Our journey began bright and early on Saturday, May 15th - hitting the road around 7 in the morning and making a quick stop for gas, coffee, and breakfasts sandwiches at Kwik Trip before starting to head out. The route we chose took us down through Illinois, skirting Chicago, and hooking up with I-80, which we would take all the way through Nebraska. Our first couple hours were spent outrunning some inclement weather but once we hit Iowa it was all corn fields and construction.

Our first stop for gas and a bathroom break was at The World’s Largest Truck Stop in Iowa on I-80, mostly because B wanted to get a koozie (his family loves to collect them) and a magnet for our fridge. I was amazed because this truck stop has everything - a dentist, COVID shots, a food court, showers, a movie theater, a museum, even a dog wash! A downpour started just as we were leaving so I couldn’t get a good picture of us in front of the signs, but this stop also took longer than we anticipated so we were eager to get back on the road.

When we were route planning, we decided that 10-12 hours was long enough to be in the car so our stopping point (there and back) was North Platte, Nebraska. This town is a literal speck on the map, but we found a dog friendly hotel (we stayed at La Quinta Inn & Suites) to top at for the night. The big draw of this hotel (besides that B could get a bunch of points for booking the room -always sign up for those loyalty programs, friends!) is that they had a dedicated patio/green space that was fenced in just for dogs! Although a huge storm rolled through shortly after we arrived, we were able to take the dogs out and let them run a bit before a deluge of rain dumped on North Platte.

When I was looking for hotels, I used Yelp to research the areas around the hotels and in the Yelp reviews for La Quinta in North Platte, many reviewers mentioned Pals Brewing Co. as an option for food that was close-ish to the hotel. They have a pretty decent selection on their food menu and when B and I arrived to North Platte, we decided to get a pizza from there. We chose The Farmette, which had shredded fire roasted chicken, spinach, Pals Brew marinated mushrooms, and goat cheese on a garlic avocado oil base with mozzarella. Holy balls, this was so damn good! We had 4 pieces left over once we were done eating that we definitely took in the car the following morning for breakfast.

Instead of taking the route that Maps tried to give us that took us down into Colorado through Boulder, we decided to go through Cheyenne, WY and down into Steamboat Springs, where we stayed for one night at a brand new Residence Inn that was dog-friendly.

We arrived early in the day and were able to check in early thanks to B’s “super fancy elite” Marriot status. After taking our stuff in from the car, we took the dogs three blocks down to a walking/biking path that runs along the Yampa River.

The walkway is nicely paved and also goes by the Yampa River Botanic Park (which is free but not dog-friendly and has lovely guides to answer any questions you have) as well as Emerald Park, which has sports fields, bathrooms (yay!) and dog poop receptacles. That is one thing that we noticed everywhere we went in Colorado - dog poop bags and trash cans were always easily accessible.

Unfortunately Frank was being very reactive while on leash, which is a new issue, so we decided not to walk downtown into Steamboat Springs to get dinner and got takeout instead. After perusing the Yelp reviews, we decided on tacos from Salt & Lime. I got the Chicken Tinga Taco and Pescado Fresco Taco with rice and beans on the side. Pro tip - their rice has nuts in it, so be aware of that in case you’re allergic. But the food was REALLY good and tasted so fresh!

The next morning we got free hot breakfast from the hotel with coffees to go and started our drive from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge by way of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Stay tuned for Part 2!