This summer's "new territory" RV season was a tour through Nebraska, a tiny corner of Wyoming, and then following the east edge of the Rockies through Colorado and New Mexico before returning back to central Texas. Though unintended, it also became a giraffe trail of sorts as we aimed to visit every zoo along our route that we could find.
Our first stop was the famous Henry Dorly Zoo in Omaha. It was really spectacular an we picked a perfect day weather-wise. I even found my first giraffe collection of the summer.
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| Feeding giraffe at the Henry Dorly Zoo |
After a quick stop at the Blue Ox factory for a tour and where our car's tow bar was made (also free camping) we then trekked west across Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Though it doesn't have a zoo, it was an interesting western town with a big railroad history. As you can imagine, a flatter rail route over the Rocky Mountains built cities where there was nothing before. Union Pacific still has a huge hub there. Cheyenne also hosts one of the largest rodeos in the world at the Frontiers Days grounds with several museums about all the history there.
Turning south, we stopped for two weeks in Denver. One of those weeks was spent flying to Raleigh (more on that later), leaving us a couple days before and after to see the local Denver Zoo and see some other sights. We caught up with an Florida Gator and IBM friend who had moved to Denver many years ago. We also met up with some Austin/volleyball friends who are in the process of moving to the Denver area. We didn't get to explore enough, so add Denver to the list of places to go back to, but we did enjoy the view from Lookout Mountain where Buffalo Bill is buried and eating ice cream, (us, not Bill).
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| Feeding giraffe at the Denver Zoo |
Next up was Colorado Springs just a few hours south. This area turned into one of the highlights of our trip -- not only visiting the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, but also Garden of the Gods, the Air Force Academy, Manitou Springs and Will Roger's Shrine of the Sun. We didn't get up Pikes Peak as the weather at the peak was not good on the days we were free. The road to the top is currently closed to private cars, but there are shuttle buses available. The cog railroad up Pikes Peak is also under repair, so back on the "future" list for this area too. We knew we were crossing paths with some RV friends from last summer's Canadian maritime adventure, so visiting with them was an extra bonus.
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| It is unusual for a giraffe to like being petted! |
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| Cheyenne Mountain Zoo giraffe keepers doing a training session |
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| Maren getting a special 4-giraffe feeding session |
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| Jeffrey posing with the rocks in Garden of the Gods |
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| Us at Garden of the Gods |
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| Tasting one of the mineral springs in Manitou Springs |
The last "new state" of the summer was New Mexico, giving Jeffrey a new RV height driving record (8000 feet) as we made our way over the Raton Pass to Santa Fe. Of course it is the steepness of the roads that matter. Going up is easy for the diesel as long as it can get rid of the heat it builds up. Going down can be exciting as the speed will build up quickly with all of our weight rolling downhill. Using the diesel's exhaust brake and transmission downshifting helps control the speed, but it can be nerve-wracking trying to manage the speed and the twists and turns of a new road at the same time. That said, LOVE getting great fuel mileage when going downhill!
Santa Fe itself is a very cool town that has really embraced the adobe theme (even the local banks and Walmart). Our first few days were spent on a day trip south to the Albuquerque Zoo, as well as attempting a hike at Tent Rocks. I say "attempting" because one of Jeffrey's old hiking boots blew out its sole and we had to turn around before reaching the top of the trail, but it was still a pretty climb.
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| Feeding a giraffe at the Albuquerque Zoo |
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| Maren on the trail at Tent Rocks |
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| Us at Pecos National Historic Park |
Mom Sheila and Jeffrey's brother David and wife/Maren's-college-friend Mary flew out to enjoy a week in a condo near us and the 5 of us took advantage of the many "flavors" of Santa Fe's dining options, as well as walking the lovely downtown and perusing the many local artist's crafts. The next day Mary and David peeled off to so some serious hiking while we road tripped with Sheila to Bandelier National Park to see ancient petroglyphs and cliff dwellings. We also swung through Los Alamos, one of the US locations where the atomic bombs were developed during WWII.
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| Jeffrey exploring the cliff dwellings at Bandelier Park |
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| Jeffrey, Maren, and Sheila at the Rio Grande Gorge |
Sadly, Mary had to cut her visit short and fly back early to help her parents, so we really missed her company on the trip to Taos (to our dismay the Taos Pueblo was closed for a funeral). Jeffrey filled in as David's hiking buddy to climb up Deception Peak (12300 feet), with new hiking boots of course, while Sheila and I explored the local shops and Georgia O'Keefe museum (neither of us was impressed). We wrapped up our Santa Fe visit by checking out the New Mexico History Museum, but one of the best parts of the week was just visiting around the common area firepit each evening at the condo. Though the days were warm, it cooled off nicely late in the afternoon.
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| Jeffrey & David at the top of Deception Peak |
On our way to drop Sheila at the Albuquerque airport we stopped at the Sandia Peak Tramway for the great views and lunch. While we were standing in line outside for the tram ride down, it started to rain and hail on us but we didn't want to give up our spot as we needed to ride the next tram down to get Sheila to her flight. So we stood in the rain and hail, huddled under our thin coats and big brimmed hats, laughing, but we made it on the next tram down. As it turns out we think they closed the tram for a while after our ride down due to lightening at the mountain peak. Later back in Santa Fe, the hail (thankfully small) caught us and Max at our RV park and the hail scrubbed both vehicles clean, but I wouldn't recommend it for every cleaning!
The route from Santa Fe to Austin was planned to be a few stops, with Zoos and museums, but the wind forecast started to look dangerous. We woke up one morning in Amarillo trying to decide if we could get to Lubbock the next day before the rain/wind hit and east coast Florida Gator game started on TV. After discussing some options, we decided to just get on the road immediately, skip Lubbock entirely, and get to Abilene late in the day. This helped us avoid two days of crappy weather driving plus be well positioned to watch the football game and fit in the zoo. Thankfully the RV parks we were skipping/visiting were all flexible.
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| Feeding a giraffe at the Abilene Zoo |
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| Giraffe drinking water at the Abilene Zoo |
Back in Austin we had a very full first week with scheduled annual dentist and doctor visits. Last year before we left Austin area for Florida we ended up moving our storage unit down the hall to save $25 dollars a month. I know, crazy pricing policy. Well the same place raised the price again, so before the end of the first week back, we moved our storage from Round Rock to Georgetown and to a smaller unit and will save a bunch as we locked in an internet rate for two years. Thank you very, very much to friend Mike Walker for helping us!
Being at higher altitudes most of the summer (6000 feet in Cheyenne, 5000 in Denver, 7000 in Santa Fe) meant we didn't have really bad hot summer temperatures to deal with. Once we started back to Austin; which also meant mostly downhill days, it started getting hotter and hotter. Austin had a very hot summer and September was no exception. Halfway through October it finally started cooling off nicely so we could tackle the list of Max to-do items, mainly washing/waxing/sealing and other general pampering we try to do several times a year. Murphy's Law, we got rained on driving to Houston yesterday and he got dirty again. Sigh.
To wrap up this blog post, I always like to share anything new we've learned to do in our RV full-time travels -- in this case, how to manage more complicated medical issues while on the road. I began having some nerve issues in January and things got a bit worse in May while we were in Raleigh. Thank goodness we have a good PPO insurance plan and can get care almost anywhere in the USA. For now I've been cleared to keep traveling, but we have had to learn how to get monthly lab-work done on the road and even arrange for special medications to get delivered wherever we are. Going forward, we'll also likely need to budget flying back to Raleigh several times a year for followup tests and doc visits, but we are very happy we can keep our travel lifestyle going.
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| My 2019 Halloween costume, gifted to me by my college roomy Lisa :-) |
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