Road Trippin’ 1300 miles Across 5 States-Our First Cross Country Trek!

We left San Diego RV Park around 7:00 pm Friday night. We had originally planned to leave very early Saturday morning but I think we both just felt the need to go and get some highway behind us. This was going to be our biggest trip yet-all the way to Iowa with 2 stops in Nebraska. I know I was feeling nervous, excited, elated, and depressed all at the same time. It was hard to leave my new friends and yet, I was off work for a few months and I was getting to see G babies! And our son was getting married!

All of these emotions, coupled with seeing my little friend, Ivy, start crying when she heard we were leaving the RV park, was just all I could take. Leaving and being productive toward our trip or crawling in bed and having a good cry were the only options. Need to stay positive, let’s go!

Sidenote-Ivy. Ivy lives at the RV park with her family. She is about 10 years old, I think, and has a head fully of naturally curly hair that has a mind of its own. (Picture Curly Sue a little older if you can) She reminds me of Hannah so much when she was young.

Ivy has 2 younger brothers, 6 and 8-I know this because my dogs are the same age as her brothers-a fact she pointed out to me when trying to solicit a dog walking job from me-“I have lots of experience with 6 and 8 year olds” -nodding at her brothers as they rode past on their bicycles one evening.

I would often see Ivy and her brothers riding around the park when I was walking Louie and Kiya in the evenings and on weekends. Ivy loved to talk and kept me entertained with stories of pet rats, back to school shopping, fights with her friends, and the occasional use of profanity-apparently “pisses me off” has been approved by Mom-I was not able to confirm this and frankly it was too funny to even go there-she was really “pissed” at another little girl. Something about the pool and never talking to that other girl again-typical girl things that have been going on for generations lol! Good to see some things don’t change.

I had no idea the effect our little conversations over the weeks we were at the park would have on Ivy. I mostly just listened to her regale her tales of adventure or woe-whichever was the flavor of the day-while I exercised the pooches. It was a nice way to pass the time and she made me laugh thinking of my Bees as a little girl. Telling her good bye and seeing the tears form in her eyes and her lip quiver just floored me. I wasn’t expecting that. I hope I see you again Miss Ivy! Best of luck with all you do in your life!

After a quick hug for Ivy, we loaded up and headed out. We took Highway 15 all the way to Las Vegas, then boon docked just outside of the city on some BLM land. We got there sometime between 0100-0200 with one stop midway through our journey. The view of the city lights was pretty cool and it was just off the highway, however, it is ATV area. We were woken up around 0630 to the sounds of four wheelers. So not a lot of sleep but it was free and we were both still pretty pumped to get some miles behind us so after some coffee and a little doggy exercise we headed out pretty quickly.

We stayed on Highway 15 and caught I70 in Utah. What a beautiful drive. I took a ton of pictures but I don’t think they even come close to doing it justice. There are so many colors in the desert. Just beautiful. I can’t wait to spend some more time exploring Utah and Colorado-which was our next state.

We drove about 550 miles and we stopped at an interesting little rest stop in Parachute, Colorado. There were directional signs on the highway for this rest stop, like so many others, but this one takes you into the small town. You have to cross back over the freeway and go through a stop light to get to this very nice rest area.

There is a small strip of stores, including a marijuana shop, just across the street from the rest area and a large gas station with a Wienerschnitzel inside adjoining the rest stop.

There are rest rooms, a great grassy lawn, and a huge dog park at this rest area. It’s more like a park than a rest stop. It was so nice and Mike was craving the latest Wienerschnitzel dog so we decided to call it a night.
There are signs that say “No Camping” and “Absolutely No Trucks” posted throughout. We checked in at the gas station/Wienerschnitzel–which is apparently kind of the local hang out and free Wi-Fi area–all the patrons said staying over in an RV is fine-just not tents or semi-trucks. Cool!

We found a spot parallel along a curb that was flat so we could open 3 of the slides without blocking any other spots or obstructing the driveway and the A’s game came in crystal clear. Louie and Kiya loved running in the grassy dog park. We played fetch and wore them out, ate some Wienerschnitzel and watched the game, feeling accomplished. We were around 500 miles from our first destination and so far, so great! And what a beautiful little rest area we happened to find. Shared it with a gentleman driving a truck with a pick up camper who was also passing through. It was a great night!

Highway 70 will test your rig’s abilities. There are some steep grades and a lot of traffic. Reva Mae did awesome! As did Mike! There was a lot of passing trucks on grades with curves and everyone jockeying to keep their speed up for the climbs. Fortunately, the road itself was in pretty good shape. There are some really bad segments-like Reno, NV to Auburn, CA on I80-heavily grooved in places.

It was an amazing ride for me. Unfortunately, there were so many dead bugs on our windshield that my pictures can’t even come close to sharing the richness of the views with you. Colorado is so lush compared to the starkness of Utah-both beautiful but so different!

The Colorado River runs along I70 for many miles so we got to enjoy it and get an understanding of how large it really is. Lots of fly fisherman out trying their luck on a sunny day. Mike of course wants to fish here someday. Fine by me, it’s so beautiful. The tall pines are always my favorite! This drive reminds me a little of Lake Tahoe which, as I said before, seeped into my soul many years ago. Clear rocky bottom streams, dark green pine trees tipped with almost chartreuse new growth, dark brown mountains streaked with deep red, clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds, the smell of pine and wood heavy in the air-sensory overload with delight!

Mike did so freaking amazing driving through those mountains. I’m so grateful for his abilities and skills on this journey together. I did resume my driving lessons once we got well into Nebraska-out in the middle of nowhere with no cars-pretty safe.

It had been several months since I had driven but it actually came back better than I thought it would. I was really happy that I didn’t have to work as hard keeping Reva Mae between the lines and not too close to the shoulder. I’m beginning to feel where I am in the lane just like we all do in our cars. This little thing has really helped my confidence.

I drove down the freeway for a couple of hours and did pretty well, actually. I passed a couple semi’s and my body no longer went into involuntary violent tremors of fear-that did actually happen the first time I drove and passed a semi-holy smokes! Turning corners, not so much my thing yet, but there’s time to learn!

When we pulled over to fuel up, we traded back and Mike drove us the rest of the way into our first official stop-Lake McConaughey, Nebraska. We set up and relaxed, arriving just after 4:00 p.m. Great timing for a good walk, a great meal, and some relaxation! Louie, Kiya, and I will be finishing up some consulting work and exploring this beautiful campground while Mike does some lake fishing. Nice to relax for a while! So far, so great!