Looking Back, Bucket List trip

 

Planning to not make this post about the cats, as this blog is about traveling, camping and experiencing life in a small fiberglass trailer….so I’m leading off with one of my favorite pictures from our 2009 Bucket List trip.

The photo is from Leasburg Dam State Park, just north of El Paso, one of our overnight stops heading back east.  This trip got it’s name from a fellow camper after explaining my recent retirement (4/30/09) and our desire to see Yellowstone and the Black Hills.  He said “Oh!  This is your bucket list trip.” So the name stuck!  Now we see this trip as totally insane…..traveling 6200 miles in 29 days! 

But it was my first taste of freedom from the monotonous world of working for a living.  I can close my eyes and remember the exhilaration of driving I-90 through Wyoming and Montana…..a roller coaster of blue skies, dramatic clouds and green hills.

Back then we were new to fiberglass trailers and our little 13 foot 1990 Casita was the center of our world.  We were towing with a 1998 Toyota Sienna, the odometer already escalated.  The Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, a place that I had admired from a co-worker’s photos, was our destination.

We saw the Badlands, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, Custer’s State Park and Yellowstone NP before we collapsed with exhaustion on the Snake River in Idaho.  Our trip started on May 4th…..it was only 10 days later!  And it was getting colder every day…because we were traveling north, duh!

After a three day rest, we decided to forget about Oregon and headed south to Utah.  Went from running the ceramic heater to running the air conditioning at the Slick Rock RV Park in Moab.  Visiting the national parks in Utah became our new plan and we managed to see or camp at the Arches NP, Bryce NP and Zion.  Afterward we stopped on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. 

At an Arizona gas station located at least a hundred miles from anywhere, a GA car asked us if we knew Sheryl and Chris, Scamp owners from the Atlanta area?  We affirmed that we did, marveling at the tight knit community of fiberglass trailers!    Did not know then,  this community was to become our family!

Another 10 days later we were back home after a Memorial Day weekend with family in Phoenix, a trip across Texas with a fan install at the Casita factory and a visit to Hot Springs NP in Arkansas.

Did not mean to write about this trip….just want to steer away from the cats and flowers.  Now do I go back and find all the ancient history trip pictures or just give a quick present day update?

Choosing the up date!  Feels like I am swimming in molasses trying to get stuff marked off the to-do list.  The truck has been to the shop and passed inspection for travel.  The Casita is at another shop waiting for a bearings grease and brake inspection.

I have a new shower curtain to hem, the solar panels bonding tape has just arrived and the passports have been retrieved from the safe deposit box.  Still need to decide about the mail and the yard…..wish one person could do both jobs.  Also it’s time to head to Farm Bureau for papers documenting our insurance…necessary to enter Canada.

Tomorrow we start babysitting a friend’s dog and cat for 10 days….not just any friend, but the saint that takes our cats into her home for months at a time.  This is our first time dog sitting, maybe a new vocation if the traveling ever gets old?

Changed my mind again!  Can’t have a post with only one picture!  Dug up the old photos buried on a portable hard drive.

Second night out…already in South Dakota!

The Badlands

Mt Rushmore

 

Black Hills

Yellowstone

The Arches

Bryce

North Rim Grand Canyon