Homeward Bound

Sunday we headed to Lake Fort Smith SP in Arkansas.  We traveled thru Oklahoma to get here and the turnpike which cost us $10 was one of the worse roads of our trip.  What are we paying for?  Horrible. So I wrote a new verse for the song “Oklahoma”.

Oklahoma 

Where the roads are bumpier than hell

And the tolls we pay

The roads just stay that way

And the state says thanks anyway dumb bell!!!

Monday we headed east thru Arkansas and then turned south towards Mississippi and ended up at Lake Chicot SP in Lake Village AR.  We found a site right on the lake and it is absolutely beautiful with the lake breezes.  This is definitely a state park to check out.  

Tuesday we made it to Lake Perry SP in southeast Mississippi. We are on the lake here too.  Small campground but beautiful.  

Wednesday we made it to Florida and guess what?  It’s hot. We stopped for the night right off freeway at Casey Jones RV park. Nothing special but it was just too far to get all the way home.

We finally got home early afternoon on Thursday, July 15, with 8,815 miles under our belts, two smelly dogs, lots of dirty laundry, very few paper plates and loads of memories.  We are grateful to all the people who put up with us and fed us and spent time with us after being cooped up in Florida for so long.   And a big thank you to Tami and Larry for taking care of the pool and checking the house especially after Hurricane Elsa.  Your help made our trip possible.  

What a beautiful country we live in.  So many different places to see.  We made a dent in our bucket list but there’s still plenty to see. We are lucky to be able to do just that.  Thanks for following us.  Until the next adventure…

East Bound

Wednesday we headed to Durango CO.  Another new adventure for both of us.     We made it to a very busy Durango and found a nice campground right outside of town.  We checked out a local brewery of course.  Colorado has good beer!

On Thursday we headed north thru the San Juan Mountains.  It was probably beautiful but driving the mountain roads made it virtually impossible to  notice. Love Colorado but mountain driving pulling a trailer sucks.  And a crazy Jeep driver launched a rock into our windshield. 

 We could not find a campground after about 8 hours of driving so we landed in a hotel parking lot in Frisco CO right next to the freeway. 

Friday we headed east and of course came to a dead stop in Denver.  The freeway into Denver has numerous warnings about downhill grade, checking brakes, runoff lanes, sharp turns, chain stations, etc. and lasts for 44 miles.  It is exhausting.  

We made it to the fairgrounds in Colby KS early afternoon. So very hot still but the area is flat and safe. We both were so tired we went to bed before dark only to be awakened by car races starting at 10 pm on the fairgrounds along with high winds across the prairie.  Who races cars at 10 pm???  Go to bed people !

Saturday we moved east across Kansas and ended up at the Cowley County Fairgrounds in Winfield, KS.  Still hot and storm warnings once we arrived but no storms all night.  Actually a beautiful spot.

Never Before in Utah

Thursday, July 1st, we headed for Yampa River SP.  The park is mostly gravel, no trees, right by a highway, has lots of kids, big dogs barking, and rain falling.  So after a lot of thought we decided to head to Routt National Mountain to look for a better campground.  Big big mistake.  The road off the main highway was ok, then got bad and then really bad. Mostly one lane gravel. Around a mountain pulling a trailer. No phone service.  No guard rails. No traffic. A lot of falling rock signs. After an hour of white knuckling we finally found a spot to turn around by a lone Mexican with wild horses on the road.  Note to self:  turn around immediately on gravel mountain road. 

Friday we headed to Rifle CO. We took a chance and found a great spot at Rifle Mountain Park which is very popular for rock climbing.  Unfortunately I forgot to pack my rock climbing gear so that’s out.  As soon as we got all set up a huge storm passed over.  Our site is downhill so the mud and water came right thru our site.  

Happy 4th of July. We moved to Rifle Gap State Park.  According to ranger this is the most popular state park in Colorado and we can see why. 

On Monday we headed to Utah. Unfortunately our camper jack got loose when we hit a bump so Gary worked on it in the Walmart parking lot for an hour but it’s fixed and we made it to Dead Horse Point SP in Utah.  It’s funny how much you appreciate a flush toilet after 3 days without.  I almost cried.  We went to see rock arches in Canyonland National Park and checked out Moab for lunch on Tuesday. Unfortunately it’s so hot it’s hard to be outside for long.  

Saturday, June 26, we made it to Custer Mountain campground in the heart of the Black hills.  On the way we stopped at Wall Drug and saw some cool goats on the side of the road.  Another long day on the road, cool and rainy. 

We made it to our campground mid afternoon but with the time change who knows?  The facilities (toilets) are about 1/2 mile away so it takes some strategic planning in the morning.  

Sunday was a full day of revisiting the area after 30 years.  First stop was Crazy Horse which is a very interesting story. It looked at first like not much has changed but in reality a lot of progress has been done.  Then we were off to Mt. Rushmore, Black Hills National Forest, Needles Highway and lunch in Custer.  So much beauty in one area.  

And more beauty on Monday as we drove thru Custer State Park which includes the Wildlife Loop. We saw antelope, deer, big horn sheep, burros and bison.  The park itself is awesome and the animals are a bonus.  Bison slowly cross in front of cars and there’s not even a crosswalk

We got to our campsite in the Roosevelt National Forest outside Ft. Collins CO mid afternoon on Tuesday.  Kinda hard to find but once we did. OMG.  So beautiful next to a river.  

The last day of June found us at Steamboat Lake State Park in northern Colorado. Another absolutely beautiful spot with lots of campsites and a lake right in the middle.