Tuesday, 18, 2024
Well, our grand 57-day-long RVing adventure has come to its end. On this amazing excursion, we were able to rectify our travel deficiency of never having visited the Grand Canyon, one of our country’s most iconic natural treasures. Indeed, we cherished our visit there, spending four days on the South Rim and two days on the North Rim. But, this trip was about so much more.
Here are a few statistics; we:
- Logged 6,920 miles on our motorhome, a 2018 Winnegabo View.
- Logged another 1,500+ on our toad, a 2018 Ford Focus.
- Lodged at 25 campgrounds, 3 hotels, 2 cabins, and 1 parking lot.
- Visited, or traveled through 17 states:
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tenessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wyoming.
- Visited 9 national parks, 2 national monuments, and 1 national memorial:
- Arches National Park (UT)
- Badlands National Park (SD)
- Bryce Canyon National Park (UT)
- Canyonlands National Park (UT)
- Capitol Reef National Park (UT)
- Grand Canyon National Park (North & South Rim) (AZ)
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (UT)
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial (SD)
- Petrified National Park (AZ)
- Petroglyph National Monument (AZ)
- Voygeurs National Park (MN)
- Zion National Park (UT).
- Visited 4 Native American parks and memorials:
- Crazy Horse Memorial (Lakota Sioux) (SD)
- Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (UT)
- Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center (AZ)
- Upper Antelope Canyon (Navaho Nation) (AZ).
Our visits to the national parks and other planned sites were all wonderfaul, as expected. However, we also immensely enjoyed stumbling across unexpected jewels along the way such as:
- a Route 66 museum,
- a nuclear science museum,
- an observatory,
- a wildlife park,
- an immersive entertainment area,
- an exciting dugway route,
- lots of wildlife (including a bald eagle with eaglets, prairie dogs, and bison),
- petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks,
- a beautiful desert garden,
- water falls,
- a huge twine ball,
- an ergot museum,
- headwaters of the Mississippi River,
- giant statues (Smokey Bear & Paul Bunyon with Babe),
- a picturesque lighthouse, and
- an early 20th century mansion.
“This here’s what America’s all about” — Al Yankovic
We were certainly impressed by the countless and diverse natural and man-made attractions that we encountered throughout our trip. Or course, along the way, we also enjoyed great food and drinks. And, we savored opportnuties to meet with family and friends as well as to make new acquaintances. But, there is still so much more to explore that we’re already discussing another major RV trip for next year.
We’ll sign off for now and appreciate you joining us on our travels via this blog.
Happy Trails,
Rambling Jane & John