Ok, if you're back reading this, you're going to notice some changes. Since last year's trip, we have sold both the beloved Big Truck and its well-used towing companion, the '09 Rubicon.
In their place are the Bigger Truck, and a newer (still manual) version of the Rubi. This is our first major road trip with the combo, after several weekend shakedowns in and around west Michigan.
Last summer we had originally planned to road trip out west, but a global pandemic thwarted those plans. This year we are going to squeeze it in before another lockdown because "muh freeeduhm!!" but that is for another Tucker Carlson episode.
We opted for a Friday evening departure after dropping off Jordan's zoo (Thanks to Hayley for taking care of Rio, and thanks to Carol & Mike for watching Cru, sorry if he eats all your socks!). We really just wanted to get to the other side of Chicago for the night.
First stop - gas. When we first started this blog 10 years ago, gas was nearly $4.60 a gallon and we were stupid enough to buy a motorhome. This year, gas is roughly $3.10/gal and we don't know yet what sort of mileage this setup gets. Fortune favors the bold.
I had forgotten the joys of having to purchase more gas than the pumps believe anyone should need, and since the new rig has a 60gal tank, this will become a recurring issue. 2 transactions per gas stop, Gmail would not know what to do! (3 people from the hockey team will get that reference, so don't be confused.)
This is a great summary of how well that plan worked.
Since we were just putting in miles to hoof it out to Colorado, we decided to try our first Walmart Warrior experience. After watching 2 sketchy parking lot neighbors until about midnight, we hunkered down for the night and woke up to this.
Across the lot from us was this magnificent creature. An Earth Roamer LTi live and in the flesh.
I have to admit I was pretty jealous, but I don't care how many times you say carbon fiber in the press release, I'm not spending $700k on that thing unless it comes with $500k worth of Buffalo Trace.
About an hour down the road heading into Iowa, this was the scene inside the bigger truck.
This one has now become self aware, so the cute road trip pics are now replaced with a "Dad, you're not even taking it from my good side! You better not post this anywhere on the internet..."
Another tradition I had forgotten about out here - Harley owners faced with the dilemma of having to travel more than 50 miles on their motorcycle. Luckily they all own trailers to go with their fringy leather costumes and sweet black t-shirts from that biker bar where they saw a Molly Hatchet cover band.
Once he gets to Sturgis that thing should be good for at least 30 miles before it grenades a pushrod and starts spewing oil all over his assless chaps and $400 chrome primary cover. But I digress.
We had been getting weather alerts that smoke from the Canadian wildfires was causing visibility issues in western Iowa and Nebraska. Case in point.
Fast forward 11 more hours of cornfields, awful human beings masquerading as college head coaches, and sandhill crane capitals of the world later, and we found our non-Walmart roadside resting place for the evening.
If you haven't checked out I-80 Lakeside Campground, you are missing out. Landscaping is on par with 3 Jack National.
After a quick dump session, we were off to Colorado. First stop, one of my all time favorite breweries.
They have expanded multiple times in the past decade, and we have visited their Brevard location on a previous trip.
This time, we stopped at their Longmont location to grab lunch and stretch our legs. Jordan and I got in a quick game of cornhole until a gang of 7 year olds told us that they had given the bartender their drivers license to reserve those bags.
By the way, keep in mind that an iPhone camera adds 10-40 pounds. Take a guess which one of us had a kale salad for lunch.
When I asked our server where I could purchase some Oskar Blues merch, I was assuming she would say somewhere in the building. Instead she directed us a mile and a half away, to the production brewery and Tasty Weasel cafe.
We rolled in like we meant business, and went full tourist once inside.
If some of the blog posts get a little loose this week, you can understand why.
From there, it was on to our campground. We are staying at Mary's Lake in Estes Park, just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Within 10 minutes of us parking, Jordan was off to the playground. This time, she took the bike.
Tough to beat this backdrop.
Since the national parks are completely overrun with visitors this summer, we had to get timed entry permits for the next 2 days. After 6pm though, no one can keep us out. We opted for a 7pm Jeep cruise into the park to scout out our next few days.
On the way out here, we've all been talking about what our ideal scenarios would be. All of us said we wanted to see at least a moose or an elk, preferably both. About 3 minutes after entering the park, we saw a big line of cars stopping in front of us. To our left - 2 gigantic moose drinking and playing in the pond. Unreal.
We stopped (not long enough for Jordan) to watch the moose, then continued on US-34 up the mountain. We rounded a bend and were just about to take a 15mph hairpin corner when I started pointing frantically out Kim's passenger side window. This thing was less than 20 feet away and definitely giving us the side eye.
From there, it was starting to cool off rapidly and the smoke made for some spectacular views.
Yes, I'm a sucker for the Rubicon poser shot.
Pics never do this justice, so we'll just leave this here.
We probably could've gotten a better group shot, but Jordan was not moving 1 inch closer to the edge. *Narrator* - they were 20 feet from the edge.
On the way down the mountain, there were so many great vistas, none of which translate to what we experienced, but you get the idea.
Tomorrow, the female contingent sleeps in, I explore mountain biking around Estes Park, and we have a special surprise for Jordan at Red Rocks.
Cheers!
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