Trip Summary, Lessons Learned

Our first long RV trip was everything we expected and more. The RV performed extremely well and our advance planning paid off. We arrived on the planned day at each stop-over point and, with a few exceptions, kept our driving time to within reasonable limits.

The RV is cleaned inside and out and put back in storage ready for the next trip. Planning starts soon. In the meantime, here is a summary of the trip along with some metrics to help future budgeting and planning.

Before we get to that, thanks to all who have followed our adventure and read along as we progressed on our trip. I'd love for you to leave a comment or two to let me know if you have questions, or just want to weigh in with your thoughts. Just scroll down to the bottom of any of the posts and you'll find a place to add a comment.

• We got our kicks on Route 66
• We stood on a corner in Winslow Arizona
• We visited 8 National Parks (Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Rocky Mountain ... 
• ... and 3 National Monuments (Pipe Springs, Grand Staircase Escalante, Cedar Breaks)
• Our elevation varied from about 300 feet to over 11,000 feet above sea level
• We camped in or visited 4 State Parks (Cedars of Lebanon, TN; Dead Horse Point, UT; Prairie Dog, KS; Chickasaw, TN)
• We found that the Army Corps of Engineers operates campgrounds across the country, most often by water. We stayed in two, both in Arkansas: Maumelle and Willow Beach
• The National Parks "Senior Access" Pass ($10 for lifetime) is a great deal. Get it soon, price escalates to $80 in August.

Total Trip duration: 51 days
Miles driven, in the RV: 6280
States visited: 11*
National Parks/National Monuments: 11
Average Fuel Consumption: 8.4 mpg
Average Fuel Cost: $2.10/gallon
Highest fuel cost: Utah, especially near the parks (as much as $2.79/gal)
Campgrounds Used:18 (12 commercial, 6 public)
Average Nightly campground cost: $34.39
Least costly: Willow Beach Park, Army Corps of Engineers in Tennessee $9.50
Most costly: Canyonlands RV Park, Moab, Utah
Favorite Commercial Campground: Willow Wind RV Park, Hurricane, UT
Favorite Public Campground: Maumelle, Army Corps of Engineers near Little Rock in Arkansas

Here are some lessons learned, in no particular order:

• Planning pays, but it does constrain, meaning there is a commitment to get to the next location on the day of the reservation. 
• Quality of the campground is not commensurate with price. The best campgrounds were often the least expensive. 
• Public campgrounds do not always have large sites. Some were just as jammed as the commercial properties. The largest sites were in the Corps of Engineer parks. They were also the prettiest - along a major waterway.
• 6 hours of planned driving is too long. We found that it takes about 2 hours additional for breaks including fuel and lunch. The trip planners are optimistic about time - and use a speed that is higher that we like to drive in a large RV. 4 hours were much more comfortable. 
• It's nice to arrive at the campground around 2 or 3 in the afternoon to allow time to set up and relax before dinner. 
• Build in an occasional rest day, especially if you plan on driving several days to reach a final destination.  Also, allow some time for sightseeing while on the way. We did a few of these, but would have liked to have had more leisure (i.e., non-driving time) while en route to GCNP.
• The National Parks are crowded. 
• WiFi in the commercial campgrounds was more than adequate for email and blogging. I never felt that it was too slow - but then I was not trying to stream video. 
• Don't rely on cell phone service in remote areas. Even the state parks that were not close to an Interstate highway had poor service. Any campground near an Interstate had great service.
• Using a rental car may be more cost effective than owning a special, towable vehicle and modifying it as a toad. Certainly it's not as convenient; but finding a rental outlet that picked us up at the campground was only a problem in Grand Canyon National Park. But then, we did not need a car there at all with the robust bus system in the park. 
• We took too much stuff; especially staple items for meals like spices and condiments. Good meal planning should identify what is needed - and only take those things. 
• RV air conditioners cannot keep up when the temperature is in the 90's or better and the sun is bright. Shade helps tremendously. 
• RVs tuned for sea level do not climb hills well at 8000+ feet. 
•  A collapsible wagon is handy for toting laundry to the laundromat. In GCNP, the laundromat was .7 miles from the Trailer Village - a long walk both ways carrying 4 loads of laundry. We found a nice wagon at Wal-Mart for $45. 
• If you are used to doing your laundry at home, be prepared for the challenges of a laundromat. Dryers don't dry your clothes in 30 minutes - save your quarters because you'll need lots of 'em. Take a good book and be prepared to set for a few hours while the machines do their thing. 
• Use as many on line tools as you can to check out a campground before making a reservation. Not all campgrounds are appropriate for all types of RVs. Some are old and in poor repair; others are brand new and have small trees with little shade. We were in several campgrounds that had no grass which can be a problem if you are traveling with a dog. Using the overhead or satellite view in your mapping apps can help ascertain the condition of the campground.

 We are planning now for a non-camping adventure. We have a good friend who lives on the path of totality for the August 21 total solar eclipse. So we'll be traveling back to Lenoir City for a short visit and a day in the sun. We already have our glasses.

*States in order of visit: Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri. We stopped in some of these twice, but only counted them once.

We're Home

We arrived home around 3:30 on Sunday, July 16. We talked as we drove about how much we enjoyed this wonderful trip and that we definitely would do it again. We have some lessons learned (come back later) and some things we'd do differently. But overall, this has been a great trip.

Next step: get the RV cleaned up, make some minor repairs of things that broke, and get it back into storage until our next trip. What will that be? No plans yet. I'll still post a summary of this great adventure in a few days.

Ft. Chiswell RV Park, Ft. Chiswell, VA

We are on the home stretch, crossing from Tennessee back into Virginia around 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 15. We are continuing to keep the drives short, so stopped at Ft. Chiswell RV Park along I-81. We have a nice flat, level concrete pad on our site; but many sites are gravel. We are enjoying our last camping day for this trip, and preparing the rig for arrival home on Sunday.

Come back in a few days for a trip summary and preparations for our next adventure. It won't be a camping trip - but it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Lenoir City, TN

We left Cedars of Lebanon on July 13 and drove about 2 1/2 hours to Lenoir City, TN, a bit south and west of Knoxville. We visited with a good friend there through Friday. During our visit, we ventured into Knoxville and the campus of the University of Tennessee to check out the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture. This was an excellent, well done, small museum with about 8 different exhibits ranging from ancient Egypt to the geology of Tennessee. We highly recommend this museum to anyone with an hour to spare while in the Knoxville area.

Cedars of Lebanon State Park, Lebanon, TN

Wednesday, July 12 was a short-drive day. We much prefer these as we have more time to enjoy the campground, do some reading, and just chill after the drive. We stopped to revisit Cedars of Lebanon - where our trip really got started seven weeks ago. I believe during our last visit I commented that the campground was not very clean - lots of tree debris on the ground. Between then and now, the campground crews had done a lot of work and the environment was much more pleasant. There were a lot fewer campers there too this time - I'd guess the loop we were in ("A") was only about 1/2 full.

One more comment about Tennessee state parks: we've stayed in two during this trip. They offer WiFi (not very common in public parks), but it is very limited. It was strong and relatively fast, but limited to 4 days and 200 megabytes (total). Another 200 MB cost $9.99. That seems a bit pricey to me. But we found that 200 MB was sufficient for our needs.

Chickasaw State Park, Henderson, TN

Continuing our return trip to our home we left Willow Beach a bit late, but only had a 3 1/2 hour drive to our next stop. We took a long lunch break at a Tennessee rest stop east of Memphis and then left I-40 to drive into Chickasaw State Park. Mistake number 1: it was too far off our route so we wasted about 2 hours getting there and then back onto I-40. Mistake number 2: we did not check out this campground very well.

The first red flag was that there was no attendant. No one to check in with, no one to get a campground map from or the wifi code (yes, there was wifi; no we could not use it). Even the campground host was absent. So we walked the loop to find our site; it already had our reservation tag on it, so we were expected. Then we drove in - talk about tense. The hills and curves were extreme and even though the trees were trimmed back, they were a bit close to the road. There were deep gullies along the road edge and the roads were badly beaten up. This campground was in serious disrepair. No one had cleaned debris off the pads (they were paved at least), and the picnic tables were filthy. The bathhouses were old and outdated; but functional.

Our site was on an incline such that our auto-levelers would not get it right. So we blocked up the front to get a bit more level; left the large slide in and used only our small bedroom slide. It was tight inside but it was just for the one night. We survived.

Moral of this story: use whatever tools are available to carefully check out the campground and get a feel for how it's laid out. Too many trees might be a problem and lots of tight curves might preclude larger vehicles. I can't imagine a 45-footer navigating that road. 

Chickasaw won our vote for "worst of the trip"; and at $32/night, was not a good value. We would not recommend this place except for the shortest of camper vehicles and trailers and then be prepared for a more primitive woodsy environment. To its credit, it was a pretty place if you like lots of trees and hills. Campsites were spacious, but full of gullies, pits, and washes. A heavy rain would make things quite unpleasant. There are better choices closer to the Interstate.

Scott, AR - Willow Beach Park

Continuing our long trek home and keeping the driving time to around 4 hours or less, we stopped for the night outside Little Rock, AR at another campground managed by the Corps of Engineers (recall we stopped at Maumelle on the way to Grand Canyon). This is another nice park on the Arkansas River with huge sites and lots of space to enjoy the views of the river. This park sits on a peninsula with water on two sides; but is a very small campground having only 21 RV sites. It is not full.

We arrived around 4:30 having left our site in Caddo Mills a bit later than usual. We topped off the propane tank and then fueled up at a Pilot as we left town.

A word about gas prices: we have paid between 1.80 and 2.80 depending on where we purchased. Utah fuel was by far the highest anywhere. So far, Arkansas has been the least expensive.

The site we chose presented some serious issues with leveling our RV - so we had to move to another vacant site. We tried for an hour to get leveled but the automatic leveling jacks could not adjust for the incline we were on. Once on the alternate site, we were set up in about 15 minutes. I think we will need to get the levelers checked next time we go in for service.

Austin, TX - Two great days in the Texas Capital

We left By the Lake RV Park around 9:00 and continued on I-35 through Dallas, TX and into Austin. I-35 is an interesting road - it actually splits north of Dallas. I-35W goes to the west of the city; I-35E goes to the east of the city. We took I-35W, past the Dallas skyline and then onward through Waco and into Austin. It was a long day and we hit Austin during the afternoon rush. Our GPS took us on a round-a-bout path over the so called MOPAC.

Now, arriving at Em's brothers was a challenge for a 30-foot long, 13-foot high vehicle. He lives in the city - a residential part of the city with beautiful Oak trees and low overpasses. We had to avoid one low railroad bridge and find an alternate route. That bridge was marked as 13' 7"; just too close to our height for comfort. And those beautiful trees were not trimmed for tall vehicles, so we found ourselves in the middle of the road quite often to avoid low-hanging branches. Thankfully, those branches were pliable so even when we brushed them, there was no damage. Traffic was sparse on these city streets.

We parked the rig in front of Brother's house - expecting the ground to be level. The crown on the road was so high, our leveling jacks raised the curb side wheels about 5" off the ground. So we abandoned all attempts to level off, turned off the fridge and took the food into the house.

Our two-day visit was wonderful. We sat and talked, toured the state capitol building and drove through a lot of the city, had a nice lunch at The Oasis, a restaurant high on a hill overlooking a beautiful lake. On Saturday, we started slow, and were joined by Brother's friend K and her parents for a nice lunch at Matties at Green Pastures which was the former home of talk show host John Henry Faulk who successfully sued the entertainment industry to halt the use of the Holywood Blacklist. It was a delicious meal.

We continued our visiting into the evening and made preparations for our departure on Sunday morning. It was hot and humid with temps in the high 90's. So the RV was toasty warm even with the Fantastik fans pulling the hot air out through the roof vents.

We pulled away around 8:30 and headed back north on I-35, this time taking the I-35E branch and then turned east toward home. We stopped for the night at another lovely campground called simply Dallas NE Campground in Caddo Mills, TX about 60 miles east of Dallas. Tomorrow we head back into Arkansas to pick up I-40 east through Tennessee and into Virginia. Planned arrival at the homestead is Sunday afternoon, July 17.

More about Lyons and Central Kansas

Our visit with my sister, sadly, had to end today (Wednesday, July 5). We headed south, eventually getting onto I-35 through Wichita and Oklahoma City. In our trek today, we actually crossed our west-bound path on I-40, but continued south toward Dallas, Texas. Tonight we are camping in a beautiful new campground: By The Lake RV Park, in Ardmore, OK. It's not crowded, has nice wide sites with paved roads and concrete pads. There is a small lake for fishing, a pool, and lots of sunshine (very few trees, all newly planted).

I would like to say a little more about Lyons. This is a great example of small-town America. Everyone knows everyone and greets their neighbors with a smile or friendly wave. For the weekend, there was a classic car exhibit at the town square, and fireworks on Tuesday night. The gathering place in town is the local Dairy Queen. We went there Sunday morning for breakfast, and again on Monday morning for coffee. Conversations among the locals centered on farm life topics like the price of wheat, and stories about equipment repairs and of course the recently completed harvest.

I mentioned the other day that the main product from this area is grain. But there is another important resource: energy. There is oil and natural  gas under those wheat fields. So, many of the towns have petroleum processing plants or host interstate pipelines, and their management, that ship oil, gas, propane, and other energy products across the country. We saw ethanol plants too that take advantage of the corn and milo grown locally. Also beneath those fields of grain lies salt. Salt mining is another business there and Lyons has a salt processing plant. When the salt has been removed from under ground, a cavern remains. Those caverns become storage vaults for the energy products - kept there until its needed to heat our homes and power our autos.

We spent time visiting with my sister and her husband of course. But also took a few trips into the towns for errands, supplies and some sightseeing. We had a tour of Lyons and drove to Hutchinson where we visited the Cosmosphere - a state-of-the-art museum devoted to the history of space travel from World War II to the present day. They had numerous artifacts including actual V-1 and V-2 rockets, a SR-71, the Space Shuttle Endeavor and the Apollo 13 capsule.

Tomorrow, we continue into Texas, destination Austin, to visit Em's brother. From there we head for home, planning to take our time and enjoy a few more nights camping.

Lyons Kansas

We left St Joseph's MO on Friday and headed back to the west on the Lewis and Clark Trail to pick up I-70 west. We passed through the beautiful Flint Hills which is some of the most fertile pasture land in the USA. Cattle ranchers from Texas would drive their herds to the Flint Hills to fatten them for sale at the exchanges in Kansas City. At Ellsworth we headed south into Lyons to visit my sister and brother-in-law for a few days. We plan to spend the 4th here before continuing south to Austin, TX.

On Saturday, we took a walking and driving tour of the town of Lyons, and had a nice dinner at the Lone Wolf Restaurant in Elinswood. Lyons is basically a farm town where the main product is grain: wheat, corn, milo (sorghum) and soy beans. The winter wheat harvest just concluded last week. The corn, milo and beans are growing well for harvest in the fall.

Missouri Star Quilt Company Hamilton, MO

We left Ay and Em's house on Sunday heading across Colorado and then northern Kansas to St. Joseph Missouri. Driving across Kansas on US Route 36, "The Pony Express Highway", the landscape made a radical change as did the elevation. Colorado and western Kansas was pretty barren - high desert, dry and lacking a lot of green vegetation and trees. As we continued east, though, we descended about 2000 feet in elevation. By the time we got into eastern Kansas, the fields were green and there were lots of trees. Another observation: one may think of Kansas as relatively flat. NOT!!! At least the northern part along US 36 had lots of rolling hills. It was quite a change from the mountains of Colorado and the mesas and buttes of Arizona and Utah.

We stopped about two hours into the state of Kansas at the Prairie Dog State Park near Norton, KS. This was a beautiful location - no prairie dogs seen, but the campground was on a large reservoir, was well-maintained, and quiet. It was a nice break to relax and enjoy some leisure time.

We left Prairie Dog on Monday morning, continuing across US 36 into Missouri, crossing the Missouri River around 3:30 PM. We arrived at the AOK RV Park outside St Joseph shortly thereafter. AOK is a family-owned and operated Good Sam Park, sitting on a small lake with lots of grass. The RV pads and roads are gravel. We were concerned as we turned off the highway as the entry road was also gravel and the campground sign was a bit faded, so we were not sure we were turning at the right place. A phone call to the campground alleviated our concern and we proceeded down the hill and into the AOK. The staff has been wonderful, even personally guiding us into our campsite. The sites are configured so that two RVs sit utility side to utility side. We share the electrical pedestal and water connection and each have a separate sewer fitting. The upside of this is a larger "front" yard with grass and a picnic table. The downside is that our slide and the slide of our neighbor are just a few feet apart. Our elevation has decreased some more to just under 1,000 feet. We can breathe again.

On Tuesday we picked up a rental car and did some grocery shopping. Then we relaxed in camp until dinner. On Wednesday, June 28 we headed east on US 36 to Hamilton, MO. This is the home of the Missouri Star Quilt Company and the boyhood home of J. C. Penney. There are 12 quilt shops that are part of "Star", all on the main street of Hamilton. Each shop contains a different style of fabric: vintage, seasonal, batiks, etc. One of the shops is in the location of the first J. C. Penney department store. We spent about 5 hours walking through the shops and looking for fabric for a quilting project Em is going to do where we get home.

Thursday will be another "in camp" day - we need to do some housekeeping and prepare for the next phase of our adventure. On Friday, we head back into Kansas to visit El's sister and her husband. We'll be there through July 4.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Our next stop was at our friends Ay and Em's home in Lafayette, CO. We broke the trip into two short-drive days, stopping in a small town in Silt, Colorado en route. We stayed at the Silt/Colorado River KOA - right off I-70 and in a valley with the river running just a few yards from the campground. This was a beautiful spot and an extremely nice (albeit young) campground. The youthfulness of the facility meant that the trees were small and did not offer a lot of shade. But, the proximity of the river, cleanliness of the facility and friendliness of the staff made up for that. Temperatures were in the 90's on arrival and our A/C had difficulty cooling down our rig once we had everything connected. We made use of the nice laundry facility and ordered pizza for dinner from a local pizzeria. It was good.

During our stay we say a lone elk on the opposite bank of the river, grazing on the vegetation and drinking from the swift-running water of the Colorado. Later, we saw a lone bald eagle perched in a dead tree, also on the opposite side of the river. I've provided some photos of the elk and eagle. As darkness set in, we took a look a the sky and were wowed by the clarity and number of stars visible. I've been wanting to get a photo of the Milky Way and thought this might be a good opportunity. Photo provided below - it was amazing!!!

We left at a reasonable hour the next morning for the 4-hour drive into Lafayette. I-70 passes through amazingly beautiful canyons along the Colorado River before climbing through 10,000 feet over the Continental Divide. Our RV had some trouble climbing these steep hills - but we made it over the Rockies, through Denver and Boulder and into Lafayette. On Friday, Al and El made the drive through Estes Park to Rocky Mountain National Park, the second most-visited national park in the US (the most visited park is Great Smokey Mountains NP). RMNP was gorgeous - rugged, wild, and beautiful. Photos follow.

 This is my first attempt at astrophotography. Conditions were not ideal as you can see the affects of lights from the town of Silk in the lower left corner of the photo. But, otherwise, the Milky Way shows nicely in the rest of the photo.

Arches National Park - Last day in Moab, UT

Tuesday, June 20 was our final day in Moab, UT. The temperature rose to 104 to 110 degrees, depending on location in the park. But that did not deter us - we were determined to see as many arches and features in the park as we could in our single day there. We walked the trails (very little was viewable from the auto-accessible overlooks) for a total of over 5 miles to get a glimpse of these marvels of nature. We were awed. See the photos below for a short tour of this magical place.

On Wednesday, we continue east into Colorado planning to pause in Silt on the Colorado River. 

Now that we have left our Moab campgound, I can feel free to say a few things about it. We camped in Canyonlands RV Park on the south end of town. It was very convenient to many services including groceries and restaurants. But, the campground itself was not quite what we had grown used to during this trip. We have stayed in several Good Sam and KOA properties and never have we felt so crowded and jammed in as in Canyonlands. While the park was well-treed with considerable shade (welcomed in the desert heat), the sites were narrow and short. The original site we were assigned was right next to the bathroom. OK - we can deal with that. But the six foot tall steel post installed to protect the bathroom (on the right of the site) and the tree on the left of the site, made it impossible to turn our 30-foot vehicle safely onto the pad. We were going to hit the post. So, we asked for another site and received one, reluctantly after a "we have a situation" call to the manager or owner of the campground. At the end of the road we had to drive down to get re-positioned for the new site was the dump station. If there is a RV at the dump site, other traffic through that area had to wait or risk damaging their rig on one of the large trees or worse on another RV. Our alternate site (and many others) was designated for a 40 to 45 foot RV. The pad was not long enough for all four wheels of our 30-foot vehicle to be on it. 2 were on concrete and 2 were on gravel. The "porch" portion of the pad had huge cracks in it. The "front yard" was just a bit wider than the picnic table. Setting aside the quality of the site, we were dismayed at the continued disregard for campground rules. Vehicles were parked in vacant sites, as well as in the road, making passage by large vehicles difficult. I'm surprised there weren't multiple accidents. All of the roads were two-way. Some sites had multiple vehicles - trailer, ATV and pick up truck. It looked like chaos. At least the bathrooms were clean; but they were a little outdated and small. One evening when we returned from our day of touring, there was a long line of vehicles waiting to get in the park making passage by our rental car impossible. The entrance was only wide enough for one vehicle to pass through - and there was very limited space at the registration office for vehicles to park. No one could get out either. The staff was friendly. Sorry to spend so much time on this - but given this was the highest-priced of our campgrounds so far, it was by far the most disappointing. There simply was not enough room for comfortable maneuvering and parking of large vehicles. Our recommendation is that anyone with a vehicle longer than 26 feet should choose another location.

Before we get to Arches - here are some photos from the campground. The building on the right is the bathroom, note the vehicle parked in the site. Also note the tall post that made a right turn with a long vehicle impossible.

This was our campsite - note the size of the concrete pad and the proximity to other sites.  The pedestle for the adjacent site is behind the tree. 

Arches National Park: The "Park Avenue"

 This formation is named "The Three Gossips". Cute.

 This photo shows an overview of the petrified sand dunes. Sand was covered in a concrete-like layer and compressed into rock. Then the concrete layer eroded away, leaving the petrified dunes.

 Double arch was spectacular. It was impossible to get photos of these formations without people milling around - but the people provide a size reference. These arches were huge.

 The next arch is called "North Window". Around the corner was "South Window".

 Near the two windows was "Turret Arch".

 This is the famous "Balanced Rock". The large boulder on top is harder than the underlying supporting rock. Unfortunately, the support is eroding away so eventually, Balanced Rock will come crashing down.

 The home on "Wolfe Ranch". Established by John Wesley Wolfe in the late 1800's.

 Petroglyphs near the Wolfe Ranch.

 Delicate arch was reachable only after a 3-mile hike along a rugged trail. Instead, we walked to the upper overlook and viewed it from afar. Again, people in the scene provide a perspective of size.

 The last arch we saw was "Skyline Arch".

 Finally, we visited "Devil's Garden" - a dramatic series of rock sculptures carved by nature.

Canyonlands National Park

Monday, June 19 - we drove back toward Dead Horse Point and continued another 4 miles into Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands has two mail canyons, one carved by the Colorado River and one carved by the Green River. The rivers join forces and continue as the Colorado in the middle of the park. Canyonlands consists of three districts: Island in the Sky: the region between the two rivers, Needles: the region south of the confluence of the rivers and The Maze. All three are unique, distinct and disconnected from each other. The Maze, on the western part of the park and west of the Green River, is only reachable by 4-wheel drive vehicles. There are no improved roads into that part of the park. Needles is 70+ miles from Moab. So we restricted our visit to the Island In the Sky District - it took us most of the day.

After stopping at the Visitor's Center, we drove to the Mesa Arch trail and walked the 1/4 mile to view Mesa Arch. We then continued down the park road to visit several other overlooks and viewpoints and then hiked the trail to the Upheaval Dome. This was about a mile round trip and the trail was a bit rugged as we scrambled over rocks and up and down terraced hills. The Upheaval Dome remains a mystery as geologists are uncertain about how it was formed. Modern beliefs are that it was caused by a meteorite strike, but this has yet to be proven.

While not as colorful as Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands has a beauty all its own. The canyons are narrower than Grand Canyon and not as deep. So features at the bottom of the canyon are more visible and easier to see.

Dead Horse Point State Park

Utah has so much to see and such large parcels of public lands. There are 5 national parks and numerous national monuments and state parks.

Saturday, June 17, was a transit day as we moved east from Torrey into Moab, UT. Our base camp for 4 days is Canyonlands RV Park on the north end of Moab. I'll provide a review of this campground in a few days.

Sunday, June 18, we took a break from the National Parks to visit Dead Horse Point State Park. Sitting between Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse presents multiple viewpoints of another Colorado River-carved canyon rivaling Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon but on a much smaller scale. Dead Horse Point is a 30-yard wide mesa high above the river - mostly rock and scrubby trees with gorgeous views of the canyon below. There is a legend about this place: Years ago, cowboys would round up the wild Mustangs that grazed the range at the top of the mesa and use the narrow point as a way to coral the ponies. They blocked off the narrow part of the mesa with dead trees and brush. Between the rim and the "fence", the ponies were contained within the coral. The stories vary, but on one occasion, for an unknown reason, the cowboys left the ponies in the coral and did not return for them. Without food and water the Mustangs died. Sad story- if it's true.

One unique thing about Dead Horse Point: it provides the broadest view of the Colorado River from its rim trail as the river meanders through the canyon it created.

In the background, beyond Moab, are the La Sal Mountains. 

Capitol Reef National Park

Hurricane and the National Parks we visited while there marked our western-most location. We left Hurricane on Friday June 16 and headed north up I-15 and east through more beautiful scenery to the tiny town of Torrey, UT and Wonderland RV Park. We passed through miles of desolate ranch land, beautiful rock formations and very little by way of services and population. Traffic was non-existent on this much less traveled byway. On arrival at Wonderland, we checked in, parked our RV rig and rode in Ay and Ems RV to begin our exploration of Capitol Reef National Park, just a few short miles from Torrey. Once again, nature as sculptor and architect went all out creating a spectacle of color and texture. This park also contained some ancient petroglyphs.

Wonderland RV park was nice - clean and efficient. Sites were well maintained but pretty close together. Roads and pads were gravel but level. Restrooms were clean.

On leaving Torrey on Saturday, we once again drove through Capitol Reef and ventured onto the Scenic drive with both RVs. This was a bit daring as we were not certain where we could turn our big rigs around to go back to the main road - but it worked out. We drove most of the scenic drive and did a three-point turn-around at one of the narrow pulloffs. It was well worth the gamble as the scenery down this road was wonderful. Continue reading below ...

 This is part of the waterpocket fold - a towering rock wall that blocked progress of early settlers. This gave the park the "Reef" portion of its name.

The scenic road was narrow - but wide enough for 2 RVs to pass; slowly.

These next two photos are of some of the petroglyphs and pictographs carved into the rock wall. This wall was several feet straight up. The carvings were high off the ground. They are a little faint, so look carefully in the rock.

This next photo is of the "capitol dome" - the feature that gave the park part of its name: Capitol Reef.

 After visiting the petroglyph part of the park, it was time to bid farewell to our friends Ay and Em as they were starting their trip back home in Colorado. Em and I stopped at a few more overlooks to enjoy more of Capitol Reef, but at lunch time where we pulled off the road, there at the turnout were Ay and Em - so we joined them for lunch and said good bye again; knowing that we'd see them next week when we stop by their home for a visit. These rock features were prominent at the pull off we used for our lunch break.