End of Blog

After 69 days on the road we are back home in West Virginia.  We put a total of 12,998 miles on the truck.  We were thankful that we didn't have any issues with the truck or camper.  We had to do regular maintenance, such as 2 oil changes and an air filter change, but otherwise the truck did a fantastic job.  The trailer, which we nicknamed "Baby Ruth", also did great.  We had no issues at all with the her. 

We were always able to get diesel fuel, although sometimes it was quite pricey.  Several times we paid $4.85 per gallon of fuel while in Canada.  In total we purchased 1015 gallons of diesel at a total of $3024.23 for the trip. 

We traveled through 15 states and 3 Canadian provinces and 1 territory.  We also were able to visit some national parks including, Teddy Roosevelt NP, Denali NP, Kenai Fjords NP, Wrangell-St. Elias NP, Yellowstone NP, and Great Sand Dunes NP.  There are 61 National Parks in the United States.  We have now visited 42 of them. 

Here are a few of our favorite memories. 
Take care,
Kenny and RoxAnne

Four hours

We spent the entire day traveling east on I-70. We stopped in Richmond, Indiana for the night. About 4 more hours and we will be back home.  The weather was nice today with the temp being in the mid 80's.

Driving East

Didn't do much today except for driving East on I-70. The temp was in the mid 90's again, so I closely monitored my tire pressures. We spent the night at a campground in Montgomery City, Missouri. Will leave in the morning and continue east.

Kansas

Before we left the campground this morning RoxAnne was talking to our neighbor. She indicated that her and her husband have been searching for tarantulas. She said that this is the mating season and they are very active. Won't be my next hobby. 🕷️

For most of the day we drove through Kansas, much of it being on the old Santa Fe Trail. For anybody that has driven through Kansas, there isn't much to see. Acres and acres of farmland with mostly corn being grown. We also saw a lot of sorghum being grown.  The sight that really had us in awe was the cattle feed lots. Hundreds of cattle were corralled in a small space and feed a lot of feed before slaughter.

It reached 97 degrees today. I had to stop several times to let the camper tires cool down. Tonight we are staying at campground in McPherson, Kansas.

Field of sorghum

Big Sand Box

We tried again to cross the Rockies.  This time we took Monarch Pass.  This pass has an elevation of 11,312 ft and has an average grade of 7%.  It was scary at times, since some parts do not have guard rails.  However, we made it to the top of the mountain without any issues and then traveled to the bottom of the mountain without issues.

After traversing the Monarch Pass, we decided to visit a national park that was still on our bucket list to visit.  We drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The park contains the tallest sand dunes in North America.  The largest dune rises to a maximum height of 750 feet.  The dunes cover an area of about 30 sq mi and are estimated to contain over 1.2 cubic miles of sand.  Sandboarding and sandsledding are very popular on the dunes.  I walked on the smaller dunes, but I'm not in good enough shape to walk to the higher dunes.  However, there were many on the higher dunes and they were having a lot of fun sledding to the bottom.

Our atlas has green dots for scenic roads, so when we left the National Park we headed towards roads with green dots.  We ended up following the Santa Fe Trail road.  The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century transportation route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico.  It has a lot of history, but I won't cover that in this blog.  We are spending the night in La Junta, Colorado.  Tomorrow we will be heading east.

Driving through Monarch Pass

Cool truck to remove snow on Monarch Pass

At the top of Monarch Pass

You can see some smoke from forest fires in the distance

Sandsledding down the dune

It is hard to see them, but there are people at the top of these dunes.

Traveling through Colorado

We left Glenwood Springs this morning and decided to cross the Rocky Mountains, but we didn't want to take the interstate.  We headed towards the ski town of Aspen.  Outside Aspen is Independence Pass.  As I got closer to the Pass, yellow lights started blinking and they indicated that I exceeded the 35 ft length restriction (I'm 43 ft long).  The next sign said you'll be fined $1500 if you proceed. Needless to say, I turned around and backtracked about 30 miles to Carbondale, CO. We then traveled south to cross the Rockies by going over Kebler Pass.  However, the road became narrow and gravel, so we turned around and went further south. We finally ended up at Gunnison where we are camping at a federal campground on the Blue Mesa Reservoir. It was a wonderful drive. We saw mountains, lakes, rivers, and some coal mines (my favorite).  We also drove by the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park.

A memorial to the coal miners of the world.  The hunks of steel on each side of the memorial are "shields".  They support the roof of the coal mine during longwall mining operations.

Coke ovens for the making of steel

Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park.

 

Picture taken from our campsite

A Little History

We were going to leave Glenwood Springs today, but the hot springs kept calling our names, so we decided to spend one more day here at the hot springs.

In 1860, Captain Richard Sopris was the first white man to experience the hot springs in what later would be called Glenwood Springs.   It wasn’t long before the valley, punctuated with more than 50 hot springs , became a favorite spot for many weary miners, as well as entrepreneurs dreaming of world-class resorts and big profits.   Walter Devereaux, along with his two brothers, set out to build the world’s largest hot springs pool.  The Hot Springs Pool was completed in lavish Victorian style in 1888. Soon after, the elegant Hotel Colorado opened its doors in 1893.  Dubbed “Spa In the Rockies”, Glenwood Springs attracted the rich and famous of the day.   The prestigious guest list included President Theodore Roosevelt, Baby Doe Tabor, President William Taft, the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, and gangster Al Capone.   One of Glenwood Springs’ most infamous citizens appeared on the scene around this same time.   Doc Holliday, gunman-gambler-dentist, headed west after the famous shootout at the OK Corral, where he hoped that soaking in the hot springs would cure his advanced tuberculosis.   But the mineral-rich waters could not dissipate the ravages of the disease.   Doc Holliday died at the Glenwood Hotel in November 1887.   His gravesite in Glenwood Springs remains a popular attraction today.  


During World War II, from 1943 to 1946, the resort was used to serve as a U.S. Navel Convalescent Hospital. The pool was used as a therapeutic tool in rehabilitating emotionally and physically disabled sailors and Marines. This was the only time in it's history that the pool was closed to the public.

Glenwood Springs

Glenwood Springs boasts that it has the largest mineral hot springs pool in the world.  It has a daily flow of 3,500,000 gallons of water, at approximately 124° F.  The spring feeds the Glenwood Hot Springs resort.  The main pool at the resort is 405 feet long and 100 feet wide. It contains 1,078,000 gallons of water, and is kept at about 90° F. The other pool is 100 feet long and contains 91,000 gallons of water. It is kept at a temperature of about 104° F.  


I've put 10,908 miles on the truck so far this trip, so I was due for my 2nd oil change.  After getting the oil changed at the local Grease Monkey, Roxanne and I spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon at the hot springs. Later we went back for an evening soak.

Colorado

We left Thermopolis this morning and headed to Colorado. KOA campgrounds had a special this weekend. If you stay Friday night you get to stay Saturday night for free. Therefore we are staying at the Glenwood Springs West KOA campground. The cool thing is that it is located on Interstate 70, the same Interstate that runs through Wheeling, WV. We drove pretty much all day, so I didn't get any pictures. Note: 43 years ago today RoxAnne and I were married.

Another day in Thermopolis

Yesterday they had the pool completely drained for cleaning.  This morning I woke up and the pool was completely filled. A few minutes later I was in the pool soaking. The water seemed a little warmer than the previous time I was in it.  Rox and I soaked for about 2 hours, came back to the camper and ate breakfast, then soaked again. After a late lunch we took a drive through the Wind River Canyon. I took some pictures, but they don't begin to show how amazing the canyon really is. A few more times in the hot springs and we were ready for bed.

The campground pool refilled with hot spring water

A view from the campground pool

The Boysen Dam at the head of the canyon provides hydro electric power, flood control and provides irrigation for over 100,000 acres of farmland

Cleaning Day

Every Wednesday the hot springs pool at the campground is drained, cleaned and refilled; therefore, we were not able to use their pool.  Thermopolis has many hot springs to soak in, so we weren't too upset.  We choose to visit the Hot Springs State Park in downtown Thermopolis.   The park has a free bath house where the water is maintained at 104 degrees for therapeutic bathing.  It rained most of the day, so Rox visited a quilt shop, but otherwise we were pretty lazy. The beef stew in the Instant Pot was great for dinner.

This picture is overlooking one of the many hot springs in Thermopolis

The campground pool completely emptied for cleaning

The outdoor hot springs pool at the state park