The Budget

Well here we go. This is a break down of everything we spent that was pertinent to the trip. This doesn't include souveniers and the occasional trip to McDonalds. I think we ate 3 times at a fast food joint.

The whole plan is to take your own foods, etc. Now this trip was of course done with a Travel Trailer and two people. I have also done the trip with with a rental van and several people, which reduces costs even more. The more people the less the cost.

One thing you will want to note is that we bought the America the Beautiful Park pass at the very first National Park we came too. This 80.00 pass seems expensive, but not if your visiting multiple parks within the trip. You can easily go over that 80.00 by visiting each park individually with no pass.

Our budget was $1000.00 each and we only went over that by about $30.00 This was due to the fact that fuel prices were higher out there then I orignally estimated. What i normally do is over estimate mileage to compensate for fuel increases, which really helped us.

If our trip was 5000, i budget for 7500. That helps with fuel estimations.

THE BUDGET ------------------------------

The Big Trip Budget

Thursday July 19, 2007

Lebanon Jct Fuel 50.00

Wal-Mart Groceries 50.00

Friday July 20, 2007

Wal-Mart Groceries 40.06

Lebanon Jct Fuel 50.00

Colonial Pantry Fuel 50.00

Camping Fee 26.50

Saturday July 21, 2007

Hucks Fuel 33.00

Flying J Fuel 67.00

Blueline Travel Fuel 63.46

Camping Fee 24.50

Sunday July 22, 2007

Triple H Fuel 51.01

National Park Pass 80.00

Windmill Fuel 67.85

Wal-Mart Groceries 85.37

Parking Mount Rushmore 8.00

Mt View Camping 31.07

Monday July 23, 2007

Read Eagle Buffalo Fuel 50.00

Shell Fuel 50.00

Camping Fee 7.50

Tuesday July 24, 2007

Chevron Fuel 50.00

Camp Fee 6.00

Wednesday July 25, 2007

Kum and Go Fuel 49.00

Loves Fuel 55.02

Camping Fee 2 nights 82.96

Thursday July 26, 2007

Propane Fill up 14.00

Shell Fuel 40.00

Friday July 27, 2007

Alpine Oil Fuel 55.02

Pleasant Valley Camping 23.67

Saturday July 28, 2007

Safeway Fuel 34.00

Mesa Verde RV Camp 30.26

Sunday July 29, 2007

Wal-Mart Groceries 112.53

Giant Fuel 40.00

Speedys Fuel 52.78

Junct Chevron Camp 16.50

Monday July 30, 2007

Petrified Chevron Fuel 15.00

Usa RV Park 27.33

Tuesday July 31, 2007

Conoco Fuel 50.01

Phillips Fuel 50.08

STuckys Fuel 55.17

Wednesday August 1, 2007

Conoco Fuel 64.00

EZ GO Fuel 43.00

Camping 22.00

Toll 8.50

Toll 8.50

Conoco Fuel 37.03

Shell Fuel 65.00

Thursday August 2, 2007

Lebanon Jct Fuel 50.00

Crossroads Fuel 45.00

2056.68 TOTAL

1028.34 (each person)

This is a very inexpensive trip. Especially if you take a large van and 3 or 4 people go. Just be sure to call ahead for rooms if you don't have a camper. I recommend a camper. We had so much fun.

This just goes to show you that you can take trips and not spend a fortune on them.

Any questions? Just email me at kythunder@gmail.com.

If you plan on taking a similar trip I can give you more details on what to do or not to do, especially if its out in the same areas as what my blog covers. I've been out there 5 times now.

Later

JJ

Adair County Is Missing out

I was thinking as I was driving today. There are a lot of miles to do a lot of thinking.

I was thinking about how Adair County is missing out. I have been out in the western states for about 2 weeks now and I have visited and stayed at some amazing places.

Some of the places I camped were not "manned" campgrounds. I camped on some beautiful lakes and yet I can't camp on our own Green River Lake.

Why we can't camp on Green River Lake is beyond me. For instance at Lake Freemont there were no attendants. What you did was take an envelope at the front of the park and fill it out, where you were camping, what you were in, your license #, etc. Then you deposited the camping fee in the envelope and drop it in the fee box. You tore off a piece of the envelope which had matching #'s and you attached it to your campsite or to the windsheild of your vehicle.

Sometime the next day a Ranger came by and verified the information.

Why Green River Lake can't do this is beyond me. I can't understand why more people aren't upset that they aren't allowed to use a lake in their own back yards.

Homeward Bound

We drove a lot today, we left New Mexico and stopped at a lot of souvenier and tourist trap places and then hit the texas panhandle. Below is a photo of AAaron at the entrance to the good ole state of Texas.



Along the way I saw a sign that said exit 112 or something like that, Largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. I had to stop. It was AWESOME. This cross is huge and not only do they have that, but they have many figures of Christ from his appearance before Pilate to the cross.


I took this photo of the statue of Jesus on the cross, with the sun setting behind him. It was truly amazing. The whole place gives you cold chills. Their was also a statue of the roman soldier nailing him to the cross, it was very hard to look at. The artist did a great job of capturing Jesus' anguish and agony when on the cross.
The whole area around the big cross and all of the statues of Jesus was amazing. When I was walking there I felt that everything in the world would be okay, it would all turn out as God intended.

I could have stayed there a lot longer.

If you go through Texas, you must stop here.
I hope to breathe Adair County air by late tomorrow or Thursday.

I'll be posting a trip wrap-up and a budget after that. :)

Safe...

God has kept us safe this whole trip and we are now safe and sound in Gallup, New Mexico. This is a shot outside of our campsite. out across the desert you can see the Thunder Heads. The weather as I type this is about 76 degreesa and its 8:57pm. That's 3 hours different from Eastern Time, because we are in the Navajo Nation.

They are on Pacific Standard Time. I know its weird, I told you they were their own Nation.

We are planning on a safe trip home from here and should be there in a coupe of days. We might stop at a few more spots along the way.

If any of you want to email me directly, you can at kythunder@gmail.com

Painted by God himself

The last six miles of the Petrified Forest Road takes you through the Painted Desert. We were very lucky, again.. as it just rained. Why would that be lucky?

Well it is said that the painted desert comes to life after the rain. The colors are more vibrant, etc. I've been here a couple of times and this time I was shocked at the beauty.


This is a photo of the painted desert and a thunderstorm above it. If you think this photo is awesome, you should see it in person. Its a 28 mile road to drive through the park @ 35 mph, but let me tell you. It is a breath taker, and pray for rain if you visit it.

Look at this photo above? Can you see where God's brush was used? Reds, golds, browns, whites, its amazing. I feel lucky to be able to see this.


Any of these photos could easily be postcards, not because we took them, but because its so easy to take a good picture here.

Petrified

Well, that's a word not used a lot in Kentucky. We left the Grand Canyon and the Sunset Volcano and headed through Flagstaff and then drove through the Petrified forest National Park.

Here is the story in short. 250 million years ago this area was a tropical rainforest and some of the area became a flood plain. Of course the trees in the flood plain died and fell over and the flood covered them in layer upon layer of silt. The silt solidified them, turning them to rock. Then years and years go by and the wind removed the silt and revealed the trees.

Scientists have matched the trees that were solidified to trees that can now only be found in the Rainforests of South America.

Below is a large chunk of a solidified tree.


Here I am being goofy, but the 250 million old hunk of tree is awesome.


The tree below fell over and the soil around it eroded and it made a bridge across this gully. Back in the 1920's or so, they used pillars to hold it up so it would not fall and eventually they used concrete to hold it up

Beautiful scenery

I just love this Sunset Volcano Park. We got in with the $80.00 pass we bought at the beginning of the trip. Every National Park or Monument accepts this pass. If you don't buy the annual pass for $80.00 then you have to pay the individual entry fees.

For instance Yellostone @ 25.00, Grand Canyon @ 25.00, Badlands @ 15.00 etc.

It saves A LOT of money, plus you get 50% off camping in any of the National areas.

This photo is of Bonito Park with the volcano in the background, this is where we pulled over for lunch.

I had to take this picture above, with the lava rock, the pines, and the blue sky, it was just gorgeous, like a painting in real life.

Let her Blow..

Well not now, but it did at one time. What am I talkin' about? Well I'm talking about the Sunset Volcano. According to the local Indians it blew its top in 1180 ad. The effects can be seen all around the Sunset Volcano park. The below pictures is a huge lava flow that solidified over 400 years ago.



This is me after we hiked about 1/2 mile straight up a mountain to get in front of the volcano. The entire area is covered in black rocks, rocks that came from inside the earth itself.

The below photo I took while we took a break and had lunch. Notice that 1/2 of the volcano is covered in black rock?

Grand Views

We left the Four Corners and continued on our way through Monument Valley toward the Grandest View the south west has to offer. The below photo is one of the features located in the Monument Valley.


This is the views of all views for the south west. The Grand Canyon. It is a lot prettier in person, pictures don't do it justice. The fact that its a mile deep is astounding.
Here I am caught off guard a little bit on one of the watch towers at the Grand Canyon, Arizona

This trip is great. As I said in an earlier post I am going to put the budget that we spent on here, just to show you how it can be done easily. With or without a camper, though I suggest a camper. HIGHLY SUGGEST a camper.

Onward to the Four Corners

Internet is acting up, but here we go. Okay So we left the Mesa Verde area. Oh by the way. Mesa Verde means Green table. Below is a view from Park Point inside Mesa Verde. you can see for a long way from there.


Then we drove down hwy 160 to the Four Corners area. What is that? Its the only place in the USA that is common to four states. New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. What strikes me funny is this. You have to drive into the Navajo Nation to get to them. heehheh

So you have to pay the Navajos, $3.00 per person to stand on the four courners of another nation (USA). Technically the Navajos are their own nation.

Here is a photo of AAron at the four corners.

See all the little shops around the four corners? Well, they are full of Navajos selling all kind of................JUNK. Mostly. Only a few items were actually made by navajos. One lady was selling sand paintings and we watched her make one. The rest looked like it was imported.

We have Internet, And we Have Traveled

Ed from www.columbiamagazine.com put me and the blog on the front page for a while. He emaile me and said that he would love to make this trip. I was explaining to him how easy it is to make this trip and how affordable if your travel savvy, and have a travel buddy to split the cost.

Okay. Where have we been.....whew... Let me tell ya. We've been there. We had to stayover at the RV resort and here is a photo of it. We then left for Mesa Verde on a beautiful day and for the ancient Cliff Dwellings.


Tip for visiting this park, take water. You don't realize it, but its actually right at 7500 feet and you sweat a lot due to the heat. I always backpack several bottles when I go hiking in these areas.

Below is a photo of the Cliff Dwellings in Mesa Verde. This park is an awesome place and its located in the south western part of Colorado.

Here is a photo of me posing in front of the Cliff Dwellings. This trip Iactually went down into one of them and explored. I often wondered why they built in these cliffs like this. When I got down there I figured it out. The temperature dropped drastically. It was nice and cool.

Two Beatiful Things - One place

Okay, i don't have the best digital camera, but the below photos are awesome. I got out of the shower and AAron said that the people next door were taking pictures of something. So I went outside to see and I saw the sun setting on the San Juan mountains and also a rainbow. Two things of beauty happening at once. WOW.

Check 'em out!

The Park

I found the website for the RV park I'm at tonight.

http://www.mesaverdervresort.com/features.html

Its a very nice park!

Rain

Well I am tired of driving in rain. 3 days or so now off and on rain. It gets old. And now we are in Mesa Verde National Park. We were going into the park tonight, but a mud slide had closed it.

When you enter the park they had a sign that said to unhook your trailer, so I did. Took about 15 minutes or so in the rain to do it.

Then we drove on to the gate. She took my ID and my annual pass and then told me the road was closed.

Needless to say she got a very very VERY good cussing. I was tired, I was wet and why they coudln't post a sign at the bottom of the park that says, "temporarily closed" i have no idea.

So we are going to stay here at this nice RV park and then go to the Cliff Dwellings tomorrow and then onto Four Corners and the Grand Canyon.

One good things of having the Camper, you can just stop.

Might put us a day or so behind, but who cares. I don't.. do you?

Ouray, Colorado

Ouray and the old Mining towns.


We spent quite a bit of time in Ouray. I videoed the town for mom because she likes the area. We ate a a small cafe there and then headed up and over the mountains. On the way from Ouray to Durango is a ghost town. This area is full of old mines.

At one time it was a very very hopping place, then the mines ran out and everyone left.



The above photo is of a ghost town left by the miners.

This is a tired JJ in front of REd Mountain, Colorado. Notice the old mining shaft building over my left shoulder?

Camp Site

We were driving and headed toward Ouray, Colorado and there were too many deer and elk standing along the side of the road. For saftey reasons, we stopped just short of Ouray at this nice little camping area. Full hookup. :)

This was the sun coming up over the mountains in front of us.

Bristlecones

The Mount Evans area has lots of BristleCone pines. These trees, at least some of them are ancient. They can be over 3000 years old.

Mount Evans

This is a photo from the top of Mount Evans. VERY cold and cloudy unfortunately. This is my 3rd time to the top of this mountain and its just awesome. See the observatory and the old restaurant that burnt?


This is summit lake. Several hundreds of feet below you when you stand on the edge of Mount Evan.s
Here is a photo of me at over 14000 feet. Let me tell you its hard to breathe at that altitude.

Another update

Yesterday we didn't have Net access. We toured the Mt. Evans area. Its near Idaho Springs Colorado and is not very well marked. Its one of those things you just have to find accidentally. Its North America's Highest Road and its an awesome scary drive.

It goes up to an observatory on the mountain that is used by the university of Denver.

Don't Camp here

This one is for my Rvforum friends. We were talking about this campground and how poorly its managed.

The site where I am is okay actually, but my neighbors on the other side of my truck aren't so good.

Look at this. The Winnibago and the Pop up Camper folk are not together, as in a group. But look at how they are parked.

If someone bought this campground and managed it properly it could easily be the best in Estes Park as it has perfect Mountain views.

Notice in the photo you can see our F250, which is actually across our pad and several feet away from my Travel Trailer. Then you can see the Winnie and the pop up, then over the top of that another TT. They are crammed Jameed in there.

The staff here are rude too.

They try to "park" you and do a poor job. If they would leave us alone we can park ourselves. Well most of us. Right Dad? I can back between a camper, garage, past a building and down a long drive to prove it huh. :)

Supper Time

MMMM Corn, and honey BBQ wings, and Mac and Cheese. This stove really does a great job. It does heat up the Camper though, so you have to use the exhaust vent. Just one of those travel tips for those new Rvers out there.

Oh and see the bottle beside the stove, that's my "kill it all" bottle. Bleach Water :) A must for camping.






Is it camping if you have a microwave?

Hail and Mountains

Hello everyone. We are in Estes Park still. I love this place. Its so much fun. We drove up the old Fall River road today. Got great video of that. its a one way gravel road up to 12000 feet.

We then turned around and came back to Estes Park becase it started to Snow and Hail.

Aaron got hailed on.




The above photo is of ELK we saw in the park. The park is full of these animals just laying around everywhere.


These are two photos going up fall river. And on trail ridge. There is snow here all year round.


Tomorrow we are going to do a hike on cub lake, then onto St. Mary's Glacier and Mount Evans.

I gave out some more sauce tonight. The folks next door used our sauce to cook with tonight and gave it thumbs up. They wanted to buy some so I gave them another bottle, and told them after that to call the # on the side. They were very impressed with the sauce.

Food and Fun

Well, we aren't boondocking tonight. We are at Mary's Lake Campground in Estes park. Its cold, but we have full hookups site. I knew this would be one of the more expensive campsites. $40.00 a nite. But I did do laundry. They have a laundromat, so I took care of all that. Then I decided to cook a meal.

We had baked potatoes, beef tips and gravy, and macaroni and cheese.

That's one of the joys of having the camper behind us. It carry's the food we need. The showers, the toilet, etc. :)

We are still on the same tank of propane. I'm curious as to how long it will last. It will be 1 full week tomorrow on that tank. That's fridge, some shower water heating, cooking, etc.

Pretty good.

Oh. Keith, I handed out more sauce tonight while I was doing the laundry. Some folks were in there from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. :)

Campsite

Had to add another photo here of the campsite. I stepped out of the front door of the campsite this morning and took this photo of our campsite on Freemont Lake. THis is the one that cost $6.00.

Tetons and More

The Grand TETONS. This is sorta what you think about when you think Rocky Mountains. Though I think there is more to do at Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Park itself, the Grand Tetons are not to be missed. However, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the town nearest the Tetons is a tourist trap.. avoid it.





Boondocking again? Okay so we drove and drove quite a ways after visiting the tetons and seeing the bear. This was in the Bridger National Forest. And once again because it was part of the national forest-park system, we got 50% off on camping. $6.00 campsite here. Lake side :)

Of course no power. However, we did have our own power and hot water and what not.

It did rain though. WOW.. big storm came through. The first one was okay, though the door leaked a litle on the camper. The 2nd storm was a doosey. It was pushing huge waves onto the shore below the camper and occasionally would shudder the whole camper.

All in all we faired well.