Our maiden voyage in Gipzee, our 40 foot 5th wheel, was to South Fork Colorado and it was a total success! Zeke, our beast of a truck, pulled the mountain passes like we were on flat ground. The weather was perfect, our campground was top notch, and the local food was amazing! We probably couldn’t have asked for a better experience. In a word, “AWESOME!”.
On to the details! For ease of use, we have created a table of contents below to quickly get you to the information you want to see.
RV Park
Local Dining
Local Attractions
Trip Statistics
Final Thoughts
Don’t forget to check us out on social media for more pictures of our trip to South Fork on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!
RV Park
We searched long and hard for an RV Park in Colorado that was open during winter and could also accommodate the length of Gipzee. This was not as easy of a task as we had thought. There were a few places fairly close to home, but we had certain requirements we were looking for on our maiden voyage that those parks could not satisfy.
We wanted a campground that we had to back into. No pull through. We wanted to see how hard it was really going to be getting Gipzee in and out of RV Parks.
We also wanted to see how Zeke pulled the behemoth that is Gipzee. Just pulling her a few miles down the road wasn’t going to cut it.
Lastly, we wanted to enjoy an amazing place in Colorado that we had never been.
In the end, our choice was clear – Peacock Meadows Riverside RV Park in South Fork, Colorado. This place was amazing. Let’s start with the management team – top notch! We told them when we made our reservations that this was the very first campground we will have ever endeavored to go to and that we were super nervous that we may run people over trying to back in Gipzee. They assured us that they would help us get our 5th wheel in, and do so without incurring any casualties. While we weren’t fully convinced that was possible, we made our reservations anyway.
When we arrived, Debra and Ron were just as great in person as they were on the phone. They quickly checked us in and Ron escorted us to our site. He then got out and gave me the low down on how to get our trailer in our site all while keeping the rest of South Fork safe. We got on the same page and he guided me in. It took a few tries, but we got Gipzee in without incident! Check the box on that goal!
The campground itself was in amazing shape considering it was still wintertime in Colorado. It was very clean! There was a fire pit, a little lounging area with a clean picnic table, 50 amp power and sewer hookups all in great locations. A short walk down a path to the north and we arrived at the ultra clean restrooms and showers. These were nicer than ours at home! A short stroll further to the north and you are on the shore of the Rio Grande River which was very peaceful. Back at our campsite, we had a great view of the Colorado mountains, a warm RV and one happy family unit.
Local Dining
We wanted to spend most of our time in Gipzee, learning by doing. But after a 5 hour drive, we liked the idea of having someone cook for us. Ron suggested a local restaurant called Two Rivers BBQ. After getting a few things in order, we jumped into Zeke and made our way, two minutes down the road, to this great little restaurant.
Pulling up to Two Rivers BBQ is just what you would expect in a cool Colorado mountain town. Not too big with a barn wood looking exterior. Inside was very much the industrial, Chipotle look. The staff were all very courteous. The menu had something for all of us. We were very pleased with the prices, portions and most important, the deliciousness of everything we ordered. All in all, a great experience.
Local Attractions
Again, we weren’t looking to do too much on this trip. Test Zeke and Gipzee out, live the RV life for a couple days and get home. One thing we did want to do is get in some spring snow!
After some research, we decided to head to Beaver Creek Reservoir. The drive was short, but we got far enough away that we didn’t encounter many people (which is always one of our goals, no offense). The reservoir was still mostly frozen over and we did see a family ice fishing! That really wasn’t our thing, so we kept on rolling up the road a few more miles.
Almost at the end of the road, we came across what we were looking for – a sweet sledding hill! We strapped on our winter gear, grabbed our sleds and started hiking up. And up. And up. And then we started wondering why they didn’t have a lift… Once we got on the top, I (Dad) took the first run to pave the way for the rest of the fam. In the end, we all made a few runs, including a few trains and then headed back home. Exhausted. Hiking that hill was a work out for sure.
The only other place we went in South Fork was New Hope Church. Throughout our epoch48 trip, one thing we want to make sure of is that it doesn’t become all about us. God first. This was a cool little church with very nice people and we heard a good message.
One thing that didn’t work out well, however, was timing. We really had to hustle back to have a chance at getting out of our campground by checkout time. Which we did not do. Sorry Ron…
Trip Statistics
For the more RV-Geeky folks out there, here are some of the key stats from our epoch, epoch48 trip!
- 509 miles
- 8.5 miles per galllon
- Max Speed: 78
- Max Altitude: 9341
- Min Altitude: 4607
Final Thoughts
For a maiden voyage, I really don’t think we could have asked for much more. Great weather, great people, great campground and great food. The fam settled in nicely and everyone had a great time. There were a few items that we were missing, like a bowl to mix the pancake batter, but all in all we weren’t missing anything critical.
The only blerg moment came at 3 in the morning. I awoke to a cold nose. I listened for many minutes, waiting for the furnace to act like it was supposed to act. After much thought, I woke up my wife and asked if she was cold. She confirmed the frigid feeling that I had been experiencing and I knew what I had to do… Out of the bed, flashlight strapped to my head I made my way to the propane tanks. I didn’t have the hose hooked up to the other tank yet, so I made quick work of hooking it up, flipped the switch and turned on the new tank. Hung around to see if anything smelled a muck, then went back in the Gipzee. After a few minutes huddled around one of the heat vents, I knew the crisis had subsided and I made my way back to bed.
We really enjoyed getting a taste of the RV life. This being a new thing for us, I am sure the excitement covered some of the negatives – but I have no problem with that. We aren’t going into this naively thinking that everything will be butterflies and roses – but we are going into this expecting great things. If this trip was any indication, we know we will not be disappointed.
Our official launch in coming quickly, we have a few tweaks we have to make before lift off, but we know we got this! Let’s go!
And don’t forget to check us out on social media for pictures of our trip to South Fork on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!