Here is our inaugural trip, picking up the HC1 up in Los Angeles and driving cross-country never having camped before or pulled a trailer. We’ve come a long way since then and so will you - if we can do it, you can do it! Start with the bottom post and work your way up…
Home
Our last day was a blur of driving and sort of coming to the realization that this amazing vacation was at an end. I'm writing this post a few days in to our return, I'm back at work and lots of people have asked - how was it? So here is my best summary...
First of all, I definitely married the right guy. This sort of a trip either results in someone being buried in the desert and someone returning solo, or it is an epic trip with your best friend. Thankfully it was the latter. And while we both had to acknowledge that we can be control freaks (him more than me obviously), we got along beautifully and really enjoyed the adventure. Thank you Michael for being a great husband.
Second, we live in an amazingly beautiful and diverse country. Of course we knew this already, but experiencing it in the slow unfolding of days was a real pleasure, and it was especially great because we got to do it together.
Third, we aren't sure exactly how well traveling with all three dogs in the camper is going to be. Two Westies? Sure, that will be fine. One Charlie? Hm... not so sure there is enough room, but we will give it a shot and you can find out how that went in a future post!
Monticello, Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg
Mike and I had both been looking forward to visiting Monticello and it didn't disappoint. Absolutely beautiful and the house tour was fantastic. We spent a bit longer than we had planned but that was fine as we were planning to just drive through Harpers Ferry and then head up to Gettysburg. Harpers Ferry had a really historic feel to it - great job at preservation and it's definitely a place we want to visit again.
From there it was a couple of hours up to our campsite at Artillery Ridge in Gettysburg. Awesome location - think it is actually a part of the national battlefield. The camper next to ours was owned by some really nice people from Maine - they'd been on the road for 2 months, so they made us look like a couple of lightweights. They own a small camper and were a little shocked to see that ours was even smaller, but there is a sort of camaraderie among camper owners so had a great chat and heard about their trip. Mike and I headed in to town for a nice dinner, came back for a walk around the campground and turned in early...
The second day was great - we had been to Gettysburg a few years back and had bought a 3 CD set that gave you an audio tour of the battlefield. Managed to do all three discs, ran into our new friends from Maine a few times, and finished with enough time in the day for me to get a massage. :)
Sort of sad that this amazing trip is coming to an end, but we've been spending a lot of time talking about missing the dogs these last few days, so we are ready to be home.
Schlepping through Kentucky, Back to TN and into VA
So this was a day of driving... and then some more driving. And since there was so much driving, we figured we were due a special night in a hotel. Landed at the Natural Bridge Hotel in Virginia around 5 pm but to be honest, we didn't even go to the Natural Bridge. Huge deal around here, but after driving through Monument Valley, we figured we'd seen enough very large rock formations.
Hotel had a decent dining room and made a new friend. Guy walked by wearing a soccer t-shirt so of course Mike asked him about it. Spent some time at our table, talked sports and he described his job as - working for a non-profit focused on peace... the US Army.
Fort Donelson, Face Lift Fridays and Cumberland Falls
Given we had our stove top working, today started out with the inaugural use of the kettle and an incredibly beautiful drive through Tennessee and Kentucky. We had a planned stop at Fort Donelson (Civil War site) where we met a lot of people who were very interested in learning more about the camper so ended up spending close to an hour doing a bit of show and tell AND we learned that there are these meet ups that are held all over the country for people who have fiberglass campers. Sounds incredibly nerdy and now we are totally going to have to check it out. Love me a subculture!
Beautiful scenery on the drive and a drive by what I can only describe as the day surgery you absolutely do not want to visit (see pic below). Really do not know what to say about this, other than it is worrying that this would be considered legal. Mike also got to try a Clucker, which sounded like a bad idea as you buy them at gas stations, but ended up being quite tasty - sort of a breakfast sandwich on a biscuit.
Made it to our campsite right near Cumberland Falls as it was getting into late afternoon. Road was really wind-y and sort of dangerous when you have a super light weight camper. Mike once again did our check in and came out grinning that the girl who checked us in seemed really excited we were there (I can hear it now... I just LOVE your accent Mr. Preston!). Figured since we had the stovetop working, we should finally put on the external bar, just to say we did it. Super simple to set up and we see this being incredibly useful during driveway tailgate parties.
This was the unfortunate evening when we saw that viral video of the guy who had been mauled by a mother bear and it looked like he was probably going to, at a minimum, lose his right ear. Obviously immediately googled what animals are prevalent in the area and yup, black bears was top of the list. Slept not so soundly... you should have seen us walking to the showers before bedtime in the dark after our campfire cooking and 'smores - practically jogged there and back.
Have to say that Kentucky countryside is absolutely beautiful - would love to come back here.
Family and A Winery Stay
Got a real treat today when we were able to have lunch in Little Rock with my niece, nephew and their kids plus a friend. Great little brew house, excellent food (those cheese fries!) and was really great to catch up. Now we just need to convince them to move to Massachusetts...
Long day of driving, but we covered a lot of ground. Left Oklahoma in the morning and were half way through our intended route in Tennessee when we landed at the Crown Winery in Humboldt. There was a wedding on, so when Mike went up to make sure we were parking in the right place he had a chance to not only do a tasting (and buy three bottles) but also got to congratulate the happy couple. Frankly, their DJ was smoking and I thought for a brief moment I might get my recalcitrant husband to dance with me in the dark outside the camper, but he was having none of it.
On a VERY strong positive note, we used the propane stove top and ate dinner in the camper, as God intended. But honestly, the lack of planning meant another night of sausage and mushrooms, so we are going to have to get our act together for the back half of the trip.
Booking It Across Texas and Oklahoma
Long day of driving but got in a couple of good diversionary stops - one at Cadillac Ranch and the other at the Rte 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma. Got into the KOA on the far side of Oklahoma pretty late. Classic serial killer territory. No lights on this rural road off the highway. No one at the office when we got there.... But we were so tired after the day's drive that we figured to hell with it - we were either about to have the worst or best sleep of our lives.
While there was no serial killer at the KOA (yay!) we were not parked level and I've borked my back (not yay). Hopefully it will improve...
Detour To Roswell
Yeah, we did. While we did not personally see any UFOs on the trip, we did on the spur of the moment decide to add about 6 hours of driving time to our planned itinerary in order to go to the International UFO Museum in Roswell. And it did not disappoint. The drive took us literally to the middle of Nowhere, New Mexico which is right outside of Fort Sumner, home of Billy the Kid and the local tribute museum. Mike went in while I sat in the car hunting Pokemon because it just didn't look that great.... Which ended up being a great call on my part. Waze got us a bit off track, adding more hours in the car to the day (yay!) but we eventually made it to Roswell, geeked out on alien stuff (honestly, I don't think it was a weather balloon after reading all those testimonials) and then drove up to Clovis to a KOA with showers for the night. Epic day on an epic trip.
On To Taos Where There Definitely Isn't Any Oxygen
Got off to a VERY strong start today with the change out of the dry flush toilet. Look, I get it. This is not a subject that lends itself to description, but can I just say that this thing is AWESOME! Go check out the youtube video on how to empty the dry flush toilet - it's amazeballs.
And not only did that go well, but on our drive from Mesa Verde to Taos we hit a Starbucks early (hello my morning mocha) and as we were leaving town, some guy drove along side us and motioned for us to roll down our window because we'd lost a hub cap. And then the guy behind HIM pulled along side and told us it was on the bridge we had just come over. We turned around and there it was. Recovery complete, we hit up a Walmart to buy a portable PROPANE stove to get us through the trip. Mike is understandably excited to set it up.
The drive to Taos was pretty long, had cows, but was also uneventful. This was the night we got to stay in a hotel and we were booked in to the Hotel La Fonda. Other than there being very little oxygen in Taos, it was great. Hotel was a bit funky and a large part of it was made of the original adobe. Our room looked over the square where there were some nice galleries. And we went to an amazing Mexican place for dinner. And slept in a bed!!!
Cliff Dwellings Bucket List
So this was a big day for me. I have always dreamed of seeing the cliff dwellings here and it definitely did not disappoint. We got up to an early start - our campground is inside the Mesa Verde National Park, but it's still quite a drive away from the cliff dwellings. The camper is at about 7k feet elevation but we had to drive up to over 8k to make our way to Park Point, which is on the way to the cliff dwellings. The view was amazing.
From there we headed to Palace House. It's the largest of the cliff dwellings here and we got lucky because none of the tours had started, so we were able to get our pictures without anyone walking around inside. It was all short walks from the road to a spot where you could see them and get pictures, which was a good thing because man, the altitude was really tough. I have no idea how anyone goes in to Mile High stadium and wins a game.
We drove around to see all of the other locations and hit the museum and book store up for a quick stop. We headed back down to the camp site by about 2, got showers, did some laundry, re-organized the camper and generally had an amazingly relaxed afternoon. Headed down to Cortez for some awesome Mexican food (and Pokemon hunting) before we made our way back to camp. Another amazing day with an amazing sunset.
Tomorrow it's off to Taos!
Heading to Mesa Verde Or, Is There Any Oxygen Up Here?
Left Lake Powell this morning for what was a pretty long drive to get to Mesa Verde. But man, was the landscape fantastic. We left Page, which is close to our campground, with about a half a tank of gas, thinking that there should be gas stations around since we were on a two lane road. Not so much. We probably had nothing to be nervous about, but we were pretty psyched to pull in to Kaibito for gas. This is all reservation land, so we were pretty much screaming TOURIST as we pulled in to the shop/post office/gas station. People were really nice, wanted to check out the camper, and when the local dogs came over for a bit of fuss they laughed and said they always beg food off of tourists. So apparently we aren't the first people to leave Page without a full tank of gas.
Monument Valley was AMAZING. Again, pictures don't do it justice. We had lunch on the Navajo Reservation viewing lodge and had our first Indian Fried Bread. That was awesome... Then we hit the road to get to Mesa Verde. Long day driving but we got to the park just before sunset. The drive into the camp area was on wind-y, switch back roads which had me pretty nervous, but we got there just fine. There were 4 or 5 deer near the campsite area as we drove in, so definitely felt like we were camping in a national park.
And it was COLD last night.
That's Not a Kangaroo
Given that the stove is still not working, we hit the Grand Canyon Market this morning for a mocha, a tea and some breakfast food. Hair was a bit of a disaster as no showers close to campsite so opted for the very attractive Patriots hat. Had a MAJOR problem getting the trailer hitched but have it sorted. Am going to do an instructional video for anyone who borrows it since it's a bit fidgety.
We drove off to Desert View and got our last view of the Grand Canyon. Passed a bunch of signs along the way indicating that there are both moose and what look like mountain lions in the area. Sort of pleased we didn't see these on the way in to the campground...
Visited Little Colorado River Gorge as we headed out - apparently lots of dangerous animals that can kill you here as well, only more of the pokey, stingy kind vs. the mauling, rip your arm off kind up by the canyon. From there we headed to Horseshoe Point - absolutely stunning views and a terrifying, no guardrail to keep you from falling to your death ledge. Managed to survive the overlook, spent a bunch of time in the parking lot with people who wanted to see the camper and then headed to Lake Powell.
Have to say that while I have absolutely rocked the trip plan and pre-reservations, my husband was the hero of the day. We had a dry hookup reserved for the night but decided we really wanted a full hookup to leverage the power charge. Our strategy at check in paid off as Mike went in, spoke in that lovely English accent to the elderly woman with the beehive hairdo, and scored us an upgrade.
Had another great night grilling on the fire, Mike saw a 'kangaroo' which turned out to be a jack rabbit, and watched the night sky which was filled with so many stars, but sadly no UFOs. Maybe tomorrow.
The Nazgul of Mather Campground
Was rather excited to have captured a picture of the Coleman propane canister, memorializing what shall now be known as 'The Great Propane Incident of 2016'.
We got off to a pretty early start today, no trailer hitch challenges, so we thought we would change our Waze settings to no highways or toll roads. That got interesting fast. Unfortunately, Forest Service 38 Road on Waze isn't an actual road, so it was a good job we had left extra time because we had to back track our way on to 40 where we followed the big, lovely signs directing us to the Grand Canyon. Had two cool stops on the way - one was a classic greasy spoon diner where the locals ate and which did not have anything resembling a proper breakfast tea (Mike asked if they would mind if he got a tea bag from the car which was met with what I can only describe as a look of incredulity) but which did have an amazing selection of omelets on the menu, then a stop for gas with a neighboring store that sold rocks and these very cool folk art metal statues.
Mather Campground was simple to find, our spot was great and we headed right over to the main viewing area for the canyon. The pictures don't do it justice... I thought Michael was going to take a picture from ever spot on the rim, from every angle. I'm more of a, 'hey, this is cool let's get a picture and keep walking' kind of a tourist and he is more of a crazy, 'let me get just one more picture' kind of a person. We compromised - he has perhaps a few hundred less photos than he would like but I think the thousand he did get will probably cover off our scrap book needs.
Late afternoon and early evening was getting set up with the camper and where Mike mastered the super simple heater which does in fact use propane. He also figured out how to put up the awning (which is definitely a top feature) - but I would like to point out that if he had moved the camper to face the other direction LIKE I SAID HE SHOULD then we would have had the door open towards the fire pit and it would have been all around a bit more cozy.
And hey - there are ravens at the Grand Canyon. But these aren't like the ravens we have at home. Two flew down really close to the camp site and you could hear the whoosh whoosh whoosh of their wings flapping. I swear that this is the sound that Peter Jackson used for the sound of the Nazgul flying around Middle Earth. It was a bit freaky.
Had a great dinner on the campfire again - sausages and mushrooms all fried up in butter - and finished it off with 'smores. I know everyone is curious, so I can confirm that the Grand Canyon market sells Bombay Sapphire gin and when mixed with lemonade makes for a lovely campfire beverage.
It was at this point that our incredibly sketchy cell service popped back on line for a moment and delivered a text from my mother reading, 'read your email.' Which could be nothing, right? Or it could mean someone has died, or a dog has escaped, or the plumbing in the house exploded. So I had a lovely hour alone at the campfire while Michael drove around trying to find a cell signal. And guess what? That email was a list of all the Google Express purchases that arrived that day...
We Didn't Blow Up The Camper
Technically, that happened on Day 2, so let me give a quick update on Day 1 before I get into the start of the trip.
I got to LA with zero travel incidents, Mike was there at the airport and the traditional insane LA traffic wasn't that insane, so we made it to the hotel in about an hour. My cousin Julie and her husband Eric were walking in as we did, so we hit the bar and caught up on the last 38 years. Was amazing to see her and am thankful that they so graciously schlepped from Long Beach to come see us!
The camper was parked out in front of the hotel, but we were pretty nervous about it getting stolen. We figured we would get about 7 hours of sleep and head out around 8 am. That sort of morphed into getting up at 4 am to use the bathroom, Mike staring worriedly out the window at the camper because someone was parked next to it, and a - to hell with it, let's just hit the road - decision after about 4 hours sleep.
Which ended up being a really great idea because, while we thought we hitched the trailer up properly, we discovered with a very loud clunk on the slow drive from the hotel to Starbucks that we had not. Minor catastrophe averted, we hit the road.
Which was brilliant actually - we were way ahead of schedule and out of LA before the traffic got crazy. The extra time meant we got to head over to London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, because of course some nut job American bought it and had it transported, stone by stone, through the Panama Canal to Long Beach and trucked to the site. And according to the tourist material, it is the second most visited tourist site in Arizona after that Grand Canyon thingy.
We took 40 to Rte 66 in Kingman, which was an awesome decision. Found a little place along the way call Hackberry General Store which was an eclectic mix of real memorabilia and stuff you could buy. Kids, watch out for those tshirts coming your way!
We got to the Seligman KOA on 66 at about 4:30, which was great because we have no idea what we are doing and we needed a lot of daylight to figure stuff out. Within about 5 minutes we were accosted by an extremely talkative and friendly woman (Her name is Emma, her husband's name is Frank. She went to Wellesley and he graduated MIT. They are traveling with their son and have a place in Puget Sound and OH MY GOD is your trailer cute!!!). I am definitely going to have to warm up to all this... friendliness. Very unsettling.
And so everything was going pretty well. We figured out that the fridge wasn't actually turned on so that food may have spoiled but hey, that's ok. And we figured out how to make the dry flush toilet work - it's like the toilet from The Martian. The sink was a bit tougher - sort of a hassle to get the water in and took a while to figure out that it wasn't firmly plugged in but that was ok. And then Mike decided to put the propane tank in for the stove top. And it wouldn't light, which was weird... so I PULLED OUT THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL which seems like something that he should have done in the first place and we realized that it was the BUTANE tank that needed to go there. Right. So easy enough to fix. Mike goes to remove the propane tank and the thing about explodes. He can't get it off fast enough and the propane is escaping at a VERY high rate of speed and he is yelling that his hand is freezing off and 'THIS IS BAD!' And for me to get out of the camper NOW! He says he has never seen me move so fast.
So he managed to get it out and he throws it to the ground next to the camper where we are now enduring maximum noob camper humiliation as there are other campers near us, and the thing is blowing off propane like it's going to explode. But it didn't, which was great, so we drank some wine, went to the bar, I tried to have a rational conversation after 3 gin and tonics about politics with the locals not successfully (Mike has politely requested that I cease this behavior for the remainder of the trip) and we came back to the camper all sort of happy drunk and laughing about our near disaster and we decide because we are sort of feeling intimidated at the moment by the whole propane incident, we should not use the propane fueled heater tonight because hey, how cold can it get.
Quite cold actually. The Commander requires heat. So we have to sort that.
And so we had a pretty tremendous first day of the trip and are heading to the Grand Canyon this morning and this afternoon we will address the propane/butane training portion of our trip. Because not only is heat good, Mike's a bit of a bear without his cup of tea in the morning.
