Winona's and at their house.