We’re back in Warren and our 2018 RV adventure is now in the rear view mirror.
It’s nice to be home and we’re really looking forward to settling in and seeing our local friends again. We have amazing, fond memories of this trip and we are definitely going to miss being on the road – already do… Hey, it’s almost ski season! Let it snow!
Al now has the definitive record for the largest number of visits on our RV adventures. That number is now 5. Visiting with Al is almost like coming home again. To fresh baked bread. Did we mention Al loves to bake bread? His latest multi-grain, nut, seed creation is a 10!
We are occasionally reminded that our life on the road includes more than just traveling about, and no part of life is left out. It was with great sadness that we learned of my cousin Richard’s sudden and unexpected passing.
We had to get across upstate New York State and we only had two days. We hoped to find somewhere interesting to stop for the night. Ithaca!
So yes, the most direct route from Kalamazoo to Vermont goes through South Ontario, from Detroit to Buffalo. We’d not yet visited that part of Canada. And we had the time for one more adventure!
Of course, as is our nature, the first thing we did was make the direct route a little less direct… This tiny slice of Ontario touches three of the Great Lakes. We can see them all! And to do so, we used our proven-based-on-vast-experience, late season approach to planning – where can we find places to stay.
The more we travel, the more places there are that we have been to, and the more likely we are to cross a path we’ve followed before. Such was the case as we figured how we were going to get from St. Louis to Vermont. Suppose we went up to Michigan, then back into Canada and around the north side of Lake Erie? Well, looky here, that path might go right by Kalamazoo!
We have a regular RV parking spot in St Louis.
Less than 10 miles outside of Tulsa, we started seeing signs for Route 66. Our band back home does that classic song! With so much of our travel on back roads, we’ve crossed Route 66 at least a few times in Arizona and New Mexico. As we rolled out of Tulsa we recognized that for the first time we’d be traveling right along the storied route. And it goes through St Louis – like it says right in the song!
So we started following signs. This could be fun!
When my uncle Joe retired from a career in the military, after having lived in many interesting places around the world, he moved back to our small home town in NH. So, unlike Joe’s older sons Mike, Gary and Steve, Dave and I graduated from the same high school. Dave was only 11 when I left our home town, so I never really got to know him back then. During his own stint in the military, Dave met Mardena. They married, moved to Oklahoma and raised 3 kids. Like his brothers, Dave and I had only seen each other once or possibly twice as adults.
We contacted Dave and Mardena on our trip in 2016 hoping to visit – we could easily head to Oklahoma from southeast Colorado. *SIGH* They had just retired and moved to Costa Rica.
As we entered northern New Mexico on our way to Albuquerque to visit friends, we received word that, sadly, our friends had to cancel our visit. We’re very sorry to miss them. Now, at this point in our trip we really are heading for Vermont, so rather than continuing south to Albuquerque, we looked around for a place where we could stop for the night and consider route options.
The nearest campground was called Angel Peak. It was a few miles up a dirt road, run by the Bureau of Land Management, and it was free. And it was… Wow!
Continue reading “A slice of New Mexico and a speck of Texas”