Royal Gorge/ Cañon City, CO

We head to Cañon City because our friend, Kirsten, had recommended seeing the Royal Gorge. Researching the web, it looks like Royal Gorge has an amusement park with a several interesting "rides," like a suspension bridge and a scary zip line over the gorge.

As we drive over, we cross paths with the smoke from the Decker wildfire that's burning off to the southwest. This does not bode well for the amusement park views.

About to board the Vista Dome car

To avoid the smoke, we plan on taking a ride on the Royal Gorge Railroad and having a first class lunch in the Vista Dome car. Happily, the day turns out to be a clear day down in the Gorge.

The happy travelers

Lunch was served at the beginning of the trip. I have to say, mine at least, was delish!

Souvenir glasses

French petite rolls and a spring salad mix with feta, seasonal berries, pecans, and an apple champagne vinaigrette

Slow Roasted Colorado Pork Shank (topped with Grand Marnier sauce) and Colorado Wellington (topped a Marsala mushroom sauce) 

Since it was Oktoberfest, we had a German gentleman playing accordion and singing as he made his way around the train. He was happy and friendly and added to the enjoyment of the ride.

After lunch, we head to the open-air car to enjoy the ride and get better views.

For a short portion, the tracks are suspended from the sides of the Gorge

Before we leave Cañon City, our friend Josh, Kirsten's husband, tells us we must do Skyline Drive, a very narrow road along the crest of a hill that runs parallel to the town. We originally saw it on the way into town, and I thought, "Hey, what a cool hiking trail..." The reviews on Google Maps are hilarious! The scariest part was looking up at the road from the base.

Approaching Skyline Drive

The entrance

Skyline drive from up top. Relatively narrow one lane road without fencing or guard rails, but a commanding view of the surrounding area.

Gunnison CO, Brrrrrrrr and OHHHH NOOOO!

On Friday, October 11th we head south and east to Gunnison, Colorado. We're headed to the KOA there.

This one has an interesting menagerie of farm animals. There's one mule that's allowed free range of the campground. We were told the others tend to wander away, so are kept fenced. Other residents include Shetland ponies, a big bull named Norman, and some goats. There may have been more critters, but we didn't see them. 

Tank meeting one of the locals

If you spend any time in Gunnison, you will find out that it gets cold here, DARN COLD. Eight months of the year (October - May) the average low is below freezing. But since we are the adventurous types, it doesn't stop us. Seeing as how we've decided to visit in Mid October - the nights... wait for it... got DARN COLD! I do admit the daytimes were pleasant.

We take a day to go sightseeing up past Crested Butte (a town and ski area) and then up into Kebler Pass. Once we get back to the RV, we notice a relatively large puddle beneath it... that's never good 😖! After muttering several choice words and thinking over a bunch of others, I decide to consider my options. Unfortunately, there were no cliffs to drive the RV off of, and that course of action would have left us homeless for the upcoming freezing night, so I better keep thinking.

After coming to the realization that neither the Calvary, not AAA were going to be knocking on our doorstep anytime soon, I grudgingly change into some old clothes and went crawling underneath the RV. Because the weather was below freezing, we weren't connected to the campground water source (doing so risk bursting above ground pipes... which campground owners don't particularly care for). So we were using water from our RV's freshwater tank. My fear was that the cold weather cracked our fresh water tank or one of the hoses leading into the tank or out to plumbed parts of the RV. As I was trying to locate the leak location, I kept hearing the water pump cycle on and off. If you are not familiar with RVs, normally the water pump runs only long enough to pressurize the system and then shuts off. It should remain off until you run some water OR your system looses pressure... which would happen if you have a leak! After spending a considerable time under the RV tracing hoses that I could see, but still not being able to find the leak, I turn off the water pump and noticed that as the pressure dropped, the leak stopped. I decided I needed to do more research on the problem in the warmth of the RV topside. At least we knew we could stop the leak, if only temporarily. If I wasn't able to find the leak, we were going to have to take it to some RV service place in the next big town we came to, UGH. I had visions of dollars leaking out of my credit card and down the drain 😢. We were heading to Royal Gorge and Cañon City the next day. Maybe after doing some research I'll have a better idea of where or how to find the leak.

Grand Junction and Surroundings

From Green River Utah, we head east on Interstate 70 into western Colorado to the Grand Junction area. We plan on having a number of days in the area as it was on our list as a "possible place to buy a house and settle down someday" location.

We spent the first several days at the Monument RV Resort in Fruita CO. The first order of business is to FIND FOOD! There's a Chinese place called Dragon Treasure right around the corner. The reviews look good, so we head on over. They're pretty busy, but they seat us quickly.

Wendy is so enamored with their hot and sour soup that she goes back again the next day!

We check out the neighborhoods around Fruita, Appleton, and Redlands before heading to Grand Junction and setting up our base camp at the KOA while we explored the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, which runs southeast through the Grand Mesa National Forest.

After a day of adventuring, we have to check out the local eateries. We end up at Snooks Bottom Barbecue, a food truck parked at a car wash. We get there around closing time, Wendy orders her brisket sandwich, and then they throw me a curve, two full racks of spareribs for the price of two half racks. How can I say, "No"?

The Wedge - Little Grand Canyon, Utah

On October 2nd, we head to a great little place called "The Wedge," which is, in turn, part of the Little Grand Canyon in Utah. To get there, you go out to the middle of nowhere... and then go about 20 miles further. To place it on a map: it's north of Interstate 70, west of Highway 191/6 and about 20 miles south of the little town of Cleveland. If you prefer... the GPS coordinates are: 39°05'34.9"N 110°45'32.8"W.

This is not the typical place that you would expect to find a relatively large RV (especially with a car in tow), but we have never really been accused of being typical, so off we go!

We head south from our previous night's stay in Helper Utah to Cleveland (Utah that is, not the Ohio one). From there, we get on a series of county roads that soon turn to dirt/gravel dusty bumpiness, but still easily navigable at slower speeds. All in all, decently maintained roads.

Once you get there, you have the choice of ten different camping areas, we chose Wedge Overlook campsite #9, which (if you are lucky) puts you right on the edge overlooking the canyon.

 While there we had a chance to dine at a very exclusive restaurant, with a to die for view (watch your step, I'm not kidding about that). Getting a table there is almost impossible, fortunately we had an "in" with the maitre d. 

Editors Note: Unfortunately the restaurant has since closed, the owners have reportedly left the state.

We spend three days there and manage to squeeze in a nice breakfast of french toast, fruit, bacon and coffee, one morning at our favorite table with the view. Life on the road is difficult, but we're making the best of it ;-)

There are bike trails all over the area, many of which run dizzyingly close to steep drops into the canyon. While Tom took a few of the short cliffside trails, Wendy chose the safer (aka smarter) route that usually ran parallel, just a few feet away. We had a fun, but tiring day on the trails, but were glad to get back to the RV.

Sunset over the Canyon

The place was a photographer's dream, and Tom took full advantage of his time there.

Couldn't get him to leave his camera behind, even on a bike ride!

We finally do have to move on. We'll make one more over night stop in Green River, UT before heading into Colorado. So, of course, we have to take the Green River Cutoff to get there. The Green River Cutoff starts out as a fairly straight, flat gravel road, nothing to it. Then it slowly narrows and curves into a pretty "interesting" drive, not somewhere anyone would expect to see a 33' RV towing a car.

Just a picture to give you an idea of the width of the road and how far ahead you could see

A few obstacles to narrow the road just to challenge the driver

As we finally near Hwy 191, the land flattens out again, and it's easy-peasy. Then Tom observes the train tracks that run parallel to the highway, and says, "Wouldn't it be funny if we had to go under the tracks, and the bridge was too low? Then we'd have to turn around a go back the way we came!"  (Not really funny....We'd had this experience in Washington, when we couldn't get to our campground because the RV was too tall to pass under the railroad trestle at the entrance.)  As we near the tracks, OMG, the road DOES goes under the trestle! We're going to have to go all Chevy Chase and create our own road over the tracks!!! Fortunately, there was enough clearance, and we were able to reach Hwy 191 by squeezing under the trestle.

Looking back west as we left the area, close to Hwy 191

After the narrow, winding road, railroad track scare, and some very unpredictable crosswinds on Hwy 191, we are finally able to relax again when we reach our destination, Green River State Park, UT. 

Meandering through Utah

Time to head down from the mountains before the cold really hits. We head down from Cedar Breaks into the town of Filmore. We get out of the howling winds and have a nice little stopover for the night at the KOA there.

Our next reservations are in Jolley's Ranch Campground in Springville, just south of Provo. We're not quiet sure but think the campground may be run by the city of Springville. It's a few miles outside of town in the hills. It has a disc golf course, playgrounds, pavilions, and lots of grassy areas, but the campground is set back in a thickly forested area. Our site does have water and electric, and (I foolishly think) too much shade for satellite reception. BUT, there's a football game on, so Tom works hard to prove me wrong!

It's a great place to stay while exploring the Springville/Spanish Fork area, which still has a rural feel even though it's rapidly becoming a Provo suburb.

It's time to get back to cell service and TV, so we drive almost 17 miles northwest to our next stop, Lakeside RV Campground in Provo. We are enjoying the Provo area and Lakeside is a quiet park within walking distance to Utah Lake State Park.

From Provo, it's a short drive to checkout Wallsburg (~30 miles) and Midway (33 miles).

For our next stop, we're thinking we'll check out Logan, UT. The closest and most promising RV park in the area is Aspen Grove RV Park in Tremonton, UT. When we arrive the weather is picture perfect and the views are beautiful.

The next morning was rainy, and I almost didn't notice the mountains in the distance. Fortunately, the rain did not last long, and we were able to make the 25 mile drive to visit Logan, Mendon, Nibley, and Hyrum.

If we keep heading north, we're going to end up in Idaho. That is not the plan, so we turn south and go to Castle Gate RV Park and Campground in Helper, UT.









Helper is named after the "helper" train engines that helped trains make the steep climb up through the mountains to Salt Lake City.












The RV park itself, was new, very well kept with nice facilities and friendly people, but as you can see the area around Helper is relatively arid.

While we are there, we go in search of fall color. We find some (but not much) at the Price Canyon Recreation Area.

Although I'm ready to head on to Colorado, Tom has other ideas when we find information on some BLM land not far away. With a name like "The Wedge" and the "Little Grand Canyon," you know Tom is up for the adventure!