58 Days–4,995 Miles

While in Marysvale we were fortunate to meet some new friends to enjoy riding the trails and sharing tasty meals. 

The Paiute trail is one not to be missed, with miles and miles of beautiful scenery to explore.  This summer we rode about 650 miles in our RZR- and most of those miles were right from our campground in Marysvale, Utah!

We left on Friday morning for our final road trip back to our home in Cottonwood, Arizona.  Driving along Hwy 89 we passed through red rocks and over the Colorado river, skirting the edges of monsoon storms near Flagstaff before descending into the Verde Valley where our truck’s thermometer read 104 degrees!

We drove 4,995 miles on our truck this year, mostly towing our Heartland Road Warrior toyhauler loaded with our RZR and Caleb’s Honda 250EX quad.  We were fortunate to spend 57 nights and 58 days on the road exploring.  Diesel was about $3.70 per gallon and the price went down as the summer progressed. 

We are settled back into our home in time for the quickly approaching school year.  Our summer trip was unforgettable, full of joy and laughter.  We spent two weeks enjoying the lake up in Canada, fishing and kneeboarding, and three weeks riding the Paiute trails with our side by side and quad.  We bundled up  in the ponderosa pines of Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim and were misted by the spray of geysers at Yellowstone National Park on father’s day.  We look forward to future journeys along the trail!

57 Days & 5,733 Miles

We made our way through New Mexico and across Arizona to arrive at our sticks and stucco in the Verde Valley.  We’ve been on the road 57 days and logged 5,733 miles!  We’ve experienced wonderful adventures, seen beautiful places, spent valuable time with family, and were blessed with safe travels!  We’ve paid as much as $4.39 a gallon for diesel in Torrey but the average seemed to be about $3.85 a gallon.  We visited 2 national parks, 3 national monuments, 5 state parks.  We visited Northwestern Ontario as well! 

As we prepare for the upcoming school year, which starts the first of August in Arizona, we look forward to weekends in the forest camping with friends, traveling a week in October, two weeks at Christmas, and a week in March. 

Life is good!

On the Road to Home

We’re on the road to home in Arizona.  Stopped for the night at a casino RV Park in New Mexico, we are still hooked up and ready to hit the interstate in the morning.  We are Arizona bound!  We’ve been so many places this summer it’s almost hard to remember!  As of today we’ve been on the road for 2 months!  So here’s a recap of where we’ve been…

Red Canyon, Utah and Bryce National Park

Then north through Utah before heading into Wyoming for a stop at Grand Teton National Park.

Where we saw rambunctious buffalo, beautiful lakes, grand vistas, roaring waterfalls, and mama moose with her baby!
 




We continued north through Grand Teton into Yellowstone National Park for views of buffalo and babies, prismatic springs, and a junior ranger.



On to another national park!  At Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s North Unit we enjoyed more hikes, ranger programs, and watched out for the grumpy buffalo!



We kept travelling north and crossed into Canada to visit Grandma & Grandpa at the cabin on Lake of the Woods in Ontario.  Kayaking, boating, swimming, fishing, blueberry picking, tubing… so much  fun!


Then we started south again and made our way to the northern Black Hills of South Dakota to view the stunning Spearfish Canyon and look over the airplanes at the Air & Space Museum.

 

Then south into Nebraska to Chadron State Park for Caleb’s 10th birthday!  We rode horses, sat out under the shade trees, hit the bullseye at the archery center, swam in the pool and hit the trails.





We moved on to colorful Colorado before moving towards arid Arizona.

Staying at Cherry Creek State Park near Denver and then moving to Trinidad Lake State Park in the southern part of the state, we mused at the animal antics at the zoo, marveled at the wonders at the museum of nature & science and relaxed by the lakes!


Now you’re all caught up on our summer adventures!  We’ve had so much fun travelling as a family with our two German Shepherds!