2016 Western Trip – Wrap-Up

The primary reason I wanted to make this summer trip was to go into Rocky Mountain high country for some relief from the east Tennessee summer heat and humidity and as it turned out it was above 90 degrees nearly every day while we were gone.  We ended up spending from Aug 10 through Sep 19 in areas where the temps would occasionally creep above 80 and it was between 45-55 at night and as a bonus the humidity was also low.

On the way to the high country we got to visit with friends in Kansas City and Denver which is always a highlight of our trips.  

While we didn’t make any new friends, we met and enjoyed visiting with many folks in campgrounds and businesses.

We saw some spectacular scenery, some new country, but very little wildlife.  The Black Canyon of the Gunnison was particularly impressive as was the really high country of the San Juan’s during our jeep trip.

We ate some delicious food and would have eaten out more, especially Mexican, except Bev is having a medical issue that has made her mouth very sensitive, especially to spicy food.  We visited one brewery and several vineyards where we drank some very good wine and purchased plenty at Colorado’s western slope wineries – Grand Junction was Bev’s favorite stop.

 

I believe Bev and Pat visited nearly every available farmers market and always came home with something – they prefer the ones that have stuff other than food – arts, crafts, cosmetics, jewelry, etc.

We traveled 3523 miles in the Sweetie and many in the car as we used our standard process of camping within a 100 mile radius of places we wanted to visit then making day trips.  I was pleased to finally determine that the auto odometer does not record miles during towing.  We stayed in 14 different campgrounds and I would use all of them again – Mesa (Gunnison) was probably my favorite due to our nice site, lack of road noise, and proximity to town.

We were gone for 68 days and have all agreed that this is a couple of weeks too long so we’ll likely limit our trips to 7-8 weeks from now on unless we are spending the winter somewhere.

I found the high country of the Rockies a great place to go to beat the heat and we visited several places I could live but Bev has no desire to live where it is so dry and harsh to her skin – and so dusty.  But we both agree that it is a great place to visit.  

While we had the usual amount of small fix-it items, the trip went safely, Sweetie performed very well, sustained no damage, and now she needs to be washed and waxed and thoroughly cleaned inside to prep for our FMCA rally next month.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/20 – 9/25/16 event dates