March 29th, 2022
Spokane, WA (via Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho)
For my first trip in the van I decided to head south to Colorado, hoping the weather would be nice enough to see the area around Canon City, Salida, and Buena Vista. The weather did not cooperate.
Night 1 was at a truck stop in Billings as I had miscalculated timing and didn’t want to search for a campsite after dark. Not my ideal, but quite, safe, and comfortable. Night two was at Warren AFB in Cheyenne, where I paid a whopping $10 for a site with full hookups, showers available at the 24-hour gym.
As a side note, let me allow that I failed on this trip. I had high hopes, and previously promised, on delivering numerous Roadside America sites to you, my dear readers. In this, I sadly failed. The furry trout I had expected in Salida was in a museum that was not open, so I have that excuse. The only thing in this regard that I can delivery on is this cubist buffalo statue in Buffalo, WY.
In truth, Buffalo had a lot of such statuary. Including the following which I presume is a Native American and a trapper, though the former looks a little like the Q-Anon shaman who was part of the group who sacked the capitol on January 6, 2021. I suppose Native American is more like, but this is MAGA country, after all.
I spent three nights in Canyon City, making day trips up to Salida, Buena Vista, and Pueblo but it was still getting into the low 20’s at night in the higher elevations, so I stayed low. I was still somewhat uncertain how the gray water system would perform in freezing temps. So early in the season a lot of things were still closed, but I still had a good time exploring. I had wanted to camp at one of two cheap BLM sites north of Canyon City, but they are popular climbing areas and were full.
All three museums I wanted to visit in Pueblo were close. My consolation was that Pueblo has a rather cool river walk, though less pleasant with snow blowing sideways.
The colder nighttime temps were also a good test of the van’s unique heating system – a combination of radiant floor heat and a more traditional blower. It stayed pleasantly warm inside and putting bare feet on a toasty warm floor in themorning was a pleasure. I did learn to leave the roof vent cracked to reduce moisture icing up the inside of the windows overnight.
It snowed a bit the last night in Canyon City which made me a bit nervous as I was headed up over Monarch Pass (11,312’), but the van did fine over the pass with fresh snow on the road which was a confidence builder. I was headed SW toward a wild camp when I got a text message that my replacement water heater had been delivered to Lowes in Grand Junction, so I turned around and headed there.
The night before I left home I filled the fresh water tank and tested the pump, only to find water flowing vigorously out of the water heater. Later research showed that this type of heater has to be removed and emptied before storing in freezing temps. Apparently it had not been. They are available and not expensive (<$200), but are not stocked, so I had one shipped to Lowes in Grand Junction. About 30 minutes of work and no small amount of profanity and I had hot running water.
From there I drove down the Green River to Moab. Gorgeous country.
In Moab and in Arches NP, I was surprised to see so many children mid-week. It was only slowly dawning on me that for many this was spring break. That was probably why the BLM campgrounds near Canyon City were full.
Arches, while beautiful, didn’t really move me. I guess I’m just not that impressed by a rock arch, and that’s what the place is all about. I had to wait in line about 20 minutes to get in and, by the time I left about noon, they were not allowing anyone else in as it was at capacity.
After two days in Moab, I went further south, seeking warmer temps. Capital Reef NP was quite nice and had some extremely cool petroglyphs that are supposed to be nearly 1,000 old. The were done by a people now popularly known as Fremont People, though their descendants today not surprisingly take offense at their ancestor’s being named for someone who lived many hundreds of years after they did.
I ended up camping at Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park which was quite nice. It caters to OHV users so there was a bit of noise until the buggies and ATVs came in at dinner, then none. I was camped next to a multifamily group and never heard a thing after dinner.
The next day was through Zion NP (gorgeous), then a long drive NE toward Vernal, where I stayed at another state park for the night. The next day was climbing up into some beautiful mountain surrounding Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and some of the most beautiful cattle country imaginable.
From there I headed toward home, staying over one night at Mountain Home AFB.
A great trip and a great shakedown cruise in the van. It averaged 16.6 mpg in throughout the mountain west, and 18.2 on flat open highway. That’s a lot better than I expected. It’s also quite comfortable to sit in on long drives. It handles like a dream. You can’t drive it like a sports car, but it is plenty powerful enough, has a tight turning radius, and you can park in any parking spot.