This post is part of ToadMama's Brave, Bold, Blogger Challenge (BBBC) 2017 which is an attempt to make February go by a little more quickly. There are 28 topics, one for each day.
A national park you’d like to visit
We are still in the planning stage for our road trip are thinking of visiting a lot of national parks. Unfortunately for this particular challenge, I've been to just about all of them at least once and for many, multiple times. Except one.
Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado. In all of my travels, I just never had a reason to go through that part of Colorado. It looks very interesting and hope we are able to go on some of the tours through the ruins. To help with this, I reserved one of the few RV sites so we can leave the RV air conditioner running for the dogs. Dogs are not allowed on any of the trails or visitor facilities within the National Parks.
And just a random update, I removed the sidecar from the BMW as there is someone in Fairbanks thinking about installing it on one of his classic bikes. It sort of has the look of an old sidecar without the associated price tag. I was going to remove the subframe from the BMW and most of the sidecar specific wiring mods. I probably won't remove the auxiliary lighting switches as those are built into the fairing pockets.
I've been to Mesa Verde....but didn't hike down to the cliffside dwellings...they're the major attraction to an otherwise unremarkable park. Don't miss the dwellings.
ReplyDeletehttps://redlegsrides.blogspot.com/2009/07/southwest-colorado-trip-day-4-mesa.html
I'm looking forward t seeing the cliff dwellings but I heard that you have to go on a tour to see them.
DeleteHey, Richard, stop #20 on your map could be a great opportunity for a moto-blogger meetup--maybe for Korean BBQ or banh mi or pho or sushi... My treat!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading about your adventures.
Could happen. So far I heard that Charlie6, Curvyroads and Ed from BMW Triumphant will be at the BMWMOA rally as well.
DeleteAhhh, so that's what stop #20 is. I suppose I should be excited that the rally is in my city, but I've never been much for big moto-gatherings.
DeleteYet with such characters attending, I really oughta drop in at the fairpark for some meetups. Either way, enjoy your visit to my state (though I know it's not your first).
The MOA gatherings are pretty tame. I usually end up hanging at the Airhead tent and have met a lot of great people there.
DeletePlease put Craters of the Moon NP on there. I've been wanting to go for decades!! This trip is looking create. And yes, Mesa Verde is beautiful. Do the hikes. Beautiful!
ReplyDelete-create +great
DeleteSure, that seems to be on the way from Helena, MT to Salt Lake City.
DeleteWow, that's some road trip. Stop #19 is missing. Don't skip Capitol Reef. It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteYou do know about the annual National Parks pass, right? Since you are going to multiple parks, it would be a very good idea to buy one. And they get cheaper once you hit a certain age. :-)
Stop 19 is off of the top of the page. Glacier NP. Also missing on this map is the trip to/from Alaska. Capital Reef is pretty but I remember their being s lot of gravel roads and steep grades.
DeleteThe age is 62 for the cheaper NP pass. But $80 for the America the Beautiful pass is pretty reasonable.
DeleteUhhhh, wow. That's a pretty intense trip. You'll be consuming a lot of visual information. Good luck and look forward to seeing some of what you do.
ReplyDeleteI think it's around 10k miles not counting the trip down from AK to the PNW. We are still trying to figure out how long travel days should be and how long to stay at the different locations.
DeleteJust about all the national parks. Wow. I think I've only been to a few I could count on one hand.
ReplyDeleteI see stop #1 by Eugene, does that mean you'll be in Corvallis? And perhaps have time to meet up.....we have Indian food.......
By just about all, that's in the western states only. There are quite a few that I haven't been to. I think stop #1 is generic for Portland as that is where Bridget would be flying in. I'm driving down and arriving about a week or so early to start getting the trailer equipped and cleaned. Plus I've sent a lot of stuff to my mom's house (Amazon won't ship to Alaska).
DeleteWhat an awesome road trek, Richard. And so many sights to see... How long will the trip going to be?
ReplyDeleteSomewhere around 3 months. Bridget says it's retirement practice.
DeleteI have been to Mesa Verde years ago, and loved it. Definitely going to go back, sometime. I hope we can get a group together either at the rally or in SLC somewhere!
ReplyDeleteHey, Lynne, I think you're onto something here--a moto-blogger meetup / dinner in SLC would ROCK!
DeleteSeveral other bloggers met up at the MOA rally in Redmond, OR, and a small group at the MOA rally in Bloomsburg, PA. Now, SLC. It sounds like we have a volunteer organizer who is familiar with the local area. We are planning to arrive in SLC on the afternoon of the 13th and head west on the morning of the 15th.
DeleteLet's do it! I don't know when we'll be getting there yet, but definitely the 13th - 15th, so that would be great
ReplyDeleteThis trip is a pre-retirement trip. I will be practicing what it feels like to be retired, even though I'm not, yet. When that time comes we'll have more time to visit more parks.
ReplyDelete