Houston to Colorado

[Jennyfs]

Howdy All!... We're back at it again this year.. We took a year off in 2014 and had another baby to add to our clan, and we're ready to hit the roads again as weekend warriors and short vacation, country-land travelers. Being the Co-Pilot and navigator of all trips, I need some advice.

My family and I are preparing for another trip from Houston to Colorado, Little bit north of Denver. I know that the most tracked road from here to there is through Amarillo, but has anyone taken hwy through Dallas and OK? We did the road through Amarillo a couple years ago and it seemed unmaintained (bumpy), although the kids enjoyed the stop at Big Tex!
Also, We had stayed at St.Vrain's State Park while we were there last, but wanted to try something new. Anyone have experience with others in that area, such as Prospect RV Park?

Thank you in advance..

[littlemo]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
From Houston - hoping to avoid Dallas - I'd go 290/190/6 through College Station to Waco - continue on 6 through Meridian to Hico - pick up 281 and north to 287 in Wichita Falls - then to Amarillo. Up to Dumas and over to Raton, NM. Then north on 25.

Or you can get off I-45 onto 287 at Ennis, go through Fort Worth and out 287 to Wichita Falls.

I find 281, 287, 190, 6 all to be good roads without too many slowdowns, smooth and easy to drive.

We usually take this route also by getting on 287 in Fort Worth going through Wichita Falls, Amarillo, Dumas and Raton. It is a good route. If you just want an overnight stop just to get some sleep the Welcome center in Amarillo on I-40 has 24 hour security and free WIFI.

[bob_nestor]

Mapquest shows three main routes from Dallas to Denver and I've used all three. The main one is 799 mi (Dallas-Wichita Falls-Amarillo-Raton-Denver), but it has had some construction on the New Mexico portion for some time. It is mostly 4-lane but does slow down going thru some of the West Texas towns. It's probably my favorite route.

The second route is 882 mi following the Interstates (Dallas-OKC-Salina-Denver). Boring as far as I'm concerned, especially thru Kansas - miles and miles of the same thing.

The third route is 788 mi and the one used by some commercial traffic (Dallas-Wichita Falls-Amarillo-Dumas-Limon). This is the route used by busses taking skiers to Colorado. A friend of mine claims it's the best route with fewer hills and passes (she hates Raton Pass). It's pretty barren out in the OK panhandle and the roads there are a bit rough, but it is 11 miles shorter.

[Jennyfs]

Thank you all so much or the advice on the rv parks as well as the routes... I'll take all the information into consideration when I'm mapping it all out...
Rjxj,and wclement1248, no we have never been to palo duro.. But I have seen some really great pictures of it.. Beautiful! I'll take a look at making it a pit stop 🙂 thank you !

[Thom02099]

Jennyfs wrote:
Howdy All!... We're back at it again this year.. We took a year off in 2014 and had another baby to add to our clan, and we're ready to hit the roads again as weekend warriors and short vacation, country-land travelers. Being the Co-Pilot and navigator of all trips, I need some advice.

My family and I are preparing for another trip from Houston to Colorado, Little bit north of Denver. I know that the most tracked road from here to there is through Amarillo, but has anyone taken hwy through Dallas and OK? We did the road through Amarillo a couple years ago and it seemed unmaintained (bumpy), although the kids enjoyed the stop at Big Tex!
Also, We had stayed at St.Vrain's State Park while we were there last, but wanted to try something new. Anyone have experience with others in that area, such as Prospect RV Park? ..

Haven't stayed there, but it gets good reviews. It's been there for a long time and continues to get those good reviews, so they must be doing something right. On the south end of the Metro area, there's Flying Saucer RV Park -- don't let the name put you off! Another one that gets good reviews! Those are 2 of the better private/commercial RV parks.

As an alternative, there's both Chatfield and Cherry Creek State Parks, both on the south end of the Denver Metro area. Both excellent. If you want to consider, get your reservations in now, as they are both quite popular. There's also Golden Gate Canyon State Park north of Golden, but in the mountains. It's incredible! And there's also Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland, if you're willing to go that far north of Denver.

[wclement1248]

I highly recommend Palo Duro for the stop between Houston and Denver if you are making the trip in 2 days. I like to spend a full day there coming home to relax and rest up. We will sometimes stop south of Ft Worth also and make it a three day trip.

[azrving]

It's in the Amarillo area but have you been to Palo Duro?


Palo Duro

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

From Houston - hoping to avoid Dallas - I'd go 290/190/6 through College Station to Waco - continue on 6 through Meridian to Hico - pick up 281 and north to 287 in Wichita Falls - then to Amarillo. Up to Dumas and over to Raton, NM. Then north on 25.

Or you can get off I-45 onto 287 at Ennis, go through Fort Worth and out 287 to Wichita Falls.

I find 281, 287, 190, 6 all to be good roads without too many slowdowns, smooth and easy to drive.



I-35 North from Dallas to Oklahoma City is okay. And to the Kansas border. The interstate is a toll road up to Wichita - cheap and worth the cost. Haven't driven the rest of the route to CO recently.

[padredw]

We did come back from Denver to Dallas via Salina, Kansas and Oklahoma City, but that was to try to outrun a snow storm on a skiing trip. It is Interstate all the way: I-70 to I-35. That is the only time we have ever followed that route and it would not be my choice, but the highways were all Interstate.

There are three alternate routes but they all go through Amarillo. The one we usually take is US 287 from Wichita Falls to Amarillo, then through Dumas and Dalhart to Clayton, NM and then on to Raton where we pick up I-25 north. That is still our route of preference.

Alternate number two is to stay on US 287 to Limon, Colorado through the Oklahoma panhandle. I've only been on this route on a church bus on a ski trip.

Alternate number three is to cut across to College Station and Temple on the way to Lubbock, then up to Amarillo where you would have the same two choices above. If I were coming from Houston (especially from the north or northwest part of Houston) I might consider this as a "non Interstate" route. I have not followed this path as I do not live in Houston, but I often take state routes and US highways to avoid large cities.

Anyway, these are just some thoughts on the routes from Houston to Denver.

We have never stayed in an RV park around Denver. Many times in Colorado Springs and in Estes Park. -- not to mention all over the state of Colorado.

[littlemo]

I guess I don't understand your question. Are you asking about a route or an
rv Park?

[tmm2good]

Cant speak to your route, but Prospect is in the middle of town (Wheat Ridge) not a bad area, next to a park. You are stacked up on top of each other. But IMO, I would go to one of our state parks and stay there (Boyd Lake is about 30 minutes north of Denver). Unless you wanted to or had a need to stay in metro Denver.