I kind of disappeared with all the planning, but wanted to sincerely thank all of you for advice, routing, etc.! The trip was amazing, to say the least. I keep calling this the "Best Summer EVER". rolling_rhoda - De Smet was a HUGE hit with the kids - it's such a hands on place and they had 4 kittens that followed us everywhere. My son wanted to stay another night...
Things I remember most:
First day - fuel pump sputtered (but recovered) and a blowout on the trailer on PA turnpike. Both fixed over the next 2 days and stayed on schedule.
Colorado Springs was a great stop - Garden of the Gods, Air Force Academy, Cog Railway up Pikes Peak and excellent mountain biking (Palmer Park) made for a packed stop.
Another tire went down 10 miles east of Wolf Creek Pass - not a blow out, but happened to be a tire shop right there. Tread had separated... Good thing I had to stop for gas and saw that it was low - a blowout through Wolf Creek would have been bad.
Mesa Verde - only one night. Should have stayed here at least 3...
Grand Canyon - stayed five nights and should have stayed 2. Did hike into the Canyon with my son (Bright Angel) which was a highlight of the trip.
Utah - Bryce & Zion were fantastic! Biked the Red Canyon (Thunder Mountain Trail). Best ride of my life!
Nevada - survived the Extraterrestrial Hwy. Got 240 miles out of a tank of gas with MAJOR hypermiling. Would never take that route again... Had to replace both tires on the OTHER side of the camper in Carson City - tread separation again. Decided that all four Carlisle's were defective. No tire issues after this.
Crescent City - Redwoods: a huge hit with the kids. Hiking is kinda what we do so to be amongst these magnificent trees was a great experience. Mountain biked with the kids at Prairie Creek and came up on an elk herd. Another highlight for me - to see the kids come up over a rise and see a magnificent male standing in front of them - priceless.
Oregon - John Day Scenic By-Way was beautiful. Also the route up 101.
Idaho - Craters of the Moon. Kids explored caves FOREVER! Pretty stark environment and to find ice in a cave (lava tube, really) in July was a hoot for the kids. Stayed in Arco - learned about the nuclear history there with the Navy.
Yellowstone - most beautiful park I'll probably ever stay in. But I have to say - the human behavior in this park was atrocious. I've never seen so many rude foreigners with a complete disregard for nature. Approaching wild life, walking in areas that were clearly marked to stay out of, wading in a stream that says no swimming and just complete lack of manners on boardwalks. We took a back country hike and when we go back, it will be the back country only. But we did see fantastic wildlife and geothermal features. Steamboat had erupted the night before we went to that section of the park so we were able to witness the steam phase. Steamboat's last eruption was 8 years ago! Bison were in the rut - saw some males really going at it!
Thermopolis - best trout fishing of my life! Caught rainbows, cutthroat and browns on the fly. Caught and released a brown that was no less than 7 lbs. I came here to fish the Bighorn - other than that, the hot springs were OK and they liked the dyno museum (kids went while I fished).
Devils Tower - it was Sturgis week while were here. Love being around bikes and bikers and they owned Devils Tower the day we were there. There was also a climber that broke his leg in two places - the rescue involved 9 professional climbers and they pretty much shut down the trail while we were on it. Phenomenal stop. Watched Close Encounters with thunder and lightning rumbling all around us, but it never rained. Cool experience.
Custer State Park - biggest surprise of the trip! Stockade was the best campground we stayed in the entire trip. Just about as beautiful as Yellowstone with regular folk doing regular things. Must not be on the rude foreigner's list of "places to go"... Got caught in a tornado warning and the subsequent hail storm. Nothing like large marble sized hail pinging off my bike and my helmet. Awning sustained damage - about 2 dozen holes. :(
Badlands - drive through only on our way to De Smet (Little House on the Prairie) but it's the perfect park to drive through anyway.
Ingalls Homestead - a definite for kids. We could have stayed there another 2 days.
La Crosse Wisconsin - came here only for the mountain biking and a convenient jump stop to start back home. And ended up trading in our camper for 2013 Kodiak Express! So much has changed in the 7 years since we bought our K-Z. It was a major upgrade in size and features and the price and trade in would never have been matched back East. Nothing like parking the old camper and the new camper door to door and transferring ALL your stuff in an hour and a half! It was sad to drive away from our Frontier - my son actually broke down crying our first night in the Kodiak...
But what a trip! As we traveled, I thought of all the advice and help that you all gave so freely and felt bad that I just kind of fell off the face of the earth here. Thank you all! I hope to be a regular here so I can give back when I can. If anyone is interested, there's more detail in my blog - I was able to keep up with it on a pretty regular basis despite the broadband issues we came across everywhere!
gigantibeast.blogspot.com
Travel safe & light!
