BACK ON THE ROAD FOR AWHILE

Back in March, I realized that Mr. W and I were probably going to be able to travel somewhere for the month of July. So, we immediately decided that we wanted to go to somewhere COOLER! OMG, if you have never spent July and August around H-town and the Gulf Coast, you have no idea what an oven it is during the summer. A few days ago, the temperature was 89 with a real feel of 102.  That difference has to do with humidity and that was in June.  Most days in the summer have 90 to 100% humidity. We have met a lot of people who say that "such and such" place has the worse humidity. I'm here to tell you, NO, the H-town/Gulf Coast area has THE worse humidity ever!

After some discussion about where we could go to get the most bang for our buck in a month, we decided on Colorado.  Deciding in March to go to Colorado for July is not a good idea. Especially if you are planning on being somewhere over July 4th.  Yikes! We decided we wanted to go set up somewhere for a month and then do day trips from there.  The rates are usually much less expensive if you book somewhere for a month and it keeps you from dragging a 40 ft. 5th-wheel across mountain passes. We had also decided to try to stay someplace we had not been before and someplace less touristy than Colorado Springs, Estes Park, or Durango. We decided we would go to South Fork.

We have friends that we enjoy doing things with at TT and when they found out we were going to Colorado, they wanted to go.  One couple is retired and wanted to go for a month. One couple is not retired and could only come for about 10 days.

One thing we knew, was that anywhere in Colorado, people from Texas will book the entire summer at an RV resort and return year after year. They will book their site for the next year before they leave the current year. We also knew that RV parks will only designate a certain amount of spots for monthly rentals. The rest are for daily/weekly rentals because they make more money from those than they do from monthly rentals. So, Mr. W started calling and no one had 2 monthly rentals. We got put on a waiting list at one park and around April 15th they called and said they have 2 monthly sites available and could swing a weekly rental too. Problem solved.

The RV park in Riverbend RV Resort and it is where they filmed part of National Lampoon's Vacation.  If you have seen the movie, they stay in a cabin at Kamp Komfort.  Well, Kamp Komfort is really Riverbend RV Resort.  They still have the shell of the cabin down by the river.  Chevy Chase and some of the cast from the movie revisited this place several years ago and you can buy T-shirts in the office that has Kamp Komfort on the shirt.

We left the lake on a Wednesday morning and drove to Palo Duro Canyon.  We spent the night at a place that had decent reviews.  It was OK to pull in and spend the night, but not some place I would stay any longer at.  The next day we drove to La Veta, Colorado and spent the night there.  We stayed at Circle The Wagons RV Park.  It was a very nice small park. After we got set up, we drove up to Cuchara and ate at the Dog Bar.  If you go to Cuchara, it is almost a have to to eat at the Dog Bar.  They did have great food and at a reasonable price.  They also had a nice outside deck to sit on and enjoy the view and the weather. 

Later that night, we were invited to sit out by a campfire with one of the camp hosts and some others.  One of the men, his name was Dick, rents a cabin from this park every year.  He has been coming to the area for over 30 years.  He is from Ft. Worth, TX.  Anyway, he had a baseball cap on that said he was a veteran.  Mr. W thanked him for his service and was thinking that he probably served in Viet Nam.  Dick then said that his birthday was July 3rd and he was going to be 94. Wow! You would have never guessed.  He served in WW II.  One of the few left. It was my honor to meet him.

We left Friday morning and headed to South Fork.  Here are some pics I took while driving down the highway.  For some reason, every time I take pictures while driving down the highway, I want to start singing Rascal Flatts' song Life is a Highway. :)

We made it to our destination Friday afternoon and our friends, Jim and Terri, made it in on Saturday. So, stay tuned for some blog posts. Let the fun begin!