Slow and steady Eastward

Mom and I left California on the 26th and we have been slowly and steadily moving East towards Colorado where I will spend the month of June showing her around the state, camping, and exploring. It has been nearly 1.5 years since our last road trip and we have been looking forward tot his one for some time.

On Saturday the 26th, we made an afternoon run over the Sierra’s and into Fallon, NV where we stayed our first night at the Walmart in town. While it was windy, the temperatures were not too bad considering the cool-front that came down from Canada that very weekend.We worked on our daily list of things to do on the trailer and van to prepare them for comfortable road trips.

The new mini-van did well, pulling the trailer over the mountains. Sure, it was slow going uphill, but the same would have been true for my van, even without towing the small trailer. Once over the summit, things got very easy and on flat ground we could easily maintain 60 MPH.

Sunday morning was spent working before we could get back on the road. My plan (not well communicated to my Mother) was to get across all of Nevada on Sunday so we could spend Monday… my day off… in Great Basin National Park without worry of my need of Internet.

We did make it most of the way across, staying our second night in a N-DOT area a few miles west of Ely, NV. This is when that cold snap finally got us… Since we were still at 7000 ft altitude the overnight temps dropped into the mid 20’s! I woke at 4am and could not get back to sleep in the van, where it was exactly the same temp inside as out. After an hour, I finally slipped out of my sleeping bag for a nature-call, then into the trailer to turn on 2 stove burners for 1) coffee, and 2) to warm up the interior of the trailer (which was also exactly the same temp inside as out). Our day started early due to the extreme cold.

We arrived at the Great Basin National Park late in the morning, but more importantly we arrived much warmer. We quickly picked up tickets for the Lehman Cave tour (1.5 hour wait) and went back to the trailer for lunch and to get some more work done on the list of to-do’s we come up with each day before taking  a 1-hour tour of the caves. Although it was less than a 1-mile hike inside a very nicely cooled cave, we both came out ready for a nap from the lack of sleep the night before. So, after a quick nap, we entered Utah and drove another few hours to get to the I-15 corridor where I would have my Internet more reliably for the remainder of the trip.

Utah is a far more interesting landscape to view than Nevada so we planned to take the long way around Fish Lake National Forest and saw some sights, but it was already late in the day so we jumped at the chance to stay at our first RV park to restock on water and get in a shower before returning to the road in the morning, traveling south in I-15 where we connected to I-70 to cross Fish Lake National Forest and continued East towards Moab where we planned to stay a few days at a campground just outside of town. During the 200 miles we made sure to stop at all the rest-areas to see each of the views.

By Wednesday, late morning, we arrived in Moab just in time to snatch up one of the two remaining camp sites left in the only campground where I have Internet ability. Within minutes, cars were coming through looking for camping but all spots were filled. We got lucky, for sure!

However, now were had opposite weather conditions to consider… it was 90 degrees now, and we were cookin’ in the sun. The shade was not too bad, but step outside and you really began to cook. Mom is already changing colors and Belle could chase the lizards around too long before panting her way back to the water dish. So, after setting up camp, we jumped into the air-conditioned van and went into Moab for some groceries before spending the remainder of the afternoon in the trailer… that pop-up top allowed the breeze to keep it pretty cool.

Thursday morning, after a hot-night’s sleep, we drove into Arches National Park to auto-tour the park. We could not get out and explore much as Belle was not allowed out of the vehicle and it was too hot to leave her baking in the car. Instead we auto-toured the park, taking pictures from from the van.

Back in our camp site by Noon for my work, we are now just waiting out the sunlight. By 4:30 it will have fallen behind the sandstone wall across the river from us, blanketing us in cool shade for the rest of the evening. It is then that we can exit our shady spots in search of food… kind of like all the lizards too.

As it turns out, instead of staying that final night, we had dinner and rolled a few hours East into Parachute, CO where we stayed the night at the rest area there (free WiFi allowed me to catchup on my Hulu shows). First thing in the morning we were moving again for the 5 hour drive over the Rocky’s and into Longmont where we setup camp at the Boulder County Fairgrounds.

This is where our “eastward” journey ends and a new journey begins. Now, instead of road-tripping, we will head up the mountains for some good ol’ fashion camping. The trailer (and my van) will stay stationary while we take the mini-van out for day trips from our base camp in Peaceful Valley campgrounds in the National Forest near the Rocky Mountain National Park.