Post #1 of 7 – 2023 Summer RV Road Trip

It’s finally time to go again! I hope those who have followed our prior RV trips and Jeep expeditions are still notified when we post some activity. Anyone can receive updates if you click on the quick pop up “follow” option at the bottom right corner and enter your email address.

We’ve always been intrigued by the Mighty Mississippi River. This trip started with a plan to go to the origination of the river and follow it the entire length to the Gulf. Then we discovered that the “headwaters” were nothing liked we had expected. So then we were just going to go to the start of the Great River Road and follow that down to St. Louis. But heck, we’re going to be this far east, let’s just swing over to Chicago and check it out. And those Great Lakes look pretty interesting! And since our traveling companions, Bruce and Donna have never been to Niagara Falls, we can’t resist.

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Our tentative big loop is approximately 7500 miles. We should be able to check 10 National Parks off of our bucket list. My passport stamp book is our guide. We’re trying to hit all of the National Parks and Monuments in each state we pass through. It takes us off the main roads and into some pretty remote areas we’d never see otherwise. Most are worth the extra effort. A few, not so. As always, we’ll try to stay off major Highways.

8/12 First National Park – Petrified Forest and The Painted Desert

It’s been years since we were last here. It was long before my stamp book so we stopped to refresh our memories and got the stamp!

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8/13 Albuquerque and Santa Fe

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Petroglyph National Monument

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Pecos National Historic Park

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We purchased some wine to send home. Donna chose, I’m clueless.

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8/14 New Mexico

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Fort Union National Monument

“Along the Santa Fe Trail, lie the territorial-style adobe remnants of the largest 19th century military fort in the region. For forty years, 1851-1891, Fort Union functioned as an agent of political and cultural change throughout the west.”

The remains of this fort cover a huge area. We were able to walk most of it before the rain started.

We spent an uneventful night in a little RV Park in Raton New Mexico. Must have been really uneventful, no photos….

8/15 New Mexico and Colorado

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Capulin Volcano National Monument

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Welcome to Colorado!

Bent’s Old Fort

We seem to be spending a lot of time at forts……. this one was very well preserved and restored. We felt like we could move in as is. The resident critters were fun also.

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8/16 Colorado to Nebraska

Sand Creek Massacre NHS

Our next stop in Colorado was at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. It’s a very beautiful location but terribly tragic. We visited the book store in town and were lucky to meet a very passionate and knowledgeable park ranger who gave us a very detailed account of what happened to the Native Americans here and across the west. This site commemorates one brutal attack.

On November 29, 1864, approximately 650 troops charged the village unannounced at dawn and murdered more than 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people who were living peacefully along Sand Creek in eastern Colorado. Days before the massacre, white officials had assured chiefs of the village that their community would not be harmed. An American flag was raised along with a white flag of surrender within the village and they still attacked. A big percentage of the victims were women and children.

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This turned out to be our longest day yet. By the time we made it to Ogallala we were exhausted. We do really enjoy the small towns along the way.

We finally made it. Yes Lonesome Dove fans, there really is an Ogallala!!

Unfortunately, getting up and around the “largest reservoir in Nebraska” to our campsite took another hour. It’s was a nice campground and the views were great. You just never know when booking on the fly.

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8/17 Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota

Well yesterday was so brutally long, we decided to do it again! Three National Monuments and then we made a run for Custer, South Dakota.

Sometimes “the book” leads us to locations that just don’t work without some serious backtracking. I believe it cost us an extra 100 miles this day but we did it. Luckily nobody complains. We’re all committed now to visit them all as nutty as it may seem.

Scott’s Bluff National Monument

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Agate Fossil Beds

There’s not much too see here. The actual dig site is quite a way down the trail. No time for long hikes today.

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What we did see was the amazing collection of Native American artifacts that were donated to James Cook by Chief Red Cloud. They had become good friends and Red Cloud gifted all of these items to him to preserve for posterity.

This collection rivals what you’ll find at the Smithsonian. They have special light and temperature controlled displays in the museum just to protect the items.

I can’t post them all. There were hundreds of items. We were so fortunate to see this collection.

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Fort Laramie NHS

Maybe it’s because we’re on fort overload, old Fort Laramie just didn’t wow me. It is one of many military posts that also served the wagon trains coming west. The logistics of bringing in enough supplies to satisfy the demand back on the day are mind boggling.

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Welcome to South Dakota!

We’ve only been gone 6 days. Time to slow it down. We’ll be spending 4 nights in Custer, South Dakota. We had to get this far north before turning east. It’s time for a break!