For 12 years, I was a travelling man.

From 2000-12, I was the sports information director at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. In that role, I often went on road trips with the teams.

From UCCS, road trips ranged from 48 miles (Colorado State-Pueblo) to 458 miles (Black Hills State).

Sometimes I rode the bus with the team, but more often I drove myself. The reason for that was simple: the team usually would shower, get on the bus and head immediately home or to the next destination on the road trip.

My job was just beginning when the game ended. I needed to write the press release and the story for the website. I needed to post the statistics and the photos.

I knew the locations of the McDonald’s restaurants in every Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference town since they reliably had WiFi and were open late.

My usual destinations weren’t exotic. Ten of the 15 member schools are in Colorado, and four of those are in the Denver metro area (Metropolitan State and Regis in Denver, Colorado Christian in Lakewood and Colorado School of Mines in Golden).

I was also a regular in Grand Junction (Colorado Mesa), Alamosa (Adams State), Gunnison (Western Colorado State), Pueblo (Colorado State-Pueblo) and Durango (Fort Lewis). I was such a frequent visitor to these towns that for many years my barber was in Grand Junction.

Other member schools are in Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and New Mexico.

One memorable trip was to Silver City, N.M. We had been warned to take the highway all the way to Deming, N.M., which was almost all the way to the border with old Mexico, and double back, entering Silver City from the south. Our bus driver noticed a “shortcut” on the map, which would save us at least 30 miles.

It was a mistake.

The road through the canyons (where, we were later told, Billy the Kid and the Regulators used to hide out) was very narrow with extreme switchbacks. At one turn, we had to exit the bus and guide it with hand signals. The center of the bus was scraping the mountain while both front and rear wheels teetered at the edge of the cliff face.

I was the official scorekeeper for nearly every RMAC basketball, volleyball and softball tournament during my years at UCCS. I also helped out with several baseball and soccer tournaments. The reasons are threefold: first, I’ve always been a stathead and was very good at doing that job, plus I enjoyed the travel. Third, UCCS was often not in those tournaments, which made me a neutral party.

But it wasn’t always fun. I have been caught on blizzards on Wolf Creek Pass (twice) and La Veta Pass. The temperature was once -25 as we drove through Park County. The members of the men’s basketball team took turns sticking their heads out the window of the van to see how much their hair would freeze.

One or more of my sons often went with me. On one trip, we went through North Platte, Neb., when the aroma of the feed lots was at its peak. Getting the smell off us was much like getting rid of skunk spray. Another time, we wanted to get on the road quickly, so we got some bean burritos and headed home. The problem with that was it was far too cold to roll down the windows. Well, you can imagine how that went.

But for the most part, the travel was delightful. The smaller towns are full of history and character for those willing to look for it. In each town I have favorite restaurants and museums. In each town, I have cherished friends.

Get out there and see for yourself. There really is no better place for a road trip the Rocky Mountain west.