Western Loop Adventure

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dverstra

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Posts
419
Location
Grandville, MI
We are traveling from Grand Rapids, MI through the Upper Peninsula to Minneapolis (Granddaughter's baptism) then on to the Black Hills of South Dakota (Mary Anne's pick); Colorado Springs, Colorado; Moab, Utah (My pick), Taos, New Mexico (Wool Festival)(Obviously M.A.'s pick), Kansas City, Missouri (newborn Grand niece) then home. 6 weeks in total. Departure date is after the Labor Day Holiday. I can't wait. 8)
 
dverstra said:
We are traveling from G.R. through the U.P. to Minneapolis (Granddaughter's baptism) then on to the Black Hills (Mary Anne's pick), Colorado Springs, Moab (My pick), Taos (Wool Festival)(Obviously M.A.'s pick), KC (newborn Grand niece) then home. 6 weeks in total. Departure date is after the Labor Day Holiday. I can't wait. 8)
You might want to edit your post and remove the two letter abbreviations. This is an international audience and not every one will understand them all. I know I don't understand any of them.
 
We just made a similar trip from SW Missouri to Pike's Peak on to Utah, the Arches, Bryce, Zion on to Boulder Dam, across to Death Valley and up to Yosemite.  Then to the Cal. coast and up to Crater Lake then back to the coast and up to the WA. Olympic Peninsula and the Puget Sound then across to the Grand Coulee Dam.  Then down to West Yellowstone area to see a new great granddaughter.  From there back up to Glacier and back down to Yellowstone.  From Yellowstone to Cody and up the Chief Joseph and Beartooth highways to Red Lodge, Billings and the Little Bighorn Battleground.  From there over to the Devil's Tower then angling on home.  Whew!  After a little more than 8,000 miles and 47 days, we were road weary, but had a ball.  I hope your big adventure is as much fun as ours was.  We're ready to go again.
 
I'm still trying to convince the other half to be adventurous and explore the east. I've always wanted to see the east, places like Michigan, and Nebraska. Maybe even Kansas City. You folks that live back east seem to have such different lives than those of us out west.

Ken
 
bucks2 said:
I'm still trying to convince the other half to be adventurous and explore the east. I've always wanted to see the east, places like Michigan, and Nebraska. Maybe even Kansas City. You folks that live back east seem to have such different lives than those of us out west.

Ken

Just had to comment, it's funny the different perspectives, I thought they were the west ;) ;D
 
Anything west of the Mississippi river is NOT the east :)  And Michigan and its adjacent states aren't either.
 
It's approximately 3000 miles from coast to coast. It's 1000 miles, as the crow flies, from Colorado Springs ("the west") to Portland OR. That's a third of the country! It's 940 miles, as the crow flies, from Kansas City to Washington DC. Think about it, I'm further "east" in Kansas City that they are "west" in Colorado Springs.  :eek:

East coast folks call Chicago the "mid-west". Fold a map in half and tell me how far west it really is. We're an east coast centric nation. I just like to point that out every now and again.

Ken
 
It's more like 1300 miles from ColoSpgs to Portland, OR. Me, I draw a line down the middle of the Rockies, weat of that is "West."  From there to the Mississippi is "Middle." East of the Mississippi is, well, "east." Works for me.
 
What Wendy said!  Long time members of the RV Forum will recall that I've been beating that same drum for a big bunch of years.
 
bucks2 said:
East coast folks call Chicago the "mid-west".
That's because they didn't want us included in THEIR "East Coast". To them, anyone on the other side of the Adirondacks is a westerner. I'm OK with that. I'd rather associate with them "Westerners" anyway. ;D ;D
 
Sounds like a great trip. It is very smart of you to be doing this trip after Labor Day and before winter. You should have a lot of great weather, especially in Utah.
 
This trip was conceived when MaryAnne said "I'd like to go to the Taos Wool Festival in October". My devious mind thought "and what can we see along the way". It was too close to Utah to pass it up. 8) So we scheduled a week in Moab. Later my son told us that Veronica was being baptized in Minneapolis on the Sunday following Labor Day...so we added Minneapolis. Then MaryAnne said "How about we visit her friend Sherri in the Upper Peninsula on the way. I needed no convincing so we added a week to the trip. It's funny how our trips develop. It usually starts with one thought or comment and balloons.
 
  We are in Moab today and it is a must. It rained yesterday and last night the rock is bright red on the canyon walls. Compared to when we were here in Moab in early May it is a ghost town. We are coming off a 5 month trip up the west coast heading for Texas to see the Grandkids.
  Have a safe trip and I know you will enjoy it.
 
Wendy said:
It's more like 1300 miles from ColoSpgs to Portland, OR. Me, I draw a line down the middle of the Rockies, weat of that is "West."  From there to the Mississippi is "Middle." East of the Mississippi is, well, "east." Works for me.

I like your divisions Wendy. They make much more sense than some others. It is 1300 road miles, but fewer when riding with the crows.

Ken
 
dverstra said:
This trip was conceived when MaryAnne said "I'd like to go to the Taos Wool Festival in October". My devious mind thought "and what can we see along the way". It was too close to Utah to pass it up. 8) So we scheduled a week in Moab. Later my son told us that Veronica was being baptized in Minneapolis on the Sunday following Labor Day...so we added Minneapolis. Then MaryAnne said "How about we visit her friend Sherri in the Upper Peninsula on the way. I needed no convincing so we added a week to the trip. It's funny how our trips develop. It usually starts with one thought or comment and balloons.


Probably wise to get your reservations at a RV Park in/near Taos for the Wool Festival... There are numerous "festivals" during that time and the facilities get full, quickly.  It's a very popular time to visit.  Low temperatures at night could reach 30 or less; highs during the day could reach mid 70's, BTW.
 
Sounds like a great trip. And isn't it nice to be able to be flexible in your plans ?
 
taoshum said:
Probably wise to get your reservations at a RV Park in/near Taos for the Wool Festival... There are numerous "festivals" during that time and the facilities get full, quickly.  It's a very popular time to visit.  Low temperatures at night could reach 30 or less; highs during the day could reach mid 70's, BTW.
taoshum
We do have a reservation in Taos because of the festival. Its at the Monte Bello RV Park. Thanks for the heads up though. Sounds like a fall night in Michigan ::) We always bring coats and hoodies.
 
We're Off.  On Wednesday, we left Grand Rapids and headed for the Bridge. In Michigan, "THE Bridge" always means the Mackinac Bridge. On this trip, we had the flashing warning "High Winds...RVs and trailers 20 MPH". Do you know how long 5 miles is at 20 MPH? Yeah, 15 minutes but it sure seems longer than that. The line of cars behind us sure were counting time in the 1 lane only portion of the bridge. If you haven't been across The Bridge, there is always a portion that is being painted and therefore 1 lane. They sure were glad when the other lane opened up. After grabbing some fudge and pasties, we proceeded to Manistique and stayed the night at Indian Lake State Park.  We had a waterfront site. Great spot for our first night on the road. During the evening, a thunderstorm rolled through or so MaryAnne told me. It seems my snoring continued right through the storm. Imagine that.

The following morning, we awoke to wet puddles throughout the campground. Fin and Fi (our 2 Corgis) thought they tasted great during our morning walk. They also walked right through the middle of them. I guess it is a "dog thing".

We had a late start to the day and headed to Michigamme to see our friends that own a resort on the lake, Randy and Sheri. We used to stay there every year. I would fish and MaryAnne would quilt. Sheri also quilted and had Quilt Retreats for her buddies. Life is good when you are both doing what you like. Randy and Sheri are in the process of trying to sell the resort and moving back to the Lower peninsula. After a couple of hours, we said goodbye and proceeded to Woodruff, WI. We stopped at the Patricia Lake Campground and they had a FHU site with our name on it. I just popped the tops on a few Leinie Oktoberfest and  LIFE IS GOOD!
 

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