23' Trip Stop 1: Denver to Cokeville; Thank God for Harvest Hosts
- Road Tripper USA
- Dec 5, 2023
- 2 min read
That title reads like some Hunter S. Thompson story--but alas, there were no bats or Hells Angels. This is a family blog...at least this part of the story.
The launch of our journey was stalled by traffic issues, all before even leaving Colorado. The 2018 Kodiak Cub 175bh pulled evenly up i25 north by our loaded F150. We barely made it an hour out of Denver before some strange recollection entered my brain--there was a Duck Donuts location opening along the highway in Johnstown. Was this a dream I had?
Duck Donuts is famous in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. If you know...you know. We'll have more blogs about the OBX. A quick Google search confirmed my thoughts, as we skirted off the highway for a quick reprieve. The boys loved their little treat and my only regret was not ordering more of these delicious little delicacies.
I was anxious for the road, however. We had a long trek to Cokeville, Wyoming, where we'd scheduled a Harvest Host stay--a free RV landing spot. More on that program later.
We attempted to skirt around some of the i25 corridor and elected to take the more scenic HW 287 past Ft. Collins and into Larime, Wy. However, there was a major accident on 287N and we were at a dead stop, along with thousands of other vehicles. After about an hour, an officer informed us we'd need to turn around or we'd be stuck for several hours. Without haste, I nervously twisted the truck and camper across the little backwoods highway, inching to a jackknife before finally clearing safely across the road heading back down south, then back east, before meeting up with i25 again. more donuts?
The rest of the journey was uneventful, if not slow, and somewhat frustrating. We fought off the Wyoming wind and lost precious gas mileage heading into western gusts. A bit after Rock Springs, we exited Interstate 80W and moved onto the slower Highway 30. A couple of hours later, we made it to the tiny town of Cokeville and the Hideout Motel. We had dreams of eating at the Gold Buckle Grill, which is right across the street, but because of our travel deals, we were too late for a meal in this sleepy town.
The Hideout offered us exactly what we needed. The owners were awesome and the bathrooms were amazing. They operate as a motel but have several spots for RV dry camping. These are free for Harvest Host members. They even have full hookups for about $20 a night if I remember correctly. And...free breakfast is included. As is the proper thing to do when staying with a Harvest Host, we bought the boys cowboy hats and other trinkets from the gift shop. It was well worth it. (Read more about Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome below). If interested, check out our affiliate links for discounted travel):
Keep following along. Next stop: Lava Springs, Idaho.
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