Still on the Road West

Hey there friends. Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. The campgrounds at which we have stopped have had no internet access and I have been feeling a little disconnected.

We have had a relatively easy time traveling the interstate highway system to get to where we are now. I-90, I-71 and now I-70 along with the various bypasses around Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis and St. Louis have been little disrupted by construction and/or heavy volume. We did run into a little problem on Tuesday just across the Indiana line. Thunderstorms reduced visibility to only a few yards and the pickup in front of me didn’t turn on his lights making it even more difficult. Traffic kept moving, however, except for a few vehicles that pulled over to the shoulder. I am reluctant to do that since I can picture someone slamming into my rear if I do. No exits or rest areas were available so we just kept rolling, albeit at a slower speed than normal, until we got out from under the storm. Later, we came upon a six-mile long backup where road construction had reduced the highway to one lane of stop-and-go (mostly stop) traffic.

On Wednesday, the small problems we experienced were put into perspective. On the eastbound side of the highway, there was a multi-car accident in a construction zone (reduced to one lane) that shut I-70 completely. The backup was a good 10 miles and people were shutting off their engines and getting out of their cars. It was about 95 degrees (St. Louis predictions were for 100) and they had to be uncomfortable. State troopers and fire trucks were present up and down the line. There was a second accident caused by the first and that too had its own mini-backup—although even without it the people behind them weren’t going anywhere. Just the sight of all the parked vehicles made me happy to be on the westbound side.

We’ve crossed our first time zone. Leaving Indiana and crossing into Illinois we went from Eastern to Central Time. We’ve also crossed the Mississippi River and the Missouri River (twice, as it makes a big loop south then north as you go up river from the Mississippi north of St Louis).

We crossed the Missouri River for the last time this morning (Thursday) as we went from Kansas City, MO to Kansas City, KS. Got good views of the baseball and football stadiums as they are right next to I-70. It was much cooler than Wednesday. The temperature is closer to 85 than 95.

We ran into some more heavy rain Thursday morning just west of Kansas City, KS. Some poor woman a short distance ahead of us must have hydroplaned into the median. When we got there she had some help with two trucks having pulled over. One was protecting her car from oncoming traffic and the other was on the shoulder with his lights flashing. First aid was being administered and a highway worker was already there with radio in hand. Otherwise, the travel has been relatively smooth and we are sitting in Salina, KS having lunch at a Flying J and using their wi-fi network. We will be in Oakley in about three hours. Then it’s on to Monument. We've been doing about 400 miles a day and that is just about right with the trailer.

Kansas is not as flat as it seems. Besides the rolling hills as you travel west, there are many eroded gullies and breaks. It's similar to the Badlands further north but with grass. The trees disappeared from most of the land as we left KC behind. Now they are only in the depths of the gullies where water accumulates and around the rivers and ponds.

That's all for now. Tune in later for more.

Let's Hit the Road!

Everything is set to hit the road early Monday morning. Five days of driving will get us to Monument, Colorado. We’ll make four stops along the way:

1- Geneva, Ohio at Kenisee’s Grand River Camp --375 miles
2- Cloverdale, Indiana at the Cloverdale RV Park Cloverdale RV Park --400 miles
3- Higgensville, Missouri at the Interstate RV Park --400 miles
4- Oakley, Kansas at High Plains Camping --400 miles

From Oakley to Monument is only 240-250 miles. We should be rolling into Lake of the Rockies RV Park in Monument by 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon.

On our last trip we determined that 400 miles is about our daily limit, especially since I do all the driving when the truck and trailer come in to play. It isn’t much when traveling by car (or truck), in fact we have done almost twice that on some recent trips to Idaho and once, in our wilder and crazier youth, we drove from Colorado to NJ non-stop. Of course, Terry helps with some of the driving as long as the Silverado is not involved. (Our son had to do even more: Moscow, Idaho to NJ non-stop and alone. He says he will never do that again. The dancing hippos in their pink tutus began to appear around the Ohio/PA border and kept him company for the next 6 hours.) Anyway, hauling a 27-foot trailer behind a nearly 18-foot truck doesn’t allow you to hit the 75 mph you see the cars and even the 18-wheelers doing. Just can’t be done. Cruising speed will be around 60-65 tops, which means 6 to 7 hours of driving when you figure in gas stops. Potty stops and such are extra. That means about 8 hours to go 400 miles. That’s enough.

Since we are traveling from Monday through Friday, I made no reservations with any of the campgrounds/RV parks except for Lake of the Rockies where we will be staying the week of July 1-8. We will do as we did last trip, when we are about 100 miles from our proposed destination, we will call them on our cell phone to see if they have a parking space for the night. I don’t remember anyplace that was fully booked the last time we traveled west. If any are (or if we don’t like the looks of the place), we can look up another campsite in our 2005 Trailer Life Directory and move on down the road.

Actually, not liking the place occurred only once when we stopped at a state run facility. Not that the campground was bad, just overcrowded. There were people at sites selling crafts and foods. Sites were so close that you could almost open your car door into the camper next to you. We moved on from that one.

All four places I listed above are members of the Good Sam’s Club and have their campgrounds rated in the Directory. We have been to the first two and they are beautiful places worthy of extended stays. The other two look interesting and might well be as nice.

We’ll be up and on the road by 8 AM Monday morning. I’ll try to keep you posted on our progress but do not know if the campgrounds will have internet access available. I’m sure that I will be able to get access in Monument or Colorado Springs, however, so I will be able to let you know what we are up to. We intend to see/do the following: the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, The Flying W Ranch, Monument’s 4th of July Parade, Pike’s Peak, Garden of the Gods, hot air ballooning in South Park (just over the pass to the west of Pike’s Peak), Old Town (east of Colorado Springs), and who knows what else.

Oh, by the way, here is a picture of our home for the next three weeks.



Mark, my upstate neighbor, likes to call this our “3rd home” and he’s right, though we don’t spend as much time in it as we would like. I have a feeling that is about to change, however.