Author: li***********@*****il.com

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!

Our last ‘new’ state on this trip! #44

We had a short day of driving after climbing at City of Rocks to a campground in Snowville, UT. We saw cute kittens, swung on their tree swing, and did a couple loads of laundry.

The next day we stopped by the Northrop Grumman Rocket Garden on our way to the Golden Spike National Historic Park. The rocket garden displayed lots of missiles/propulsion elements for war and space. It was an interesting stop in a desolate landscape.

The Golden Spike National Historic Park is located at Promontory Point, UT (also a desolate area). It is the place where the transcontinental railroads met – Union Pacific (from the east) and Central Pacific (from the west) – on May 10, 1869. The meeting of the railroads also completed a telegraph line (not the first, but an early one) from the east to west coast, so the completion of the railroad was communicated to the great majority of the nation within a short amount of time. We even got to see a demonstration of the trains in action! The Central Pacific engine burned wood and the Union Pacific burned coal (based on the most readily available fuels).

It was a great place to stop and learn more about the history of our nation (the ups and downs – amazing engineering feat, the breaking up of Native lands, the grueling work of many immigrants (Chinese from the west and Irish from the east (along with German immigrants, Civil War veterans and emancipated African Americans))). Life and its advancement – what a complicated story. I guess we just keep trying to do our best and learn from our past.

From there we drove to a KOA in Brigham City, UT. We celebrated nearing the end of our trip by getting a massive pizza – 36 inches in diameter! It was tasty – which was a good thing because we ate it for the next three days!

It was super hot in Brigham City, so we were grateful that the KOA had a pool to enjoy. We made friends with other campground guests, including a family from Canada that was travelling from Ottawa to Georgia, to the Grand Canyon, and up to NW British Columbia!

From Craters of the Moon, we drove to City of Rocks (still in Idaho). It’s a well known, but somewhat out of the way climbing area. We went to the visitor center and learned that it was a popular spot along the California Trail, which was mainly in use in the 1840s – 1880s. The picture we saw showed A LOT of people on the trail – it looked busy! They said that about 240,000 people travelled the trail in that time (about the current population of Boise, ID).

After we got the camper set up, we drove up into the area and explored. We met a family who has been coming for a week long climbing trip here for the past 13 years. One of the daughters is now a student at Colorado College! We hiked down the Flaming Rock trail for a bit and then saw Window Arch. It was beautiful!

The next day we climbed at Parking Lot Rock and Anteater Rock. It’s really great rock (featured granite) and there are TONS of places to climb. We were out there until after 6 pm. After grabbing a quick dinner at the camper, we went to Durfee Hot Springs. A local swimming pool/hot tub heated by natural spring fed water. It was a wonderful way to end the day.

Even through we were leaving the next day, we got a couple of climbs in at Bath Rock in the morning. Claire and Reece are really getting good at climbing!

We’re looking forward to coming back to City of Rocks – hopefully with some friends someday! Who’s in?!

From Missoula we headed south to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We drove highway 93 along the Bitterroot Mountains. It was a beautiful drive even though we didn’t see a lot, because it was rainy and cloudy all day. We made it over Lost Trail Pass and into Idaho – with beautiful views… (see pictures). It was in the area that the Lewis and Clark expedition took over the Rockies. From the pass we made it down to Salmon, ID – a town of just over 3,000 people, but had quite a few amenities since it’s largest town for quite a ways. We discovered the Sacajawea Center there, so we stopped and learned more about the Lewis and Clark expedition and Sacajawea in that area.

Then we went at camped at Shoup Bridge Campground right on the Salmon River for the night. We got breakfast the next morning back in Salmon before continuing south. The views were gorgeous and ever changing.

We continued over Willow Creek Pass and on to Arco, ID. While getting gas, we noticed signs that read, “First city in the world to be powered by atomic power.” Matt did a little research and we discovered that EBR-1, the first nuclear power plant, was just a few miles down the way (near the Idaho National Laboratory). EBR-1 is now a museum, so we decided to go. It was really neat and super informative. From discarded reactors in the parking lot from the abandoned federal nuclear powered plane project, to the meticulous notes and controls in the control room, to the pride the engineers took in using nuclear power for good, it was really neat piece of history to learn about. There is a YouTube channel called Smarter Everyday that does a tour of the facility (and how nuclear power works). It was really cool to see after being there!

Sidenote – There was also one of the only (few?) deadly nuclear reactor accidents at a nearby nuclear reactor SL-1 in 1962. It’s a gruesome tale, but Matt found out that one of the people who died was a McKinley. No clue if they’re related, but it was an interesting piece of history.

From there we made it to Craters of the Moon. After getting set up at the campground, we stopped by the visitor center to learn about the area and then went and hiked the North Crater Trail. It’s a very unique area for the contiguous 48 states. The lava flows here are only about 2,100 – 15,000 years old. Native Americans have legends about the lava flows in the area. We ate dinner when we got back to camp and then headed out at 9:30 pm to take a short drive and hike up Inferno Cone to watch the moon rise. It was beautiful! And we met Fred – the large, solo limber pine that grows near the top of the cone.

The next morning we headed out on the loop around the park. We first stopped at the spatter cones (mini volcanoes at the end of an eruption), and then continued on to the Tree Mold hike and the Broken Top Trail. There were so many neat rock shapes and formations. It’s quite the landscape. Reece got a kick out of picking up large lava rocks so he looked strong!

We were going to go through the caves, but because of white nose syndrome in bats, we had to get a permit at the visitor center. And in order to get a permit we had to be sure none of our clothes or shoes had been in another cave – which we couldn’t be sure of, so we skipped it. We finished the day with a visit to Devil’s Orchard – a short interpretive trail.

It was a really unique place to visit.

We had a short drive from Arlee to Missoula. We got a campsite at Jim and Mary’s RV Park (on recommendation from the Meyers). It’s a very well-kept place!

We dropped off the camper and then decided to head into Missoula to check out the downtown area. We started at Caras Park where we watched surfers and kayakers on Brennan’s Wave.

Then we took a walk down the waterfront and saw the big “M” on the hillside. We then happened upon a cool outdoor store, The Trail Head, that had a great selection of gear and an even better Gear Exchange (used gear/clothing section)!

It was then time for pizza – which we got at Front Street Pizzeria – Missoula’s version of Pizza My Heart in Santa Cruz! It was tasty. Then we picked up some tasty slices of pie for my birthday that we enjoyed back at the campground.

When we got back to where we parked, we hung out at the playground there for a bit. Reece played hard (see his red face in the picture), Claire read her book, and Matt and I talked to a lovely 86 year old gentleman who first came to Missoula as a smokejumper at 19 and then eventually settled in Missoula and has had a tree business here for about 50 years.

The next day was Memorial Day and my foot/leg had been bothering me since our hike in Sandpoint, so I took it easy and R.I.C.E.d my foot/leg all day. And everyone had a very relaxing day.

The next day we packed up and headed out with the camper to the Smokejumper Visitor Center. While on the tour there (we saw jumpers in the air, the new rookie class of 2026, the base, and several planes), Matt found out that he did indeed need to go to Iowa for work sooner than we had originally planned. So after the visitor center we got a new campsite at a campground with a pool and mini golf, and then dropped Matt off at the airport.

Reece and I squeezed in a game of mini golf that afternoon before the thunderstorms, but most of the evening was spent hunkered down in the camper.

The next day we went to the National Museum of Forest Service History. We found out there’s a large concentration of retired Forest Service employees in the Missoula area, which is why the museum is there. The museum has been an old forest service cabin converted to a gift shop with a couple loops of open air exhibits, but they just built a brand new building on the site that will open on July 17! The old cabin is going to get restored to look like it did years ago. There’s a gentleman in Missoula who grew up in that cabin when his dad was the forest ranger there, so he is going to help. It was a neat spot run by friendly people – definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area.

That afternoon we enjoyed swimming in the pool and playing mini golf before the storms rolled in again. The next day was spent in similar fashion – relaxing, swimming, and playing mini-golf before the storms rolled in – it’s summer! (And my foot started to feel better after all the rest.) There were also a number of killdeer in the park and a couple nests with eggs in them (their nests are just in rocky areas on the ground). It was fun to observe.

Friday, Reece played with some boys here at the campground while Claire made no-bake cheesecakes. Then we ran to Target to pick up groceries and necessities before picking Matt up from the airport. Of course more storms rolled through that late afternoon/evening, but then it cleared and the evening was cool and fresh after the rain. There were lots of people out and about since it was the weekend and more people were here. The long days are nice!