Summer Road Trip 2019 week 8

After being home for 2 days now, I finally have a second to wrap up the blog of our epic summer road trip 2019.  It was amazing!  I feel like we saw so much more this time as compared to the last sabbatical trip.  Maybe no break-downs or being stuck for days contributed to that feeling?  We had such an amazing, relatively care free vacation that I can hardly believe it!  No break-downs, no accidents, no injuries, no major illness, no flat tires, no horrible fights, no stolen wallets, no nothing!  Kind of boring I guess!  I’ll take it though.  At times it was pretty incredible how well we were watched over.   There were at least 4 times I can think of when people were leaving parking lots at just the right time for us to slide into their spot, or else we wouldn’t have had a place to park and would have had to miss whatever it was we were stopping to see.  And as hard as other drivers tried to cut us off and cause a major accident, it never happened!  I am so grateful for the safety and ease of this trip.  I can say ease, I wasn’t driving 😊. 

The morning of the 4^th we woke up early and headed to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  A lesser known, smaller national park, but awesome just the same!  It is a very deep canyon carved by the Gunnison River in western Colorado.  The views from the rim were pretty incredible.  It’s very steep and at one point is only 40 feet wide.  That’s a hard-working river through billions of years old bedrock!  We drove down to the bottom of the canyon and followed the river for the small piece they let you see.  The views from the bottom were just as impressive as from the rim.  We were surprised at how green the whole country seemed to be this summer and the bottom of the canyon also had amazing shades of green.  Even the river was green.  Bree spotted a river otter playing in the river and we watched him play for awhile and then had to beat tracks back up the canyon to get to our trailer and out of our spot by noon.  We made it with 30 minutes to spare!  I told Paul if we needed to miss that park it would be OK, but I’m sure glad we didn’t.  Not only did it raise us up to 40 total national parks visited, but it really isn’t a park to miss.  Once again, Colorado delivered some majestic scenery.

 

 

 

 

About an hour north of BCotG is Colorado National Monument.  Since it was right off the freeway we of course stopped.  But we would have had it been even farther.  Paul knows me well enough to know if there is a national anything in the area we are going!  This place was incredible too!  The road winds its way up a canyon to the top of the mesa I guess, and then winds around with spectacular views of the red rock canyons and valleys.  That was the hairiest drive of the entire trip!  Narrow, windy roads along sheer drop-offs, three tunnels we could only fit by driving through the direct middle, pulling the trailer.  It was crazy.  But there were no restrictions so I guess the people who made the road thought they did a stellar job of it.  I probably would have agreed if we didn’t have the trailer on us!  But once again, Paul was amazing!  I have never seen anyone drive as well as he does.  Its crazy how stressful I know it is to drive that caravan but he does it seemingly effortlessly.  What a total stud.  Glad he’s mine. 😊  Colorado National Monument is so cool that even the kids were wondering why it isn’t a full blown national park.  I heard a ranger telling another visitor that there is an initiative in congress right now to upgrade it to a NP.  I hope they do, if only for the reason that more visitors will visit if it has a national park tag, and it is definitely not a place to miss if you like nature and rocks, which I’m kind of in love with both!  So it was yet another incredible offering from the state of Colorado.  Well done, Colorado.  You are officially my favorite state to visit!  Sorry South Dakota!

 

 

From the monument we drove to Provo, UT.  I was afraid I would break out in hives and start hyperventilating but I made it just fine!  We never approached the city I knew so that always helps.  And I never had that unsettling feeling that we should be living in Utah which I usually get when we’re in the state, so it was an OK stop.  But I’m always happy to see the state in my rear view mirror after we’ve seen what we needed to in the area.  The next day we made a huge haul and camped in Baker City, OR for the last night of our vacation.  It was fine too, but sad as we did things for the last time on the trip.  Not that I don’t love my home, its just that I had no desire to go home.  I could have spent another month on the road till school started, but the kids have too many responsibilities and activities and of course, Paul has work, but I really enjoy being gone, exploring.  I do feel like we have seen the lion’s share of sites in the USA though.  I’m sure we could find plenty of awesomeness to see if we did another huge trip, but as snotty as it sounds I feel like we’ve seen pretty much most of the big things to see.  I hope I can prove myself wrong some day!  We got home around 2pm on Tuesday, August 5^th.  Everything looked the same, except my yard was a bit overgrown.  First thing I did was get the weed wacker out and trim some bushes!  And Paul got the shovel to get the collected dog poop out of the yard.  Welcome home Ericksons!  The kids were thrilled to be home but I was very cranky and stressed out at the thought of all that now has to be done to get life back to normal.  UGH.  I’m not there yet, but at least I can sit and type this.

So final stats of the trip:  54 days (1 fewer than the last one!  Argh!  We were a bit disappointed that we didn’t beat our old record), 13,287.5 miles traveled over 37 states and 3 Canadian Provinces, 12 national parks (plus many more national monuments and historic sites), 4 universities, an estimated 600+ water bottles, at least 5 bloody noses, 1 bee sting, 1 tooth ache, and no break downs!  Not even a flat tire!  Not even a rock chip in the window!  We were so blessed at how “easy” this trip was!  I’m hoping in the next few days to get a moment to go over the memories and process it all again.  I can’t believe how lucky I am to live in this amazing country and also have the opportunity to explore it as extensively as we have.  And how blessed I am to have such an amazing husband in Paul, and such patient kids who put up with their world being flipped upside down on them and not complain too awfully badly about it.  I’m still amazed at how well it all turned out.  And then to top it all off, the morning after we got home the dentist called and they had an opening at 10 so I raced to Hillsboro and got my tooth fixed!  So I’m able to chew again!  So grateful for it all.

 

 

 

I took a survey on our way home to find out various favorites from the trip:

Favorite state or province:

P - Nova Scotia

T - Colorado/Nova Scotia

D - Wisconsin

M - Oregon

D - Colorado

B - Colorado

Favorite National Park:

P - Colorado Monument

T - Congaree

D - Niagara Falls

M - Black Canyon of the Gunnison

D - Great Sand Dunes/Mesa Verde

B - Mesa Verde/Congaree/Acadia

Favorite City:

P - New York

T - New York

D – New York

M - Washington DC

D - New York

B - Washington DC

Favorite Food:

P - NY pizza/Yoders (Amish deli sandwich)

T – Poutine/NY street food

D - Beaver Tails

M - Michigan pizza

D - Yoders/Beaver Tails

B – McDonalds/NY pizza

Favorite wild/zoo animal:

P – moose/naked mole rats

T – black bears/pandas

D – moose/pandas

M – black bears/Komodo dragon

D – coyote/fennec fox

B – turtle/sloth

Favorite church site:

P – Nauvoo

T – Sacred Grove

D – Nauvoo

M – church in Wisconsin

D – Nauvoo

B – Nauvoo

Favorite adventure:

P – NY subway

T – Peggy’s Cove/White House tour

D – Central Park

M – Purdue/Witches Gulch jet boat ride

D – Myrtle Beach swim in the Atlantic/Michigan family farm

B – Nauvoo

There we have it!  Another amazing trip in the books, with a life time of memories stuffed in our already full heads!  Now we need to start planning the next trip so I have something to look forward to!

Things I learned on this trip:

1.  I gained a greater appreciation for Peter, Paul, and Mary?  Maybe?  Their music is pretty OK, but the lyrics are kind of crazy.  For example, Leaving on a Jet Plane is about a woman who admittedly fools around on her partner, and is leaving to fool around again, but wants her partner to wait around for her and then she'll be ready to settle down and get married.  Huh!?  Maybe just don't listen to the lyrics on that one.  And Lemon Tree is about a guy who was warned off of women by his dad. "Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet.  But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat."  And Bree likes to sing this song.  Hilarious.  

2.  As much as the media likes to scare us into thinking otherwise, the United States really is filled with good people and I felt safe pretty much everywhere.  With a couple of exceptions.  The unsafe, selfish drivers in Chicago still bother me.  Then the campground we stayed at in Iowa seemed to not appreciate our being there.  There was a big car race coming to town with all the places reserved 5 DAYS LATER than we were there, but a couple people came to check on our site and made sure we were only staying 1 night.  Crimony!  We get it!  We'll only intrude 1 night and then get the heck out of your way!  I felt totally persona non grata there.  Jeesh.  And then there was the extremely rude older lady at Harpers Ferry who stood in line with me at the bathroom and let me know how red my face was from the heat and was I OK and maybe I should dump water on my head like her awesome golfer of a daughter did but she would never do such a thing because of her hair but I should try it.  Oh?  My hairdo isn't good enough to save?  She was a trip and I was even hotter after listening to her drivel.  I'm sure no one has ever put her in her place in her life.  Too bad I wasn't the first.  I wasn't exactly kind back, but I should have told her off.  But I'm one of those nice Americans I guess ;)  And then there was the rest area off the expressway in North Carolina.  I totally didn't feel safe there.  Everyone had a scowl on their face, heads down, and moving at breakneck speed both in cars and walking around, without caring who else was around.  I didn't like that place.  But that's really all I can come up with, the rest was all good people!

3.  As much as I love being on the road, I'm not sure I could full-time it.  We move pretty fast through places, seeing the sites and moving on.  If we were full-timing it we would have to slow down and stay more than one night in a camping spot.  Not sure Paul and I have it in us to slow down like that!

4.  It was definitely a different experience this time compared to having younger kids.  Or was it the electronics involved more this time?  Not sure.  But I felt like the kids didn't pay much attention out the windows unless Paul and I were loudly pointing things out to them.  Totally different than road trips I would take when I was young, but then I didn't have the electronics people have nowadays.  I still have memories of certain spots along the way to Utah and that's because I looked out the windows the whole time, taking in my surroundings.  I still do.  I read a bit here and there but mostly I'm looking out the window, taking in the beauty and different terrain and crops and weather formations and animals and rivers and different tree types and making amazing memories.  I fear they may just have memories of certain spots instead of the trip as a whole.  I'm not sure if I showed them a picture of a random road they could place where it was.  Electronics are a blessing and a curse I guess.  Our rule is electronics off for the duration of a national park or city or other place Paul and I feel is important.  On the pass in Rocky Mt NP we witnessed a dad begging his 2 daughters to get out of the car and "experience the nature!"  They wouldn't even look at him as they had their faces buried in a phone.  He gave up and walked off with his camera.  They never looked up and never got out of the car.  I wanted to rip the phone out of their hands and give em a big ol' shove after their dad but I didn't.  So disappointing.  Makes me sad for this world.

4.  I love the USA!  But I already knew that :) 

Summer Road Trip 2019 Week 7

Week 7!  Holy cow, I can’t believe this is almost over.  I’m getting a bit testy and I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t want this trip to end and its getting so close, or tooth pain, or too much family togetherness, or what, but today I was a bit cranky.  I think I’m feeling stressed about everything I/we have to do when we get home to get people ready for sports and school and work.  I wish we could be on the road forever and leave the real world behind.

This week began with us in Nauvoo, IL to see more church sites.  We got there early afternoon and saw a couple of things, marked our spots for that night’s pageant, dropped Paul and Darcy off for a play, and then Drew, Mason, Bree and I drove over the Mississippi River to Missouri and Iowa.  We have all been to both before but the cool map on the back of out trailer needed more states filled in so we made a run for the borders while the other two relaxed and watched a play none of the rest of us wanted to see.  Not sure who did the sacrificing there.  I love the view of the Nauvoo Temple from the other side of the river in Iowa.  We were talking to a bike rider and he asked us to take his picture with, “the city hall thing.”.  Must not have been from around there!  We found the place where the Mormon pioneer hand carts started out on their journey west across the river.  Somehow, we missed that before.  That evening we watched the pageant and were highly entertained.  By both the actors and the bugs.  SWARMS of them!  I think Bree watched them more than the show.  I was getting dive-bombed and ended up with my sweatshirt cinched up around my face to keep them off of me.  I don’t know how the actors could stand it!  Sunday, we went to church, which is always amazing in Nauvoo.  There was a group of 200 young people from Texas there, along with at least 200 others of us.  It was a full house.  It was awesome.  One kid speaking said, “Keep the commandments, show God you love him, BOOM!  Its that easy.”   He was great.  We went to Carthage Jail after church on our way out of Illinois.  That’s never a happy place to visit but I think it’s a good place to visit.  Last time there was an audio recording of what it was like in the room when Joseph and Hyrum were martyred, which was very moving.  This time it was just a sweet older lady missionary telling the story and it didn’t pack the same punch, but it was still informative.  I wish they’d go back to the recording though.  That night we camped in Knoxville, Iowa.

 
Monday, we drove a long haul across Iowa, saw the Winter Quarters Temple and Visitor Center, which we had never seen before, and ate lunch there before a huge group of kids was expected to show up.  From Texas maybe?  Thankfully we missed them.  I liked that place though.  It was nice to fill in the middle part of the story of the pioneers between leaving Nauvoo and arriving in Salt Lake City.  The things they endured are hard to believe as I travel in my cushy SUV with AC and a box full of treats in the back seat.  We drove through quite a bit of Nebraska before we called it a day and found a place which happened to have a pool for the kids.  Nice way to end the long day.

 

The next morning on our way out of Nebraska, we found an authentic Pony Express station in Gothenburg.  It was pretty cool.  I even bought a book on the history of the Pony Express to break the monotony of some of the roads we traveled.  We also made a quick stop at TD Ameritrade Park, where the Beavs won the College World Series in 2018.  Go Beavs!  We arrived at our camp site outside of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, dropped the trailer, got the second oil change of the trip, and went to The University of Colorado in Boulder.  That was a neat campus and town.  The buildings are all very close together so it would be a snap to get from one class to the other.  Bree has added Colorado to her list of maybes for college, along with Oregon State, Michigan, and U of Arizona.  They all sound good to me!  I’d visit her at any of those places.  I have now seen 10 of the Pac-12 universities, only missing WSU and USC.  Next trip!

 





Bree was assigned Colorado to research before the trip and she found a ton of things for us to see.  We were actually unsure if we’d make it to Colorado with enough time to see things, and had considered skipping it and making it another 2 week road trip next summer, but we found we had time so we followed Bree’s advice and went to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Amazing!  Drew, Paul and I had been to the west entrance 14 years ago but it was closed due to snow so we saw nothing of the park that time.  We saw it all this time!  We drove the Trail Ridge Road which climbed to over 12,000 feet in elevation.  We were over two miles above sea level!  How crazy.  We were so high we were above the tree line in the tundra.  So cool.  I love weird stuff like that.  We saw so many elk, about 10 long horn sheep on a cliff’s face playing and climbing, and moose!  We were so excited!  At first we saw a mom and her baby, and then later in the day we saw two females grazing by the river.  So darn cool.  We have seen some amazing wildlife this trip.  The first night in Colorado I was taking the cover off the water hookup at our camp site and there was a big brown snake hiding underneath, who slithered into the pit where the water hook-up was.  Snakes don’t bother me all that much, unless they sneak up on me when I’m not expecting it.  Like then.  I took a picture and sent it to Drew and told her it was her turn to hook up the water.  Paul finally got him out of the pit and life moved on, but I was on the lookout after that for wildlife in the camp.  Thankfully we didn’t have any more run-ins with creepy-crawlies.  Wait!  That’s not true!  Mason was eating breakfast when he freaked out over a HUGE black spider in the corner of our trailer.  It was HUGE.  And spiders don’t bother me much but the thought of the crunch when that guy was squished made me turn the privilege over to Paul, once again.  Gross.  I hope he wasn’t a passenger with us for long and then just decided to come out to play.  And I guess I can’t forget to mention Bree being stung in the leg because her brother threw rocks at a wasps nest by the river there.  But anyway, Rocky Mountain National Park was a winner.  I’ll list that with my favorites, though my list has about 20 parks on it already!  I was able to catch up with all the laundry at our site, hoping the next time I have to do it is at home.  Sigh.

 

 

 

 

We headed south the next morning and made a visit to the Red Rocks Amphitheater.  That was a neat place, too.  Unfortunately, the concert that evening was Weird Al Yankovic so we moved on, as none of us are huge fans. 😊 I was happy to get back to enjoying colorful rocks and formations.  The east was incredible with its own unique natural formations, but I guess I’m mostly used to the dry, dusty, rock formations of the west.  And that’s what we found at Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods.  We finished off the day at Great Sand Dunes National Park, which happened to be quite awesome, too.  The way the wide-open scrub brush prairie met the creek, which met the dunes, which met the mountains, which met the vast expanse of everchanging sky was incredible to witness.  Such a neat place.  We climbed a bit of the dunes but to get to the top would have been quite an undertaking for our calf muscles so we just played at a lower level.  The sand was very soft and I think the youngest three like the creek most of all.  They are always drawn to the water no matter where we are.  Its like a magnet to them.  I think that makes 39 national parks I have visited out of 61.  We are hoping to see Black Canyon of the Gunnison on our way out of Colorado and that is a new one for me too, so I’ll be stuck at 40.  The others I have left are in the outer-reaches of Alaska, Minnesota, Michigan, etc.  I think I’ve hit all the “easy” ones.  Now we’ll have to take some hard-core trips to get the rest.  They keep adding parks so I fear I will never see them all.  But then I fear having seen them all, what I would do with myself after that.

 

 

 

 

 

Today, Friday August 2^nd, we headed west to make it to Cortez, CO, with the hopes of visiting Mesa Verde National Park nearby.  We crossed the Continental Divide at Wolf Creek Pass at an elevation of 10857 feet.  That was a haul!  Our brakes were smoking as we made it the bottom on the other side.  The most stressful part of any of our road trips is the crossing of the Rocky Mountains.  They are just darn steep going up and coming down.  Its always a worry that the machinery is going to make it safely.  Speaking of machinery making it safely, we have been so blessed to have such a safe trip this time.  Our last trip we suffered through 3 breakdowns and ruined wheel wells and flat tires on the trailer.  Thankfully (knock-on-wood) we haven’t had any mechanical issues this time.  It has been so nice to not have to worry like that.  Anyway, while at the top of the pass we found the Continental Divide Scenic Trail, the longest in the US, so of course I had to walk a bit on it.  No one else joined me so I am the coolest.  I walked the Appalachian and Continental Divide trails on the same trip!  Maybe I should find a spot on the Pacific Crest Trail before we get home for the trifecta! 

 

After we made it down safely with slightly smoking breaks, we stopped by Chimney Rock National Monument but it was unimpressive and required buying a tour so we took our picture with the sign, bought a magnet, and were off to Cortez.  We dropped the trailer at camp and headed to the Mesa Verde Visitor Center where we learned the Spruce Tree House, which Paul, Drew, and I saw last time, was no longer a self-guided visit.  In fact, you can’t visit it anymore because of loose rock or something, I didn’t quite listen to the ranger as I was disappointed we couldn’t see it again.  So now there are no self-guided places to see, you have to pay for a tour.  Well, since we got there in the afternoon there were no more tours available for the day so the first tour that would accommodate all 6 of us without having to scale the open cliff face on a hundred-foot ladder is tomorrow at 11:30.  We were hoping to get the visit in today and leave in the morning but like I tell the kids, don’t listen to anything I say about what we are doing because it is such a fluid situation that what a think is going to happen on any given day rarely works out exactly as planned.   We bought tickets for tomorrow’s tour, which still includes scaling a very large ladder, just not along an open cliff face, and headed towards 4 Corners.  We had all been there before but we decided adding three more stickers to our trailer map would be a good thing.  And we don’t sit very well, just hanging out in the trailer, so we headed even farther south.  Its an OK place.   Kind of cool to be in 4 states at once.  The Marvel marathon is continuing as I write this tonight.  I’m pretty sure we’ll be home before they can watch them all.  It now looks like we’ll be home Tuesday maybe?  We’ll see.  I don’t like to think about it!

Before I forget, I need to list what our jobs are on the trip.  Paul has driven the lion’s share of the trip.  I do some small stuff here and there but it’s without the trailer.  I only drove it that once in Montana for a few hours.  He is an incredible driver!  He can fit the trailer into the most complicated of places on the first try.  I’ve heard a few compliments on his abilities as I am outside the vehicle with my walkie-talkie helping him to back up.  Paul has an app that checks our level, and if we need to adjust it Mason and I set the blocks to lift the trailer just right.  Then we set the chock blocks.  Paul and Mason each take a side and disconnect all the bars, chains, pins, and electric components near them, while I hook up the electricity and water.  My very next step is usually to use the restroom and then turn on the AC to get the trailer cooling down.  Paul and Mason continue to put the jacks down and stabilize the trailer.  Drew then climbs out of the air-conditioned-Wi-Fi’ed Expedition, and she is in charge of extending the two slide-outs on the trailer.  She is much more observant than the rest of us for things that may get in the way of the slides.  About that time, I’m getting my stuff out of my seat of the car to take into the trailer and Darcy is asking if the trailer is FINALLY ready to go into.  Its really tough being an 11 year old who has been given everything in life.  Bree usually hops out when we stop and explores our area, and usually asks if she can help, but she doesn’t really have an assigned job either.  I also gather all the garbage from the day.  I assigned the task a couple of times earlier in the trip but no one cleans it as thoroughly as I do so I just do it.  If only I wasn’t such a stickler!  Everyone helps with getting the table set and cleared, on the days I actually do make dinner, or fending for themselves which happens more often than I like to admit.  If I never see another pizza pocket it will be too soon!  I clean the bathroom and sweeping gets passed off to Drew or once Darcy, but mostly I do that too.  And I stock the car with water bottles for the next day’s adventures.  When we leave, we all do the same tasks in reverse.  Mason is also in charge of backing up Paul to get the ball and hitch together.  Glad its him and not me! It’s a pretty good system and 3 of us are doing a final check before we pull out of a site.  So far nothing has been left behind or undone.  We have it down to a science!  Oh!  The thrill of Mason’s life is happening on this trip.  Paul allows him to pull the car forward once its unhitched.  He thinks he’s driving but really he’s mostly just rolling 😊  He did, however, drive about 100 yards in Nebraska at a wide open space at our campsite.  Big thrills, I tell you!

P.S.  It’s now Saturday night and I didn’t get this posted yesterday so I’ll add today’s excitement.  We got up early, hitched up the trailer, got to Mesa Verde, unhitched the trailer in their lot since tow vehicles aren’t allowed on the road, and then made our way up the winding cliff face drive.  It had some beautiful views of the valley below and the neighboring mountains.  We haven’t found an ugly part of Colorado yet!  Once on top of the mesa, we were able to view different Puebloan cliff dwellings.  We saw so much more than we did when it was just Paul, Drew, and I.  We could have spent all day there had we not already made plans to be right outside Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP tonight.  Our tour of Cliff Palace was amazing!  There were a few ladders and uneven stairs but the trail wasn’t nearly as strenuous as they advertised it to be.  It was so cool.  We were able to be in the dwelling itself, with a fun Park Ranger who filled us full of information on the Puebloan people who lived there.  I am so impressed with our National Parks system.  Every park has its own character and incredible things to see.  There have been some less impressive than others, but they all seem to have their “Ah Ha!” moment when you know you are someplace special.  Mesa Verde is just one big moment like that.  It’s a place you could go back to and see and experience different things each time.  I highly recommend it!  This park stays on my top 20 list!

 

 

 

Since we planned to head north from Mesa Verde we were stuck choosing between a curvy, high elevation road, versus an even curvier, higher elevation road to get there.  We chose the curviest of course!  It was incredibly beautiful!  It was 100 miles and took us hours to traverse because it was so steep and curvy on the climb that we went about 25 mph, and even slower on the way down, with many stops at pull-outs to let people pass and to give our stressed out brakes a rest.  It was a beautiful drive but I might have appreciated it more from a car.  But I’ll add it to the list of crazy road trip memories we like to create.  Its never as fun if you just stick to the freeways and do it the easy way.  Tonight we are camped in Montrose, CO, where we’ll get up early tomorrow and see Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, and then get back here to hitch up the trailer and head west for good.  NOOOOO!!!!!

 
Things I learned on the road this week:

1.  Iowa and Illinois are covered with corn and soybean fields, with not an irrigation system in sight.  I read that they get enough rain throughout the season that they don't need to.  They just rely on Mother Nature.  That seems like a might stressful, but cheaper, way to farm if you ask me.  I guess it works though, there will be corn a'plenty this summer!

2.  Though the dry air does a number on my hair and skin, I prefer it to the heavy humidity.  Good thing I live in Oregon where it is a perfect blend of air humidity!

3.  Colorado has quickly moved up my list of favorite states to visit.  It just may be vying for the top spot over South Dakota!