Driving on to Zion!

After a few days at Arches we spent another full day driving west, this time headed to Zion National Park. For this we kept on Interstate highways for time efficiency and easier roads, but we still saw some nice scenery. Along the way we also saw a group of about 20 Smart Cars traveling east, different yet similar to group of Model A's that we saw earlier in the trip. Looking it up later I'm pretty sure that they were heading to the Smart Car National Convention in Denver. At a gas station along the way we thought it is funny that they were selling used license plates from a variety of states that looked like you could just buy them and attach them to your car.  We also saw the thermometer hit 104 F, making it our hottest day so far, later we heard that it had been 112 at some places in the park. Our last stop along the way was to stock up on groceries at a nice supermarket in Cedar City. Watchman Campground at Zion is just inside the southwest entrance and adjacent to the visitors center making for easy access to the shuttle busses. The landscape at Zion is just spectacular. At Arches we felt like we were camping on Mars, but here it was like we were camping in some famous 19th century American landscape painting that is too perfect to be real. We also took in several ranger naturalist programs at a small amphitheater just steps from our campsite, and a great one about hummingbirds one evening at Zion Lodge. 

Arches National Park, Utah!

Crossing into Utah we soon got off the Interstate again and headed for Arches National Park via Route 128. We spotted a few old trailers passing through Cisco, but everyone in the family agreed that it didn't look like someplace we were supposed to be. (According to our kids we've found ourselves in several places that don't look like someplace we should be lately). According to Wikipedia, Cisco is a ghost town in which scenes for Thelma and Louise and a few other movies were shot.

Once we were a bit further south the scenery really began to change and it was obvious we were someplace unlike anywhere we have been before. If you have the option to drive south on route 128, it's worth it and its an easy drive with a trailer in tow. You might also consider camping at one of the first-come first-served BLM campsites along this road. After a number of stops for sightseeing along the Colorado River we arrived in Moab and entered the National Park. Devils Garden campground is at the end of the scenic drive so you get to see a lot just in getting to the campsite. The campground itself was minimal, but it's just spectacular being there and it puts you in the middle of everything. We didn't see any other vintage trailers, but the Tab trailer on the site across the road looked right at home with its orange trim. Oh.. and yes Utah in mid July is hot, 101 F on the thermometer had all of us drinking more water each day than we thought possible.

Through the Rocky Mountains

Heading west out of the Denver area we traveled on I-70 through the Rocky Mountains, yes - through them. This was a much anticipated portion of the trip, as we knew that it was here where we would experience the steepest grades and multiple tunnels. The largest tunnel was the Eisenhower Tunnel which is over a mile and a half long. Forty years old this year, it's ten years younger than our Shasta. We found the grade climbing up to the tunnel was not too difficult, but after we exited we proceeded down a 7% grade for seven miles which left us wondering what the return trip heading back east would be like. Later in the day we drove through the amazing Glenwood Canyon, which had incredible rock walls and some impressive highway engineering. As we closed in on the state border we were glad that both the car and trailer did well through a fairly intense day of driving.

Highest Paved Road in North America

Next stop was Colorado where we spent a week with family staying in a house in the mountains instead of camping.  We had a great time just spending time together and doing all sorts of sightseeing.  One road-trip item worth mentioning here on the blog was the drive up the highest paved road in North America to the summit of Mt. Evans. Just west of Denver off of I-70 this 14 mile scenic drive is a bit scary but worth checking out, it's one of the few places you can drive to a destination that is over 14,000 feet above sea level. Be sure to stop and check out the Bristlecone Pines along the way and to leave the trailer at the bottom!  

Lincoln Highway Centennial

Continuing west we kept off the Interstate traveling for a good part of the day on a section of the old Lincoln Highway. Shortly after crossing the Mississippi and entering Nebraska we caught up with a dozen or so Model A Fords who were likely traveling to the Lincoln Highway Centennial at the Great Platte River Road Archway. Over the next 10 miles you could feel the history as we represented the progress of the late 50's and early 60's as we passed the 1930's vehicles with our trailer. I was also aware that a group of TIn Can Tourists was traveling some of this same stretch of the Lincoln Highway in route to the Centennial, but I couldn't get our itinerary line up with theirs so we were a couple of days ahead of them. You can read about their tour at Cool McCool's Garage. Later in the day we had a great conversation with nice guy with a very cool hot rod in Grand Rapids, NE while stopped for lunch at a supermarket parking lot. Our stop for the night was at Lake Maloney State Recreation Area in North Platte, "just park and camp anywhere you want". 

3 Days, 6 States, and 2 American Pickers

The first day of the trip we left Buffalo, NY and headed west. Quickly passing through the corner of Pennsylvania, then heading across Ohio. Watch out for that 90 degree left turn on I-80 in Cleveland!  At the end of the day we ended up once again at Pokagon State Park which is just over the border into Indiana. Pokagon is a 6 hour drive for us and is in just the right place for the first night when we are traveling west. That night we had 3 to 4 inches of rain which drove some the nearby tent campers to pack up their stuff and head home and reminded us of one of the reasons we started shopping for a trailer in the first place. Based on experience in our previous trip west we we decided to avoid the Chicago area traffic so the next day we drove south to Fort Wayne and then crossed Indiana and Illinois via US 24 which worked out extremely well, we also got see a few small towns along the way instead of just pavement. We stayed at Jubilee College State Park just west of Peoria that second night. Jubilee has a large campground but was pretty empty early in the week. From there we headed north a to Davenport, Iowa were we stopped to check out the Antique Archeology shop which is just off I-80. The shop was closed for filming, but we did get to see Mike and Frank drive out of the parking lot in their van while filming an episode of American Pickers. I was hoping to get a few photos of our Shasta in front of their shop, but there was an RV was blocking the alley, turned out it belonged to the film crew. Later that day we made camp at Prairie Rose State Park in western Iowa, the same place where we had stayed on our 2010 trip.  

Another long road trip!

We recently completed another 3 week, 5,000 mile road trip with our vintage Shasta!   

Starting from our home in the western part of New York state we traveled through 8 states spending the majority of time in Colorado and at several National Parks in Utah. We stayed at 10 different campgrounds as well as spending a week with family in the Rocky Mountains.  We all had a great time and the trailer continues to work well for our family of four with practically no issues. We did a lot of prep for this trip including re-packing wheel bearings, installing new tires, and creating a planned itinerary that included several options for where we might camp each night depending on how each day went. We made reservations far in advance at campgrounds in the National Parks and for potentially busy Friday nights, but stayed in first-come, first-served sites for most others. Overall a fantastic trip!

As I recover and dig through our photos I'll try to post some highlights here on the blog over the next several weeks.