1st Retirement RV Ramble 2024
3 weeks / >5000 miles - Part Four
May 17, 2024
“On the road again…” Are you detecting a pattern yet? Three days of traveling, one day of visiting. This is about how our three weeks played out, more driving than anything else, but we enjoyed seeing all the new-to-us scenery. On day 5 we headed North to connect with Rick’s sister Naomi in Rapid City, South Dakota where she lives, but it was a 2 day trip. We had reservations to camp in Green River RV Camp in Green River Wyoming and after a tearful goodbye to Shane we got back on the road.
And oh, what a road we would find. Our route headed North along the Utah border, crossing back and forth between Colorado and Utah. I must have taken 200 photos from the truck! Every new vista was more interesting than the last. I made myself a promise to get back to Utah and see more of the National Parks there. I was especially excited about our route taking us through The Flaming Gorge shortly before entering Wyoming and reaching our campground. But, you know it had to happen at some point on this trip, and today was the day I got us off course by accident in Grand Junction, CO. My phone GPS did not agree with the Tom Tom device and we (I, official navigator) decided to go with the phone. Now, in my defense, the Tom Tom had given us plenty of reasons to doubt it. But this time, not so much.
We figured out we had taken the wrong route as we were making our way through the smallish city of Rifle, CO, which included a huge climb up the side of a hill and then it took us through a city neighborhood which included the sharpest drop-off hill I’ve ever encountered. I mean, every rollercoaster in the country would be envious of this drop. San Francisco has nothing on this hill! But it was just one block long, and the brakes did their thing, we were safely at the bottom before we could really even react. There was a four way stop at the bottom and we just stared at each other like, ‘what the holy hell was THAT?’ And from there, things just got weirder.
The Tom Tom kept telling us to make a u-turn but we had already ventured off course so we continued by my phone's GPS. The landscape kept getting higher and more remote. And then I lost cell service. We were out in the middle of Northwest Colorado somewhere, and at this point started to follow Tom Tom's directions as that was all we had! I kept thinking my cell service would come back around the next bend. It never did. Homes were few and far between. Other traffic was all but nonexistent. I kept apologizing to Rick for getting us lost, he kept reassuring me we were not lost just taking the scenic route. Then came the signs warning us of cattle roaming freely without fences, and sure as hell we came upon cows just laying in the road. This was their world, we were just trespassers. We were high enough there was snow in a sheltered ditch. I kept taking photos, but was not sure it was for fun anymore. Maybe I was capturing a chronicle of our last adventure! 😅
As I was about to work myself into an actual panic attack because
we had driven hours without cell service, we hit a stretch of gravel road that came out on a highway and my cell service returned. We weren't really that far off course, but it was enough to make us miss seeing the Flaming Gorge. Disappointed but relieved at the same time, we arrived in Green River, Wyoming, extra glad to be parked for the night. Stay tuned for our further adventures, if you are enjoying my memories of the trip!
Incredible photos! Thank goodness for GPS!