This is going to have to be a Cliff’s Notes version of our trip. We went so many places and saw so many things I can’t write about all of it. So let’s take this in chunks. The very first thing we did was stop off at Austin’s Coffee Crafters in Ripon to get what we thought would be the last good latte we would have once we started eastward. Luckily there is always great parking right next to an almond orchard across the street.

From Ripon we drove up through Sacramento, over I-80 to Sparks, NV. We stayed here two nights and just basically hung out at Scheel’s and other local shops. From there we drove on to Iron Horse RV Resort in Elko, NV where we stayed one night. Then on to Lakeside Campground in Provo, UT for one night stay. Not much to say about these two stops other than we had power and water and needed both due to the heat wave. Then it was off to Grand Junction, CO where we stayed three nights. I did some POTA activations on my ham radio, and we also visited Grand Mesa. It was 100 degrees in Grand Junction but just 30 miles away on top of Grand Mesa it was 69 degrees. Heavenly! We enjoyed the cool alpine environment and I even made friends with a ground squirrel by feeding him and his buddies almonds. Pictures below:

After leaving Grand Junction we headed to Colorado Springs, CO. We stayed at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in one of the BEST state park campgrounds I have ever seen. It had power, water, and sewer hookups at every campsite and concrete pads to park on. This is also where we hit the first true weather of the trip. We arrived during a severe thunderstorm. They happened almost every day and were welcomed by us because they cooled things off. Our campsite had panoramic views of Colorado Springs and the plains beyond on one side, and Cheyenne Mountain on the other.

Colorado Springs also had the first real destination of the trip: Garden of the Gods. I’ve been wanting to go here for years. GotG could easily be a state or national park due to its unique beauty. However, the family that owned it way back when gave it to the city of Colorado Springs on the condition that it forever be open to the public free of charge.

I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to move on to stay on schedule… Part 2 is coming.