Getting back to Denver from Palisade was basically a straight shot east on I-70 over those big ass mountains! Fortunately, the route was entirely snow-free, so besides the two major passes (Vail and Loveland), we were able to make the trip in relative ease. The truck can normally handle anything that we throw at it when towing, however, we do have to slow down a bit when tackling steep gradients. We are generally happy with our truck, but I must admit that these are the few times that I wish we had splurged and went with the diesel. But, given how infrequent these moments are, I’m still not sure if it would’ve been worth the $5,000 extra bucks. Either way, at the end of the day, the old gal gets the damn job done!
Once we were safely back in Denver, we made our way south along 470 to good ole Chatfield State Park where we had stayed the previous fall when we were in town for a friend’s wedding. By this point we were experienced campers in this area and knew that Chatfield did not have water hookups, so we had the foresight to pick a site right next to the communal water spigot which allowed us to fill up our fresh tanks at any time (and didn’t have to ever worry about moving the whole rig just for more fresh water). Thank God for Sam’s notetaking addiction! It really came in handy on this one.
As I said in the previous post, we wouldn’t have normally chosen to be in Denver during this time of year, but we had some wedding tasks to knock out ahead of the big day in a couple of months, so we were viewing it as a work trip. Thankfully, we had some reinforcements coming to help us get our chores accomplished in the form of both of our mothers who were each nice enough to fly out to Denver, rent a car, and split an Airbnb right near out campground! Aren’t moms just the best?!
In all fairness and honestly, I personally didn’t really have any wedding tasks to get done and they were pretty much all on Sam’s side: dress stuff, makeup trial, and a host of other things that I am surely forgetting. All that being said, I wasn’t completely worthless – someone had to stay behind to make the lasagna (and watch March Madness) while the girls were out and about doing whatever it is that they do!
I also mentioned in the previous post that old man winter felt like he was on his way out the door while we were in Palisade. Well, he must have heard us talking shit, because he hit us with not one, but TWO snowstorms while we were in Denver! Luckily, his old ass really was starting to lose his punch and the snow was gone in a matter of days once the sun came out and warmed everything up. Better luck next year, punk!
