Headed out west

[Gcross1468]

Originally Posted by Loneoak

We have arrived home. I will do a summary when I get time. There is a lot to do around here right now. The trailer is going in for service on Oct. 27 and I want to thoroughly clean it before it goes in and I have to re-string one of the blinds and re-caulk a bunch of glass cabinet doors.

I second the part about enjoying your trip! Thanks so much for keeping us up to date with all the fantastic photos and traveler information. Nothing better than getting information from someone who's actually doing the trip.
So, who's next? A good spring tour around the country with posts like this would definitely break the cabin fever we will all have by March or April...

[Loneoak]

We are leaving for Florida some time in December for the winter (with the trailer). Next year we may go to the factory rally as we enjoyed it very much this year. We may also go to the Niagara area as neither of us has been there for a while and we have friends in that area.

We are talking about Alaska in 2016, but there have to be some decisions (regarding equipment) made regarding that trip as a result of what Scott reported.

[Tim D]

Originally Posted by Loneoak

Thanks for the support, everyone! We are headed to Santa Fe today for three nights, then we will be winding our way home. We are spending two nights each in Memphis and Nashville. The other days we will be on the road every day.

We were just in NM. We stayed in Albuquerque. Spent a day in Santa Fe. Went to the Balloon Fiesta while there. A few pics.

Fiesta 1.png

Fiesta 2.png

Fiesta 3.png

Sandia Peak.png

[Loneoak]

The balloon festival was on in Albequerque while we were in Santa Fe. My husband wanted to go there first thing in the morning and see the balloons go up. This would have meant getting up at 3 a.m. to drive there, etc. I didn't want to do that, and he was not willing to do it alone, so it didn't happen.

[Tim D]

It is about an hour drive on I-25. Approx 560 balloons went up Sat morning. Really a sight to see.

[Loneoak]

I want to do a summary of our trip. I have the route we took mapped out and I can print it to pdf, but how would I print it to a jpg? It is on Microsoft Streets and Trips.

[CampMacKay]

There are several options here:
http://m.wikihow.com/Convert-PDF-to-Jpeg

[Loneoak]

Thank you. I did this and am now awaiting my file.

[Loneoak]

I created an album and put the pictures into the album in the order taken. They are now in the reverse order. Any ideas how to reverse the order of the pictures?

[Loneoak]

Summary of trip

We left Sept. 5 and returned Oct. 14. We had a basic route planned, but moved on when we were ready. We stayed mostly at KOAs and would usually reserve the next one when we knew the date we would move on. We had no set schedule. We tend not to gravitate towards the big cities, preferring the scenery and attractions outside the cities. Our plans were to visit Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee on the way home, but bad weather was predicted so we headed home instead. We can visit those places on the way home from Florida some time.

We stayed usually three or four nights in one spot.

Total distance traveled with truck (includes side trips) = 14,206 km or 8827 miles.
Total distance traveled with trailer only = 8645 km or 5372 miles.

Here are some of the things we learned along the way:

1. Leaving after Labor Day does not mean traveling in the off-season, it means traveling in the “second season”. We were surprised at the number of tourists in some of the places we visited, as well as retired folks like ourselves. People came from various parts of Europe and North America, as well as Asia.
2. If you buy a National Park pass it is cheaper than individual entrance fees if you visit a lot of National Parks. We found this out too late to help us.
3. Trucks don’t perform as well in the higher elevations. Neither do people.
4. Vent covers are good to have. They can protect your vents from damage in hail storms as well as keep rain out.
5. Most people travel with dogs, many of them with more than one.
6. The scenery in the areas we traveled is amazing and changes constantly.
7. Colorado is much more beautiful than we ever imagined. The goal of the trip was to visit Utah and Arizona. We visited Colorado because it was on the way. It turned into a very pleasant surprise!
8. Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona is a definite “bucket list” item. It was probably the highlight of the trip for us.

[johnboytoo]

Isn't it great when one of those 'oh by the ways..."
turns into a memorable visit ???

Ours was on a whim with an hour or two to kill,
deciding to go by a city park where we overnighted on our loop thru Colo, Az, and New Mex...
While the Grand Canyon was stupendous, the city park was QUITE a surprise...

Maybe THAT's why they named it Garden of the Gods --> http://www.gardenofgods.com/home/index.cfm?flash=1

just like the Canyon, pictures don't do it justice !

[Loneoak]

I find pictures seldom do a place justice!

[mark5w]

But for those of use that can't get out the way, it's the next best thing.

[Loneoak]

I added up the costs of our trip, since I keep track of our expenditures. Here are some numbers, which prove camping is the cheapest way to travel:

gas - $2,845
campsites - $1,520
admissions (museums, state parks, train ride, etc.) - $725
tolls - $51

Total - $5,141

I did not include groceries, items we purchased, or laundry. One way we kept costs down was packing a lunch most days.

The trip was 40 days long and I posted the distance traveled in another post.

[Tim D]

Originally Posted by Loneoak

I added up the costs of our trip, since I keep track of our expenditures. Here are some numbers, which prove camping is the cheapest way to travel:

gas - $2,845
campsites - $1,520
admissions (museums, state parks, train ride, etc.) - $725
tolls - $51

Total - $5,141

I did not include groceries, items we purchased, or laundry. One way we kept costs down was packing a lunch most days.

The trip was 40 days long and I posted the distance traveled in another post.

Good info. You certainly could not fly, rent a car, and stay in motels every night for that.

[Loneoak]

Originally Posted by Tim D

Good info. You certainly could not fly, rent a car, and stay in motels every night for that.

Or take one of those bus trips would wouldn't last half as long as the trip we took! Another great thing is the fact that we were free to stay as long as we wanted in one place and move when and where we wanted.

[Lloyd]

As long as the weather behaved.

[Loneoak]

It actually did! We had one rainy day while we were moving from Cedar City to Jacob Lake, and a little hailstorm which I mentioned earlier. The rain chased us all the way home and since we got home almost 2 weeks ago, we have had more rainy days than not.

[Loneoak]

One thing I want to add is that we stayed mostly at KOAs. We bought a membership at the first one and then kept reserving more as we went. We found some of them to be very nice and spacious (Cedar City was the nicest) and some kind of tight and crowded (Cannonville, Utah comes to mind). Some had flaky, slow internet, and some had fantastic internet. The only non-KOAs we stayed at were the first night on the road (boondocking), Jacob Lake (no KOAs available) and Enon, OH (also none close).

[johnboytoo]

Glad the koa's worked out for you...
we've not stayed in them in a LONG time - too many nicer, more reasonable parks to visit...

they are like the last on the list for us... maybe even behind a truck stop