Tag: Colorado

Day 18 – New Mexico to Utah (Part 1)

One of our propane tanks ran out in the night and it was really cold last night. Jon got up this morning and switched tanks and the heater came back on and all was right in our world. We made coffee, ate breakfast, packed up the Trailer for travel and hit the road right on schedule at 10am.

We left Farmington, New Mexico and headed towards Colorado. It was a beautiful sunny day but not warm.

It was a short trip through the bottom corner of Colorado and into Utah.

The closer we got to Moab the more incredible the landscape got.

Mesa’s, plateaus, faults, arches…..so many incredible sights to see and we weren’t even at Moab or in the Arches National Park.

It’s awe inspiring, surreal and a little bit overwhelming – to be honest.

We pulled into a rest area and the boys jumped out to explore a little. It was so fun to see them so excited about this part of our adventure.

The colors are gorgeous. The oranges, greens, browns and all the shades in between; contrasted with the blue sky, yellow and purple wildflowers. It’s amazing.

We pulled into the Moab KOA around 1:30pm. It was just after 2pm when we got set up in our designated spot.

We were about half an hour away from Arches National Park and our timed reservation entry was for 3pm. We headed out to grab some lunch before we hit the park.

There was a Mobile Drive-Thru Taco Time on the way so we stopped there. I have never seen one of those before; but the food was as expected.

We drove through the city of Moab on our way to the park and it is SO cute. It kind of feels like the old west, the 70’s and Whistler had a baby. Kinda old, kinda yuppie and just a whole lotta cute!

We pulled up to the park and there was a short line up but we moved through it pretty quickly and soon we were headed into the Park.

Day 5 – Kansas

We pulled into the Fort Collins KOA super late BUT….we specifically choose to stay at an RV park with SHOWERS. It was necessary, needed and just plain wanted.

We woke up and all ran through the showers and it was like we had a new lease on life.

My “Hi, I’m still alive!” photo that I sent my sisters on Saturday morning.

We definitely started the day later than normal and we are not typically a 6am family.

We hit the road around 11am and the plan was to have a short driving day because the previous day was so long.

Jon has done all the driving and I have been navigating; finding the best route, and where to stop for gas or food, and booking sites to stay at.

I’d say that have the better end of the deal as it seems exhausting to be carrying the weight of the trailer – ha ha ha! But seriously, ensuring the safety of the truck and trailer – and us – seems like a big thing to be shouldering.

Colorado into Kansas was a lot of flat, rolling land. We’ve had a lot of cloud coverage with moments of sunny breaks; but it was incredible when the temps jumped and it was all of the sudden warm.

It was windy; but hot and windy and felt incredible. It’s amazing that we could go from hot and sunny to cloudy so fast.

I had initially thought that we’d stay at one campground but it was only 3 hours away and I figured we could easy do 4 hours. As I tried to find a campground that wasn’t outrageously priced, it became apparent that our options were 3 or 5 hours. I chose the 5 hour option and as a bonus we went through a time zone.

So our short day ended up feeling like a sort of long day as we pulled into the campground in Kansas around 7:30pm. We set up the trailer and quickly made dinner.

After dinner, Jon and I played a quick game of crib while the boys zoned on their devices.

He won but didn’t skunk me. Phew!

The air was warm and breezy and it was a welcome change after how cold it had been. We had the windows open on both sides of the trailer and didn’t even need to turn on the heater.

My boys are weird and sleep with a bottom sheet and a comforter. I am glad that we brought our feather duvet. Our bed – aside from the “spectacular” mattress is like a fluffy cloud. Climbing into it at night is heavenly. It’s surprising how exhausting long travel is. It’s not like we are doing anything physical. Just sitting on our butts all day but we pull into a campground and just want to go to bed. I wish I had the energy to draw or read or something but I don’t.

For Day 6 – Easter Sunday – we plan to get up early and book it the remainder of the way to Arkansas. It will be another big day of driving but then we will stay for a couple of days and that will be lovely.

Day 4 – Utah, Wyoming and Colorado

When we woke up in Twin Falls it was -3 degrees. It didn’t actually feel that cold but that’s what the weather app said.

The boys burnt off a bit of energy while Jon and I readied the trailer.

Rock Creek RV Park

And then we hit the road around 11am.

Our goal was a BIG day of driving. We were aiming for Fort Collins, Colorado which was 9 hours and 45 mins not counting fuel stops, bathroom breaks, lunch and dinner.

The weather hovered around 0 degrees for most of the trip…..it did get as low as -7 through Wyoming and it was as high as 7 in Utah.

The scenery alternated between completely white out as far as the eye could see; to snow on the hills in the background to snow dusted mesa.

We stopped for gas once we made it into Wyoming and it was surprising how much snow and how cold it was.

Compared to the white knuckled windy driving of the day before; this leg of the journey seemed easy. The roads were dry and clear which was nice.

We saw lots of tiny deer while driving through Wyoming and even a couple of elk along side of the hwy.

I love seeing the wind turbines. They are SO huge and seem to move so majestically which feels weird to say about a metal structure but I just love the look of them. Like guardians watching over the land.

Because it was a huge day of driving, we ate fast food garbage for lunch and dinner but it was the boys first time trying Arby’s (lunch but no photo) and Sonic. Sonic was a bigger hit than Arby’s. We still have to hit a Jack in the Box at some point. Any other suggestions for these Canadian Boys to try?

Some time after the sun went down, the moon started to rise over the horizon. It was HUGE and so stunningly bright and orange. Pictures don’t even remotely do it justice. It was amazing.

It was interesting how late the sun stayed up but then how quickly night fell. It felt like you could actually see the darkness taking over and growing in depth.

We pulled into the KOA in Fort Collins around 11:15pm; were set up by 11:30pm and in bed by midnight.

We are planning for a much shorter day for Day 5!