Hi all,
My wife and I just got back from three weeks camping--most of it
in southern Utah. As you may recall from previous posts, we
picked up a Lance 1475 trailer at the tail end of 2022. We've had
it out before, but only on a couple of relatively short trips.
My personal preference would be to just go where we feel like and
stop when tired, but I didn't want to get stuck without a camp
site. So I planned most of the trip out ahead of time using
Google maps and a couple of camping apps.
It's quite a distance from northern Indiana to southern Utah. On
top of that, I planned a somewhat southerly route to reduce risk
of freezing temps during the day while towing. I allowed up to 7
hours driving per day, figuring that could get us to Utah with 4
days of travel. First lesson learned: my towing speeds are well
below interstate speed limits so the travel times were really
underestimated on Google maps.
First night we stayed at Finger Lakes State Park north of
Columbia, MO. It was getting dark as we arrived (due in part to
poor routing by Google maps) so we didn't see much of the park.
Had some noisy neighbors, but they eventually settled down. Park
looked nice enough on the way out. Stopped in town to get bagels,
they were $30 for a dozen--yikes!
Next day through rest of MO and into Kansas, getting to see some
of the Flint Hills. Our stop was Gunsmoke RV park in Dodge City,
KS. Park was a bit cheesy with the western theme, and a bit
grungy. But we had full hookups, which was nice.
Next day we crossed rest of KS, some of the Oklahoma panhandle
(roads were awful), and into New Mexico. It was interesting to me
that we passed through Boise City, one of the exemplar towns in
The Worst Hard Times (great story about the Dust Bowl). I'd
picked out a municipal park in Bernalillo, NM, and it turend out
to be quite nice--only downside was Albuquerque has metastasized
around it.
From there we headed north and west to Moab, UT. Although I lived
in Flagstaff for part of the 70s, I'd never been that direction.
The scenery was wonderful. We had an upscale RV park in Moab, and
enjoyed several days there--hiking and biking Arches and other
attractions.
View of the Colorado River from Dead Horse Point (adjacent to
Canyonlands NP):
<http://panix.com/~theise/Dead_Horse_Point.jpg>
Cliffs in Castle Valley illuminated by sunset, taken from our
dinner table at Red Cliffs Lodge (just north of Moab): <http://panix.com/~theise/Professor_Canyon_sunset.jpg>
For those who don't know, there have been a great number of
westerns filmed in the area from just north of Moab down to
Monument Valley. The Red Cliffs Lodge also has a wonderful museum
dedicated to this history. Highly recommended.
Next we shipped over to a campground in Leeds, UT and did more
hiking. It was too cold, windy, and wet to bike, but we saw some
amazing sights...
Sunlight reflected on double arch in Kolob Canyons, along Taylor
Creek:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Kolob_Canyons.jpg>
Zion, Court of the Patriachs and Temple of Sinawava: <http://panix.com/~theise/Court_of_the_Patriarchs.jpg> <http://panix.com/~theise/Temple-of-Sinawava.jpg>
A winter storm warning for the Capital Reef and Bryce areas turned
out not to adversely affect our move from Leeds to Cannonville.
We stayed at a beautiful state park, and also got to hike and
bike.
Kodachrome State Park:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Kodachrome_St_Park.jpg>
Bryce view, hoodoos in snow:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Bryce.jpg>
From Utah, we drove to Grand Junction, CO for the final planned
camping nght. The route was along Utah 12, a national scenic
byway. It was incredible, with just one (of many) highlights
being a terrifying drive along the top of the hogback. Yikes!
On the way home from Grand Junction, we stayed with friends in
Greeley, CO and with family in Sterling, NE. We split the final
leg home into two parts, staying at Driftwood park in Quincy, IL.
All in all, it was a great trip. The trailer worked well for the
most part, with a few questionable things I'll put in another
post. Though it was soemewhat cramped quarters for the better
part of three weeks, my wife and I managed to reach detente most
of the time.
Ted Heise wrote:
Hi all,
My wife and I just got back from three weeks camping--most of it
in southern Utah. As you may recall from previous posts, we
picked up a Lance 1475 trailer at the tail end of 2022. We've had
it out before, but only on a couple of relatively short trips.
My personal preference would be to just go where we feel like and
stop when tired, but I didn't want to get stuck without a camp
site. So I planned most of the trip out ahead of time using
Google maps and a couple of camping apps.
It's quite a distance from northern Indiana to southern Utah. On
top of that, I planned a somewhat southerly route to reduce risk
of freezing temps during the day while towing. I allowed up to 7
hours driving per day, figuring that could get us to Utah with 4
days of travel. First lesson learned: my towing speeds are well
below interstate speed limits so the travel times were really
underestimated on Google maps.
First night we stayed at Finger Lakes State Park north of
Columbia, MO. It was getting dark as we arrived (due in part to
poor routing by Google maps) so we didn't see much of the park.
Had some noisy neighbors, but they eventually settled down. Park
looked nice enough on the way out. Stopped in town to get bagels,
they were $30 for a dozen--yikes!
Next day through rest of MO and into Kansas, getting to see some
of the Flint Hills. Our stop was Gunsmoke RV park in Dodge City,
KS. Park was a bit cheesy with the western theme, and a bit
grungy. But we had full hookups, which was nice.
Next day we crossed rest of KS, some of the Oklahoma panhandle
(roads were awful), and into New Mexico. It was interesting to me
that we passed through Boise City, one of the exemplar towns in
The Worst Hard Times (great story about the Dust Bowl). I'd
picked out a municipal park in Bernalillo, NM, and it turend out
to be quite nice--only downside was Albuquerque has metastasized
around it.
From there we headed north and west to Moab, UT. Although I lived
in Flagstaff for part of the 70s, I'd never been that direction.
The scenery was wonderful. We had an upscale RV park in Moab, and
enjoyed several days there--hiking and biking Arches and other
attractions.
View of the Colorado River from Dead Horse Point (adjacent to
Canyonlands NP):
<http://panix.com/~theise/Dead_Horse_Point.jpg>
Cliffs in Castle Valley illuminated by sunset, taken from our
dinner table at Red Cliffs Lodge (just north of Moab):
<http://panix.com/~theise/Professor_Canyon_sunset.jpg>
For those who don't know, there have been a great number of
westerns filmed in the area from just north of Moab down to
Monument Valley. The Red Cliffs Lodge also has a wonderful museum
dedicated to this history. Highly recommended.
Next we shipped over to a campground in Leeds, UT and did more
hiking. It was too cold, windy, and wet to bike, but we saw some
amazing sights...
Sunlight reflected on double arch in Kolob Canyons, along Taylor
Creek:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Kolob_Canyons.jpg>
Zion, Court of the Patriachs and Temple of Sinawava:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Court_of_the_Patriarchs.jpg>
<http://panix.com/~theise/Temple-of-Sinawava.jpg>
A winter storm warning for the Capital Reef and Bryce areas turned
out not to adversely affect our move from Leeds to Cannonville.
We stayed at a beautiful state park, and also got to hike and
bike.
Kodachrome State Park:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Kodachrome_St_Park.jpg>
Sounds like you got your dollar's worth........or maybe that should be dollars'.
Bryce view, hoodoos in snow:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Bryce.jpg>
From Utah, we drove to Grand Junction, CO for the final planned
camping nght. The route was along Utah 12, a national scenic
byway. It was incredible, with just one (of many) highlights
being a terrifying drive along the top of the hogback. Yikes!
On the way home from Grand Junction, we stayed with friends in
Greeley, CO and with family in Sterling, NE. We split the final
leg home into two parts, staying at Driftwood park in Quincy, IL.
All in all, it was a great trip. The trailer worked well for the
most part, with a few questionable things I'll put in another
post. Though it was soemewhat cramped quarters for the better
part of three weeks, my wife and I managed to reach detente most
of the time.
On 3/27/2024 12:24 PM, bfh wrote:
Ted Heise wrote:
Hi all,
My wife and I just got back from three weeks camping--most of
it in southern Utah. As you may recall from previous posts,
we picked up a Lance 1475 trailer at the tail end of 2022.
We've had it out before, but only on a couple of relatively
short trips.
View of the Colorado River from Dead Horse Point (adjacent to
Canyonlands NP):
<http://panix.com/~theise/Dead_Horse_Point.jpg>
You got some nice photos but why didn't you go to the edge and get the
whole view of Horseshoe Bend <grin>?
A winter storm warning for the Capital Reef and Bryce areas
turned out not to adversely affect our move from Leeds to
Cannonville. We stayed at a beautiful state park, and also
got to hike and bike.
Kodachrome State Park:
<http://panix.com/~theise/Kodachrome_St_Park.jpg>
I think people who just visit the "Mighty Five" miss out if
they skip Kodachrome Basin State Park.
All in all, it was a great trip. The trailer worked well forSounds like you got your dollar's worth........or maybe that
the most part, with a few questionable things I'll put in
another post. Though it was soemewhat cramped quarters for
the better part of three weeks, my wife and I managed to
reach detente most of the time.
should be dollars'.
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