Our plan was to leave Brigham City, UT and work our way towards Cheyenne, WY over the next couple days. We were going to leave the camper there while we took the van to Michigan for the annual family Glen Lake trip before coming back to pick up the camper and head to Colorado Springs.
BUT, we got a text from our renters the morning we were planning on leaving informing us that the water heater was leaking. We brainstormed a few ideas to get it fixed, but then decided that it wasn’t really that far out of the way to go have Matt replace it himself. So we packed up and hit the road for Colorado.
It ended up being a windy day across Wyoming and there were signs saying I-80 was closed to vehicles towing trailers less than 20,000 lbs (we’re about 12,000 lbs.). We tried some side roads (not a viable option), then watched several other people pulling campers pass on the highway, and determined that we’d at least try to get to the next town to potentially wait it out. That section went fine, so after a quick stop we got back on the road, but the signs now said I-80 was closed to vehicles towing trailers less than 40,000 lbs. We pulled off and parked on a ramp for a while to wait it out. Eventually a state patrol came by and told us we couldn’t park on the ramp. We explained we were waiting out the wind because it was closed to lightweight high profile vehicles and he informed us that we could determine if we were a high profile vehicle and they weren’t pulling people over even though it said it was closed (on highway signs and the WYDOT website). We decided to take our chances and hit the road.
We were able to pass through the windy areas without flipping our camper, but with the delay and the length of travel we had undertaken for the day, we arrived in Beulah, CO (by Matt’s family) at 2:30 am on June 8 – exactly 10 months after we had left.
Matt changed the water heater, and the oil in the van, and we hung out with the McKinley crew for a couple days before heading to Michigan.
We drove through some crazy weather to get there, but made it safely.
Our time at Glen Lake with my extended family was wonderful. (See the pictures!)
It was hard to leave knowing that it was the true end of the home school travel year when we got back to CO.
We made it back to Colorado Springs safely and are excited to be home. Its nice to have our own space that doesn’t move, and we don’t have to figure out our water, electric, and sewer all the time.
We are grateful to the renter of our apartment who moved out the end of May and left the apartment in fabulous condition. We are staying here until the lease is up on our house at the end of July.
Matt got an electric unicycle in Michigan and has been enjoying riding that. And we spent some good time with Matt’s family as they have been evacuated due to the Aspen Acres fire burning SW of Pueblo.
Looking forward to reconnecting with friends and family, doing some needed yardwork, and adjusting back to ‘normal’ life before school starts again in about 6 weeks.
So grateful for an amazing year – the places we saw and learned about, safe travel, and the generosity of many friends and family we saw along the way!
Thanks for following along!
I may add a reflections post after this, so feel free to check back.
The website will be up until early next year, and I’ll be making a book of the website (plus more) to remember this year!
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