Back Home after 30 days and 6,500 miles

[Billy Bob]

6,500 miles in exactly 30 days and we are home safe and sound. We camped in 13 different places and covered 17 states and Canada with only 3 hotel stays (Salt Lake City UT, Topeka KS and Indy Indiana). We seen the Bad Lands and Custer State Park in SD including Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Rode out a 70 mile hour wind/dust storm in Cody WY that I thought we were going to lose the camper. We held the Sheppard poles and the roof for almost a hour and a half before the wind died down. ALL the tents BLEW AWAY that were set up in front of us. The front of the PU lifted up 3 times in that storm.

Spent 4 great days in Yellowstone and if you ever go you must do the horse back ride WITH the Old West steak cookout.

When we left Yellowstone we headed for our first hotel room in 20 days and arrived there when the temperatures were 104 degrees. :yikes:

After the one night of luxury we headed for two great days in Zion National Park. However after Zion we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had 2 nights reserved in a PRIME site that SUCKED. The bathrooms were at  our end were torn down for renovation and the site was only a pull off from the road. We left after only one night. If you plan to do the Canyon only figure on one night. Not much else to do there.

Spent two days in Cortez CO and enjoyed it there before heading to Cripple Creek CO. We stayed at a KOA that boast to be the highest KOA Kampground in the world at 10,000 feet. On the night before we were to leave we had rain and hail but when we headed down the mountain in the morning there was 2-3 inches of snow on the side of the road on JULY 26th ! ! !

I'm not much of a trip report writer but more than willing to answer anyone one's questions if they are thinking about a extended camping trip out West.

We camped in the following areas in you need any info

Emmit, MI
Mackinaw City, MI
Duluth, MN
Grafton, ND
Sioux Falls, SD
Custer, SD
Buffalo, WY
Cody, WY
Yellowstone NP
Zion NP
North Rim of the Grand Canyon NP
Cortez, CO
Cripple Creek CO

I towed our Fleetwood Sante Fe PU with our Ford Escape without any problems. Going over the continental divide it was slow going between 25-30 miles per hour but that was at 10,800 feet. When traveling on flat areas I could tow at 80 miles per hour with NO problems. Our only malfunction was the right turn signal went out in Cripple Creek and I could find out why. When I got home I found a bad connection after I pulled out the bottom of the end cap to reveal all the wiring.

[AustinBoston]

Spent 4 great days in Yellowstone and if you ever go you must do the horse back ride WITH the Old West steak cookout.

I preferred breakfast by horseback in the Grand Tetons.  We were treated VERY rudely by the wranglers in Yellowstone (in 2001).

However after Zion we went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had 2 nights reserved in a PRIME site that SUCKED. The bathrooms were at  our end were torn down for renovation and the site was only a pull off from the road. We left after only one night. If you plan to do the Canyon only figure on one night. Not much else to do there.

When we were there, we stayed in Jacob Lake, which meant we were cloes enough to both the North Rim and Bryce to see each without having to move the camper.

Emmit, MI
Mackinaw City, MI
Duluth, MN
Grafton, ND
Sioux Falls, SD
Custer, SD
Buffalo, WY
Cody, WY
Yellowstone NP
Zion NP
North Rim of the Grand Canyon NP
Cortez, CO
Cripple Creek CO

I have a list of four places that all Americans should see in their lifetimes:
The Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons

What do you think?

Austin

[GeneF]

"I have a list of four places that all Americans should see in their lifetimes:
The Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons"


Austin, your list is too short.  Been to all of the above and would have to add:

Arches National Park
Zion
Bryce
CanyonLands
Crazy Horse
Badlands
Acadia

Arches would be my favorite with the Grand Canyon at the bottom of my list.

And those are only the more natural wonders, (except Crazy Horse).

[AustinBoston]

"I have a list of four places that all Americans should see in their lifetimes:
The Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons"


Austin, your list is too short.  Been to all of the above and would have to add:

Arches National Park
Zion
Bryce
CanyonLands
Crazy Horse
Badlands
Acadia

Arches would be my favorite with the Grand Canyon at the bottom of my list.

And those are only the more natural wonders, (except Crazy Horse).

I've been to all of those except Arches and Canyonlands.  While I don't want to minimize the other places you've listed, when I boil it down to "somehow, find a way to get there," that's the list I come up with. I am thinking of those who struggle to make the rent; those who don't like to travel; those who feel they want to spend their money on other things.  Find a way to go to those four places anyway.

One thing is for certan, there are some truly spectacular places in the United States, and any listing of them (even if we all got involved) would still be incomplete.  I've travelled in 41 states, and even in the states I have been to, there are spectacular things I have not yet seen.  I'd love to see California's Death Valley after a spring rain (which only happens once every few years), I want to see Montana's Glacier National Park, I want to see Utah's Arches and Capitol Reef National Parks.  Those are in states I have been to; there is even more in places like Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii, three of the nine states I have never set foot (or tire) in.

BTW, my fifth place was tied between Oregon's Crater Lake, America's fourth National Park, and New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns NP.

Austin

[GeneF]

Billy Bob

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread so I have started a new thread "Five Favorite Places."

Sounds like you had a great trip and that was a very good trip report.

Being able to take 30 days to do a trip is great.  Makes it easier to cover all those miles.

DW and I have been to most of the places you have listed and I will have to agree that all of them are worth the trip.

Colorado is one of the four states that we have not visited but it is on the todo list for the next couple of years.

[Billy Bob]

Billy Bob

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread so I have started a new thread "Five Favorite Places."

Sounds like you had a great trip and that was a very good trip report.

Being able to take 30 days to do a trip is great.  Makes it easier to cover all those miles.

DW and I have been to most of the places you have listed and I will have to agree that all of them are worth the trip.

Colorado is one of the four states that we have not visited but it is on the todo list for the next couple of years.

Colorado was great and if you ever get there make sure you visit the US Air Force Academy just outside of Colorado Springs. Really makes you proud to be a American.
Once you get a bit east of Colorado Springs Colorado is FLAT almost like Kansas with nothing worth mentioning.

[oldmoose]

We stayed at Zion River RV Park for a week and used it as a base camp to visit Bryce, Arches and the North Rim. Easy day trips.

We also stayed at the KOA in Ouray. We thought it was one of the best KOA's around.
Moose

[Billy Bob]

Here are just a few pictures from this trip.