Steamboat 09 – The Road Trip

This year’s steamboat roadtrip started a little different than most. Instead of driving the 15+ hours straight through to Denver, we opted to overnight in Oklahoma City to break up the trip and try to arrive in Steamboat with some level of sanity. So far… It’s the best choice we’ve made on this trip. Waking up in a bed instead of balled up in a car seat has done wonders for our attitude.

Minus some small traffic in Dallas we made good time and arrived in OKC ready to see Randy Crouch play at the Speakeasy. I’ve never seen Crouch play and believe me, he didn’t disappoint! Andrea, Trina and Ryin welcomed us into OK and took really good care of us since we basically were dropped off by a cab and left to fend for ourselves. After Crouch’s set we were whisked away to another local hangout called Edna’s.. complete with their specialty “Lunchboxes”. Ryin wins the Steamboat Heisman award for going the extra mile in taking us home. Seems there are 2 Sheraton’s off of I-40 and we were not staying at the first one he drove us to. Oops.

An early breakfast at a shady Waffle House and 11 hours later we pulled into Denver with the bad news that Grider was snowed in down in New Mexico. Not to be a group that is easily put off we opted for plan B and all met up at the local Baker Street Pub for dinner and drinks. Everyone filtered slowly in and shared stories of all the road trip adventures. The night was pretty low key but the vibe around those tables was amazing. It felt a little like a family reunion was in the making. So today we’re off for Night 1 of Steamboat when the family reunion really gets kicked off!