Leaving Utah arriving in Golden, Co

I70 East Utah / Colorado

We left Thursday the 1st of July and headed to Wendy's in Golden, Co., and arrived late in the afternoon. We drove across I 70 from Utah to just outside Denver. I70 offers some scenic drive and high elevations up to 11,400 feet. Some areas were slow going up these 8 mile climbs and same for the downhill side.

Vietnam War Memorial, Fruita, CO.

When we entered into Colorado we stopped at a state info center in Fruita, Co., where they had a Vietnam War Memorial there. It was great to see such a memorial in a highly visible area and displayed in such a manner that you have to stop and read the inscriptions and plaques and dedications. The State of Colorado should be proud of this Memorial.



We made it up to Coal Creek Canyon to Wendy and Troy and of course Copper, our granddog, who we like to spoil. We have been doing local things -- farmers market, going into Golden, (no haven't made it for my annual tour of the Coors Brewery, but it will happen soon). We were at Wendy & Troys for a week and then we headed to Loup City, Nebraska to Troy's home town for a celebration party of his retirement from the Air Force National Guard.

We traveled up there in one day and stayed for four days. Accompanying us was Wendy and Wendy's nieces Cydney and Colby. Also onboard was Copper. Kirstie kitty allowed Copper on the RV -- she was the boss and he respected that. It was about an 8 hour trip with an RV. So on the way up the weather was hot so we started the generator and put on a in flight movie. I figured it was only right to break these newcomers to RVing by watching "RV the Movie with Robin Williams. (Because of Troy's work schedule, he traveled to Loup City by car with his brother Brian & his wife Bonnie and sister Janelle. They also had in the car their two dogs.)

"Copper" one of our Grand Dogs

Loup City, Nebraska (The Polish Capitol of Nebraska)

We arrived in Loup City and set up in front of Troy's parents house. We could only open up 2 slides as we were on the city street. We had a lot of fun there with family and friends that we met 18 years ago when Wendy and Troy got married. We went out to the farm and got to see several hundred acres of corn, soy beans and alfalfa. We got to see Troy's dad work the farm cutting the hay and then bailing it into 1800 lbs rolls. While there we had a very heavy thunder shower with hail and a couple of days later we saw the damage that occurred about 20 miles north of Loup City and the corn fields were just destroyed as well as the soy beans. What disappointment as the season was going great till then as they didn't have to irrigate the fields much this year. A total lost to those farmers. We had a beautiful visit with Troy's grandparents Harry and Catherine it was great to see them at the party and at their home before we returned to Colorado.

The party was for Troy's retirement from the AZ Air National Guard and was at the American Legion in town and over the period of the night between family and friends there was well over 100 people who attended or stopped in and wished Troy and Wendy congratulations and best wishes.

Loup City, NE is the Polish Capitol of Nebraska and has about 1200 population and the main street has a couple of blinking stop lights at the 2 major intersections. The town commons has a Veteran Memorial walkway that has upright monuments with the names of those hometown citizens that have served our nation. They take a lot of pride of their veterans and those who served and those who are serving today. We enjoyed our stay and most of all those who we got to reunite after 18 years.

Troy's retirement American Flag, Retirement certificate and certificates and plaques received during his career.

Here is Troy with his Grandparents Harry and Catherine.

We had a pleasant trip back to Golden, except for the bugs on the windshield. That takes a few hours to clean, worse part of driving a motorhome. We are back in Golden with Wendy up on the mountain. The weather has been beautiful -- temp in the mid 70's daytime and low 50's at night. Yesterday Wed. July 28th, in the town of Nederland, Co about 10 miles northwest of us as the crow flies they had a a thunder storm that brought in some hail about 8+ inches. The town had to put the plows back on the road to clear the hail so emergency vehicles can get around. Some roads were washed out and others blocked by some rock slides. It made national news this morning. Where we are we just had thunder some lightning and pea size hail that lasted only a few minutes. We were lucky. Last year while we were here, the town of Arvada had a storm very similar to yesterdays. Right now it looks like we will be leaving around the end of August to head towards SD and then to the northwest to Seattle and then down the coast back to Santa Cruz to be there right after Labor Day.

Sue and I are still able to talk to one another even after 2+ years on the road and in tight quarters. We are enjoying what we are doing and look forward to seeing more of our beautiful country and meeting people.

Moab, Arches and Canyonland National Park

Arches National Park, Moab, UT

We visited Arches a couple of years ago but still had to revisit and do a drive thru. The only problem is that the temperature was around 103 degrees, so it easy to say we did not hike around that day.

This was our second visit to Moab and again really enjoyed it. This town has something for everyone in addition to the National Parks. If you are into 4X4, 4 wheeling, horse back riding, hiking, rock climbing, base jumping (illegal in this town, but still happens on occasion), white water rafting, visiting wineries, breweries, jeep tours guided or self guided, there is something for everyone. The only problem is in July and August it can get very hot (the locals say it is a dry heat) still hot. If you travel by RV there are many campgrounds, hotel/motels inns, lodges a great place to visit. It is only 35 miles off I70 easy to get to and get around.

We stayed in Moab and real tourist town that caters to Rvers, 4x4 vehicles and rock climbers, base jumpers, bicyclist and hikers year round. There is so much that Moab offers great restaurants, a couple of breweries, wineries, Jeep tours self guided or guided. At the Jet boat tour you could go on a rafting trip down the Colorado to Lake Powell or just short raft trips. RV'ers are welcomed everywhere. Our campground was about 5 miles out of town and very reasonable for price.

Canyonland National Park, UT

The next day we drove to Canyonland about 35 miles away. This part of the park is identified as Island in the Sky with another scenic drive. You could call this park a smaller version of the Grand Canyon when you see it. As you drive down the main road you see canyon on both sides of you. One covers the Green River coming into the canyon and the other side you see the Colorado river and at the end of the road is where the two merge together and continue south to Lake Powell. A beautiful park to see. We now wish we had taken the time to go into Dead Horse Canyon State Park about 10 miles outside Canyonland a Utah treasure we were told by many. Canyonland National Park is a great park for those who have 4 X 4 high clearance vehicles if you want to tour the canyon basin as there are many trails to take in the Island in the Sky part or if you want a challenge is to go to the Needles part of the park which is described as for high clearance vehicles. We spent a couple of days there and enjoyed it very much.

Canyonland by Night & Day Jetboat Tours of the Colorado River, Moab, UT.

Sue and I decided to try something different like this Jetboat ride down the Colorado. It was a 32 mile trip down to where you start to enter Canyonland National Park with a view of both sides of the park, the Needles area and the Island in the Sky. We passed by Dead Horse State Park just before Canyonland. The views from Dead Horse State Park have many similarities of that of the Grand Canyon. The movie studios found it easier to get permits to film in this State Park than the Grand Canyon or Canyonland as it is on Federal property. Just a short trip out of Moab is a winery, lodge and movie museum that has a lot of memorabilia from many of the films made there.

As for the Jet Boat ride it was 4 hours long with some stops along the way with a tour guide that was to say had a dry sense of humor. He stressed that when the 4 wheelers and 4X4 come to town they like pain and suffering along with rock climbers. You can tell who has been doing what by the amount of bandages they have on their bodies or the smell of Ben Gay on their sore legs, arms or whatever. He liked to keep his feet on the ground and watch people do some dumb things. The views from river were spectacular. We saw a couple of natural arches in the rock formations. The Needles area of Canyonland mostly accessible by 4X4 high clearance vehicles. We got to see some more Petroglyphs on the rock formation along the river. The river traffic is limited to tour boats like this Jetboat or River rafting as they have all the permits to allow them to enter the National Park property that divides the park.

While we were on the boat ride, we met a couple from California that are also RV'ers that are not full time but close enough to call them that as they are on the road for 9 months of the year. We all discussed our travels and experiences and after the ride we ended up going to lunch with them in town and exchanged information and we plan on getting together when we return to California in September.

Travel continues in Utah National Park, Colorado and Nebraska

Capit0l Reef National Park, UT

We found this park again to be altogether different from the others. We did a couple of hikes and drove the scenic drives, one inside the park that went about 10 miles and the other State Highway Route 24. We hiked to Hickman's Natural Bridge and arch about 1 mile in. On our way out we got to see a Big Horn Sheep that was on the next ridge and were able to take a picture.

In the park are several original structures of the community. The Clifford House and farm which today serves as a museum and gift shop where you can buy old fashion ice cream and homemade root beer. Another structure the Blacksmith shop, and a one room school house.

The school house was used up to 1931 and then became part of the National Park. At one time the enrollment of the school was around 25 which covered all grades. Very tight quarters with a large wood stove in the center of the class.

We stopped at a park near the museum to have a picnic lunch and observed the deer just grazing around the picnic area not bothering with the people there. They know they are safe and will be getting droppings.

We drove to Capitol Gorge and walked the trail out to the Pioneer Register which is where the early settlers scratched their names and dates of travel on the canyon wall, some go back to the 1880's. Along this trail are Petroglyphs that are possibly several hundred years old. We stayed a couple of days exploring this park and enjoyed it very much. Our campground was about 10 miles from the entrance to the park in Torrey, UT.

Sue and I decided after visiting Capitol Reef that we should continue onto Moab and complete the National Parks of Utah by visiting Arches and Canyonland and visiting the town of Moab.

Travels to Colorado via Utah and National Parks

We left Scotts Valley, Ca., on the 16th of June and started traveling east towards Colorado. Our first stop was at Travis AFB for fuel, grocery shopping and then headed towards Nevada. We traveled on I 80 east towards Reno and in Fernley, NV we headed towards Fallon, NV.

US Highway 50 America's Loneliest Highway

We recently read an article in Motorhome magazine about "America's Loneliest Highway" that crosses Nevada. Also, US Highway 50 was featured on a travel special as US 50 crosses the United States from Washington, DC to Sacramento, Ca. We mapped out a route to spend the night at Fallon Naval Air Station and then head out first thing in the morning traveling some 300+ miles across Nevada's open space.

We fueled up in Fallon before we left as the people we talked to all told us to make sure we were ready for the trip -- fuel, tires, food and drink, as once you leave Fallon there is little to no cell phone communications , Internet, or emergency phones along the highway. We traveled thru 3 small towns -- Austin, Eureka and Eli. The distance between towns was some 70+ miles apart if not further. As the article said we would go some 15-20 minutes without seeing any other vehicles on this road. The road was great to travel on but don't break down. We didn't even see any of the local or state police on this road. The only sign out there was for a warning to watch out for "Low Flying Aircraft" as this is an area that the military uses for training and sometimes they buzz the vehicles on this highway. We did not see any aircraft that day.

We stopped at a rest area along this highway and had lunch and while there, a couple from CT pulled in with their motorhome and parked along side of us. When we looked out there was the twin to our motorhome another 2007 Phaeton. We chatted with them for a while and found out there were heading west towards California where we left a couple of days ago.

We traveled about 8 - 1o hours that day and ended up in Beaver, UT and refueled at a Flying J Truck stop for the night. On Saturday we traveled about another 100 miles to Long Valley Jct, UT to the Lutherwood Campground located half way between Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.

Lutherwood Campground, Long Valley, Jct, UT.

Lutherwood Campground is located a couple of miles down a dirt road and when we started down the road we both looked at each other and wondered what are we getting into. When we arrived the campground we were pleasantly surprised. The campground is run by the Lutheran Campground organization of the southwest. We found it in the Passport America book. We were told when we arrived to look out for deer.

At night there were anywhere from 6 - 12 mule deers that graze around the motorhomes and fields. There is a small basin with

water in it in front of our motorhome and the deer drank from there every night. We took several pictures from inside the m/h thru the windshield and side windows of the deer. Another thing about the campground is at night the temp drops to the 40's and the days to the high 70's low 80's.

There must be a cattle farm close by as the cows walk up to the higher elevations in the morning and return at sunset to the lower canyon.

Zion National Park, UT.

We set up and prepared for a day in Zion on Sunday and traveled the park. We drove in from the East gate and went about 11 miles to the Visitor's center. The park's road from the East gate is under construction to about a mile from the Center. We did get to see some beautiful spots along East side entrance like Checkerboard Mesa and mountain that has erosion/crack like marks that run from North colors are beautiful. Then there are a couple of tunnels cut into the mountain -- a short one and then another tunnel about a mile long with windows cut in the sides. The tunnels have very low clearance and if we had taken the motorhome we would have had to have an escort and run down the center of the road as the sides would have made a convertible of our motorhome. We got to the Visitor Center and boarded theto South and East to West and at certain times of day the shuttle bus for a scenic tour that runs about 8 miles with a lot of stops where you can get on and off at any stops and do some hiking. We did hike a few of the trails in the 2 days we spent there.

There are many spectacular views and the wildlife and it was a lot of fun. We got to see a doe with here very young fawn and along our hike to the Emerald Pools we saw a rattle snake curled up under a rock, which we didn't want to disturb. We had a great time at Zion and took a lot of pictures and have memories for a lifetime.

Dixie National Forest, UT. Bryce Canyon, National Park, UT.

We took Tuesday off from hiking and driving around Zion and on Wednesday and we went the other direction to Bryce Canyon and from the time we got on State Highway 12 it was a very different scenery. We entered the Dixie National Forest and Red Canyon the dirt was a very deep red rusty color and the rock formations were spectacular and this was only the beginning. This road was very scenic with 2 tunnels that were cut large enough to support the largest of vehicles.

We got the Bryce and again started at the Visitor Center and saw a 20 minute video on the park and then got on the park tour bus to see Bryce Amphitheater which consist of several view points. We took many pictures and went back to get the car to travel the park's 18 mile scenic drive to Rainbow point and had a picnic. We took a couple of hikes around Rainbow Point and then started back down the drive back with many stops at the scenic views, we ended up back at the gate and then headed back to the campground for the night.

We started out today (Thurs) a little earlier and headed to Sunrise Point and did a couple of hikes down the Queens garden and the Sunrise to Sunset point trail about 3 miles and then hiked back to Sunrise Point about 1/2 mile. Again another beautiful day weather in the mid 80's and a light breeze with great visibility.

We took another bunch of pictures today except from the base of the canyon looking up and some along the way down and up the trails. The trails were well marked and maintained easy to moderate hiking. Another great park to visit with a lot of memories.

Sue and I did see another motorhome we would like to check out while in Utah. It is smaller than what we have but is something to see and appreciate.

While at Bryce, I bought a souvenir tee shirt of Utah with all 5 National Parks in Utah illustrated in sketches on it. There was one park, Capitol Reef NP and we had never heard of it. So, this was our next destination.