Home again, journeys end

Thank you for following along.  Our journey has come to an end, for this year anyway.  Next year ???

We put a total of 9,446 miles on in a 3 month period. It was a trouble free trip, at least we didn't have any mechanical issues until the last night out and that was minor and easily repaired on the spot. 

Yes there were some unexpected adventures thanks to an imperfect gps, and an inordinate amount of rain and closed parks due to Hermine, but it was all part of the journey.

Bottom line, we're home safe, met some interesting people and saw county that we hadn't experienced before.

Only in America do people have such freedom. Thank a vet today for that opportunity.

Good night all, and happy trails.

9/19 Emigrant Springs SP Meacham, OR

Final stop before reaching home tomorrow. Interstate driving all day. Scenery was primarily rolling hills, some wheat fields and cattle grazing with rustic ranches down in the valleys.

We had the only real issue of the entire trip today. 1 of the tail lights on the CR-V would not turn off when we stopped for the evening. Weird, the light switch was off and the ignition was off, yet a brake light remained on, even with the MH disconnected from it. After some worrisome troubleshooting, thankfully I located the problem. It seems after many cycles of disconnecting and reconnecting the electrical cable between the CR-V and MH, the connector pins had pushed a bit into the connector body and shorted a 12V charging wire to the brake light wire. Easy fix but it had me stumped for a while.

Here's 1 last picture. It was from yesterday crossing the Snake River going into Twin Falls, Idaho

9/18 Twin Falls County, Idaho fairgrounds

Full hookups, cheap, privacy, and peace and quiet. Great place to spend the night. The days drive was pretty mundane but easy driving, mostly interstate.

One more stop before home.  Shooting for  Emigrant Springs State Heritage area tomorrow night.

9/17 Utah Lake Sp, Provo, Utah

The drive was quite scenic again today with rugged and colorful rock formations. There were also areas that were quite desolate. At 1 point on the drive a sign said that the next services were over 100 miles away.
Our campground tonight again offers some some nice views. We can see mountains looking out the windshield where we're parked. Utah Lake, which abuts the campground, was deserted except for birds. Water level is too low to support boating at this time but looking at the facilities, it must be a busy place when the water level will support it.

On the road today

In the Campground

9/16 Moab

Awesome drive today through the San Juan Mountains and Durango. Went through Wolf Creek Pass at 10,850'. 35 MPH on the way up and was wondering if we'd need to get out and push. 6 and 7% grades on the way down mostly in 2nd gear. Later, closer to Moab we started to see the incredible rock formations that the area is noted for. We have a great view of the mountains from the dinette tonight. Looking to make it to Provo tomorrow.

9/14 Alamosa, CO KOA campground

Taking a couple of down days for laundry and groceries and rest.
Yesterdays drive was what I would call high dessert with a lot of sage and grasses. The land changed pretty dramatically once we hit the Colorado border to more crop land and larger trees. Crop was primarily hay from what we saw. Drove over the Rio Grande in Alamosa and it appears about the size of Turtle creek here.
Nice views out the windows at the campground, mountains on 2 sides. It's windy though. Neighbors awning was damaged from it a couple of days ago. Temps expected in the 30's tonight.

Really aware of the altitude it was 6500 to 8000 plus on the drive today and Alamosa is around 7500 feet. It's difficult to do much work without being out of breath.

There's tons of rabbits in this campground and it's chock full of rabbit droppings, of course the dogs think it's candy. Doves are prevalent and sit on top of the light poles and the cooing is driving Deedee bonkers, she said it sound like a weird owl. The doves are much larger than around Spokane.

Here are some pics from yesterday that I wasn't able to post because we didn't have any cell service.

We have reservations for the KOA in Moab for Friday night. I was thinking that finding sites would be easier at this time of the year, but a lot of places are still full on the weekends so it requires some extra planning on my part.

Around Santa Fe

The Rio Grande in Alamosa Colorado

9/13 Black Canyon, Santa FE, NM

At Hyde Memorial SP in Black Canyon less than 10 miles outside of Santa FE. We are at an altitude of over 8700 feet. I was actually cold this evening and put on long pants for the 1st time since leaving the northern states. Electricity is out at the campground but it won't be a problem because it'll probably drop to the low 50s tonight.

Mostly sandy grass land with low evergreen looking plants on the drive. Santa Fe architecture really jumps out at you as you approach town. Most building's are low and squared with flat roofs and and adobe or adobe like finish.  Deedee just couldn't stop taking pictures as we drove though town on our way to the campground.

No utilities at all tonight. Not even cell or TV probably because of the canyon we're in. Met a person in the campground that was originally from Austin and now lives in Santa Fe. He graduated in 66 I believe.  Didn't catch his 1st name but his last was Davis and his father used to own an appliance or electronics store. Small world.

Need to do laundry soon so will spend 2 nights at our next stop. Most likely either a KOA in Raton, NM or Alamosa, CO depending on which road we take out of town.

Posted from Alamosa, CO after we stopped for the night and had cell connection.

Check out the elevation