Been There, Done That...

We rolled back into town Friday afternoon. We're all glad to be home , but sorry that such a GREAT vacation had to come to an end.

Here are a few stats for those who are interested:

• The total length of the trip was just shy of 8 weeks
• We covered about 11,000 miles
• We crossed 19 states
• We visited 19 national parks (plus a handful of destinations that weren't national parks)
• We burned approximately 1100 gallons of diesel fuel
• Total number of Nutter Butter cookies consumed was about 500

While it's still fresh on my mind, I'd like to make a few observations:

RV vs. Hotels - I'm not going to claim that one is better than the other. I believe that traveling around the country in a camper is a totally different experience than flying (or driving) and staying in hotels. We had a great time in our camper... no regrets.

To Plan or Not to Plan - When we pulled out of Georgia on July 1, we had made NO reservations. We made a conscious decision not to have a set schedule for this trip. All in all, we believe this worked out well for us. With the exception of the 4th of July weekend in the Rockies, we were always able to get a campsite when we wanted one. We did eventually settle into a routine of making campground reservations only for the next two stops. There were several of the campgrounds that were completely full when we got there, so the practice of calling ahead a couple of days probably saved us some hassles. We did change our plans several times during the trip. We only had to make a couple of calls to cancel and/or reschedule reservations.

Although I think we did about the right amount of planning, we realized early in the trip that we did not do the right amount of packing. We over-packed. Neither of us realized what a different use of the camper this would be compared to our short haul camping trips. We could have probably gone 1000 pounds lighter by leaving home the camping chairs and campfire cookware. We used the awning and the bicycles so rarely that it would be difficult to justify dragging them along. Our camper was mainly where we slept. During the daytime we were out at the park, seeing the sights. Next time, we'll cut back on the amount of stuff that we bring with us.

Navigation - We had several tools that we used to navigate. The most important was our GPS Navigator, backed up by a good old fashioned paper Atlas. One without the other would have been frustrating, but the two of them together worked well.

We also had a national directory of RV Parks and an Interstate Exit Guide; both of which proved invaluable. We also used this website to get reviews of RV Parks.

One disappointment was a wireless rear-view backup camera that I installed on the back of the camper before the trip. Great idea, and it would have been extremely helpful had it worked. I don't know if we just went too cheap or if the whole concept is flawed, but I'll look at this again before another trip.

Communication - This was probably our biggest challenge. In all my preparation, I did not think to check the coverage map of our cell phone carrier. Changing carriers is not an easy thing to do, but since we've been planning this trip for 3 years I probably could have switched to another carrier had I thought to check.

Internet communications was also difficult. I had added a data plan to my cell phone in hopes of using it as our internet connection but, guess what ... if you don't have voice coverage you also don't have data coverage. Having said that, there were a few occasions when the cell phone internet connection was all we had, and it was better than nothing.

Almost all private RV Parks now have WiFi service (some charge extra, but most are free). The problem is that almost none of them have the equipment they need to provide WiFi to the campsite. That means that you will have to go hang around their office to use the WiFi.

Also better than nothing I suppose, but I really don't enjoy going out in public in my Winnie the Pooh pajamas.

When we passed through Las Vegas, I went on a shopping spree and bought the right gear to allow me to get WiFi at our camper no matter how weak the campground's signal. By adding an external network adaptor, a WiFi Amplifier, and a directional Hi-Gain antenna we were able to get a good signal in most places.

Didn't you get homesick? I really expected this to be more of an issue than it turned out to be. I even installed a web camera in our house so we could go online to see that our home is still there waiting on us (of course this quit working two weeks into the trip).

The truth is that we stayed so busy that no one had a chance to get homesick. The worst part was the drive home after we had seen our last national park. Other than that, we pretty much had fun the whole time.

What was your favorite part? I expect to hear this question a lot. I'm not sure that I can answer it. It was all good. We live in an AMAZING country. I've been to a few places outside the US, and I haven't seen anything that even comes close. God bless America!

In closing, I'd like to give a special thanks to our neighbors the Huff's who looked after our animals and brought in our mail while we were gone. Also our daughters for not getting too mad at us for not taking them with us (and for handling some time sensitive mail for us).

Also special thanks to our son-in-law Robert who mowed our lawn. Is there any way we can extend this arrangement? :-)

Thanks to all of you to followed our little adventure and offered advice or words of encouragement along the way. We're already thinking about next summer... how does Maine sound?

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns is located in the southeast corner of New Mexico. We arrived in Carlsbad early enough in the afternoon to make it to the bat flight on the first night.

Bat flight amphitheater located at the "Natural Entrance" to the caves.

Bats leaving the cave. According to the park Rangers, the bats circle the mouth of the cave sevens times in a counter-clockwise direction before flying out for the night.

How would you like to turn your porch light on and see this?

We had high hopes of bringing you lots of photos from inside the cave. I've already mentioned on several occasions that we really don't know what we're doing with a camera.

Here's what cave pictures look like when you don't know what you're doing:

Isn't it great? We have hundreds of photos like this!

If you would like to see quality photos of the inside Carlsbad Caverns, go to the photos page at the National Park Service site. We can attest to the fact that this is really what it looks like. The formations inside the cave are amazing and beautiful.

Here are a few pictures of us and the kids.

Well.. it is a "bat cave", so I guess it's appropriate that it have a "bat phone"!

In general, the National Park Service does an incredible job of operating our national parks. This is the only time that I have felt otherwsie. I used to live in the dorms in college, so I've seen some major mold growth in a bathroom... but nothing like this!
Fresh water spring used by prehistoric people. I'll bet they had help from those people in Roswell, NM (which is just up the road).

Well, this is our last "National Park" stop. From here, we're headed due east. Who knows what we'll find along the way?

Canyon de Chelly National Park, Arizona

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "de Shay") is a National Monument that is jointly operated by the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation. Although most famous for its cliff dwellings, the canyon is quite a beautiful place and would be worth the visit even without the ruins.

An Indian guide is required in order to venture up into the canyon, so we signed up for one of the Thunderbird Lodge Tours.

David, our Navajo guide

Ancient petroglyphs

A cadre of artists in the canyon painting... something.

Notice what looks like a Nazi Swastika painted on the cliff behind the ruins. Our guide assured us that this is an ancient religious symbol for the native peoples (not to mention that it predates the Nazi's by 1500 years).

More cliff paintings

The Anasazi built trails up the sides o the canyon. Can you spot the trail?

(Hint: Look for toe-holes)

Some bear tracks that we saw at one of our stops.

We had a great time on the Navajo reservation. My perception is that native Americans are still somewhat bitter about the way their ancestors were treated by European settlers (I can't say that I blame them). I tried to explain to them that my ancestors were fighting Federal Troops during the same timeframe as theirs, but they were not impressed.

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

On our way from Sedona up to Canyon De Chelly, we did a "drive-by shooting" of the Petrified Forest. Fortunately, this park was set up such that you could drive through it pulling a camper and see most of what it has to offer.

When I was growing-up, I envisioned the Petrified Forest as a standing forest of trees that have turned to stone. It's a forest, but the trees are no longer standing but are strewn about the ground. I knew that.
When you first enter the park, you're given a stern warning from the Park Rangers about picking up any petrified wood. When you get outside the park, you understand why. The souvenir shops have a more impressive collection than does the park.

You can buy petrified wood that has been carved into anything you can imagine. Here is some petrified wood that has been carved into a sphere.
Here is a piece of petrified wood that has been carved into the shape of a Chevy Vega wagon.
Referring to a Vega as a "piece of wood" is a compliment, since in its day it was usually referred to as a piece of something else.

In addition to the petrified wood, the Petrified Forest National Park also has some of the best views of the Painted Desert. This was much more impressive than the petrified wood.








You may be wondering why we have so many pictures of the bathrooms.
That's because my wife was in charge of one of the cameras, and she thought they were Pueblo ruins.