Colorado July 2024: To the San Juans and Beyond!

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Hello! Welcome back to another family adventure, this time our journeys took us into the San Juan mountain range where we camped near an old ghost town, the Grand Mesa where we got to camp near the most beautiful and pristine lakes, and Mesa Verde with the indigenous cliff houses! We had a blast and I am now finally recounting our trip some two months later and finally decided to make the post about it.

A few portions were cut short because my engine developed a knock and I didn’t want to be stranded on a 4×4 mountain pass with a disabled engine if it completely failed. So I did not get to take the kids across Imogene pass nor did I get to take them on Last Dollar Road near Telluride. We still made the best of it and had a heck of a good time, and cannot wait to have another adventure with these three amazing kiddos!

Day 1 The journey to Animas Forks, CO

We left home early in the morning and headed west through the boring and stinky panhandle of Oklahoma. Along the way we made a few pit stops to take pictures and see some cool stuff. Somewhere around guymon bypass I noticed a slight chirp in the valve train of my engine I nervously pushed on hoping it would go away as the tick had in the past. The first stop was the 3 corners marker which marks where Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma all meet. Ahri didn’t want to wake up so just me, Ellie, and Owen got in on the pictures there. A short while later we stopped at the New Mexico welcome sign, which is only a couple miles down the road from 3 corners.

As we continued on we made our way through New Mexico, until we found ourselves in Colorado and headed towards Animas Forks down 160 through the Alamosa Valley.

Eventually we hit Durango and headed up 550 to Silverton where our path finally turned off road onto county road 2. The kids were great this entire trip and got along well. When we got there it immediately started raining which was kind of a let down, but I wasn’t going to let it ruin our first day. I let the kiddos sit in the truck and stay warm while I set up camp in the chilly rain (it was in the low 50’s). I only deployed one tent because my hands kept getting too cold to run the zippers, but I got both awnings out and the fire pit setup so we could roast some weenies and stay out of the rain.

We finally got a break from the rain and we had some visitors come really close to camp, a doe and her fawn. The kids eagerly stood while I snapped a couple pictures of them with the deer just a few yards away, keeping their distance yet. Bub must have had a touch of altitude sickness because he complained about a headache but said it wasn’t too bad. After dinner and cleaning up, I hooked our diesel heater up to the tent and got it warming up so we could all dry up and keep warm for the night. There was still plenty of room for all 4 of us in the big tent, we all slept great and woke up the next morning well rested. The rest of the trip me and Owen shared the small tent and the girls got the big one… except the night we slept in the truck… we will get to that disaster on day 3.

Day 2: Animas forks to Montrose. Avoiding the rain.

I woke up early on day 2, the clouds were rolling into the gulch we were in and it was so foggy I couldn’t see 10 ft away with the sun shining. I got breakfast made and eventually the kids woke up and ate. It was quite chilly still, when I woke up it was in the 30’s, but once the sun broke over the mountains it warmed up fast.

We packed up camp and headed to the actual town of Animas Forks which was slightly up the mountain from us, less than a 2 minute drive. The kids and I walked around the ghost town and went inside most of the old houses and they got to see some neat stuff. Crazy, I was just there a couple weeks before and there was still a couple feet of snow on the ground which made it difficult to make it from house to house, but now it was completely clear.

From Animas Forks we moved on and headed up California Gulch, we made it up across the pass and headed on to Corkscrew pass, and at this point I called it. There was no way I was going to continue going on these trails, though I wanted to take the kids on a couple more. My engine had started to make a ticking noise, though faint it was disheartening and made me really nervous, that is definitely not somewhere you want your engine to die. So I made the executive decision to move on and head to a dryer place because the forecast on my garmin called for more cold temps and more rain.

I messaged my friend via my Garmin satellite communicator and they helped me find out if the KOA at Montrose had any spots available and they did. So we got off the trails and headed on 550 towards Montrose because both places we wanted to go (Grand Mesa and Alpine loop) forecasted rain and I’d rather be somewhere warm and rainy than cold and rainy. I also didn’t want to sour the trip for the kiddos.

We made it to Montrose KOA and setup camp, their tent sites are tiny and I’d recommend the extra money for an RV site, lots more room especially if you’re using a rooftop tent like us. But the site had running water, and electricity so we couldn’t complain too much. The KOA had a swimming pool and since the kids brought their swimming suits they hopped in for a swim while dad drank a couple cold ones and supervised.

While we were on the trails the diesel from the diesel heater had leaked out onto the tonneau cover and dripped onto the cooler and made its way into the cooler and made our drinks all stinky. We took advantage of the running water and dumped a bunch of dawn dish soap into the cooler and filled it up with water then had the kids agitate the drinks and we got rid of the diesel smell which was getting to be nauseous when trying to drink anything out of there.

After we set up camp and had sleeping arrangements in order and got everything dried out from the previous days rains, I made some bomb street tacos and we just relaxed the rest of the evening with a sprinkle of rain here and there and a single very short lived downpour.

Day 3: Montrose to The Grand Mesa

The morning of day 3 we woke up and made a game plan, we decided we weren’t going back to the rain and cold of Animas Forks and the San Juans so we loaded up camp and headed to Montrose for some supplies. We got our groceries loaded up and got on google maps and found the Lego store I had visited my last trip to Grand Junction, I knew Owen would love it.

So onward we went to Grand Junction, engine ticking away and my stress levels started to rise, and would continue to rise for the rest of the trip as the engine tick got slowly louder. That would be the reason for the lack of content in the coming days I skimped on pictures and stuff because I was just too concerned about the engine making it back home because we had a 14 hour drive home from where we were.

We got to Grand Junction and went straight to the lego store after getting fuel, we went through a lot of fuel, lol. The kids had a blast, I gave them all a spending limit and they all met it. They had every lego set you could imagine in there, a lot of them ranging in the hundreds of dollars. I was intrigued by the Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings sets, but couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on any, mostly because I don’t like doing legos that much, I don’t like instructions… like any other man.

After the lego store we went to the local farm supply store and I topped off our propane and we grabbed some quick lunch to go and then we headed towards the Grand Mesa! The road there was about like a mountain pass and there was about 5 times we had to pull over to let the engine or transmission cool down, which ever got hot first.

When we got up there I loaded up my offline maps on my ipad and started scouting places to camp, we drove all over the top of the mesa in search of the perfect place to setup camp. I made dinner and the kids explored the lake we were camped next to in-between the showers of rain. We ended up eating dinner in the truck because a massive downpour came right as I was finishing the steaks.

Being as there was a big thunderstorm coming in that night we opted to stay in the pickup that night so we didn’t have to be stuck at camp waiting for the tents to dry out to explore the mesa a bit more the next day. That was a terrible decision. I volunteered to sleep on the back seat next to Ahri, she got the seat for her legs, I put my legs down in the floorboard, I got no sleep hardly at all, but they all rested well and we stayed dry aside from the condensation dripping on us from the windows.

Day 4: The Grand Mesa

I awoke at the butt crack of dawn before the sun was showing it’s face and started some much needed coffee. While the kids were asleep I walked around camp and did a little exploring myself, it was such a beautiful area.

As the kids started to wake up I made some breakfast and asked them what they wanted to do today, and being on the mesa which has over 360 lakes we decided to try fishing. After breakfast we loaded camp up and cruised around the mesa visiting each of the lakes we came across and attempted fishing in each one. The fish weren’t having it, we had a couple bites but didn’t catch a single fish the entire day.

Having no luck fishing all morning, we decided to setup camp for the night and actually put up the tents and break out the heater so hopefully we have a less miserable night than the night before. Never again will I sleep in the cab of the truck. We had a pretty leisurely rest of the day with a few trips down to the lake we were camped next to to try fishing every once in a while, but no luck still. We did notice why no one swims in these lakes though, mid day when the sun was shining through the clear water, we could see these huge 6″ long leeches swimming around! And to think I almost took my shoes off and dipped my toes in the water at one point!

The rest of the day went smooth and we just enjoyed each others company and watched the people cruise by on their dirt bikes and 4 wheelers. We had a quick dinner, started up the heater and as night came we sat by the firepit for a while and then went up into our tents to stay warm and get some much needed rest.

Day 5: Grand Mesa to Mesa Verde

The next morning we got up early and made breakfast then packed up camp we had decided it was time to move on, and we were headed to Mesa Verde to check out the Native American cliff dwellings built back a thousand years ago! We packed up camp, ate breakfast and hit the road.

On the way south we made a pit stop and took a quick walk through Telluride, the kids enjoyed it and got a couple souvenirs, but soon as that was over we were back on the road and this is where my engine started to make some really not good noises, I’m guessing this is where the roller came off completely. The soft tick turned into a whack that didn’t get better, only worse the closer to Mesa Verde we got.

When we arrived we went and picked out a campsite, then hit the road going down to visit the dwellings. It was kind of rushed as we wanted to get it all done that day so we could start to make our way home, which at that point was a 14 hour drive, I hoped we’d make it to the Alamosa Valley to camp for the night before making the rest of the trek home.

There wasn’t much anything that was exciting the rest of Mesa Verde, the kids saw the pit houses and some of the cliff dwellings and I think once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all to a kid. Unless you count the BB8 car we saw at the museum parking lot which the kids got a kick out of.

After the trip down the loop we came back to camp, made some tacos and just enjoyed the cool, yet warmer evening than we had in a few days, while dad knocked back a couple cold ones by the fire thinking about the great time he’s had so far.

Day 6: Mesa Verde to Alamosa KOA

The next day we got up early yet again and quickly ate some pancakes and bacon then packed up camp and started to make the long journey home. We planned to stop at the Alamosa KOA so I didn’t have to drive the full 14 hrs in one day, instead it would only be 9.

This day was quite uneventful except the ticking now sounded like someone was smacking the side of the engine with a sledge hammer, and it was making me anxious. The mountain passes were exceptionally scary, the engine was screeching and banging it’s way up the mountains and I thought for sure any moment I was going to have to call out on the garmin for help to get a tow truck.

Mile by mile the truck made it though, and after several anxiety driven hours on the road we made it to the Alamosa KOA where we set up camp and geared up for the 4th of July celebration, as today was indeed the 4th of July.

The KOA had pizza delivery so we ordered a pizza and the kids swam in the pool and we just hung out and hade a nice evening together. The KOA also had a parade with all the kids from around camp on their bikes and a line of golf carts that went all through the campground. After swimming and all the festivities we just relaxed at camp and let the kids burn some sparklers while we waited for the fireworks.

After googling where the fireworks display was I saw we had a clear shot of it from the campgrounds so we opted to stay at camp and setup the tents, because if we left we’d have to pack them back down, the one downside to the roof top tents. As darkness came we looked that way to see the start of the fireworks, and we walked out near the highway to get a better view… I didn’t realize how far 4 miles was but the fireworks were tiny and far off so that was kind of a let down, but the kids still seemed to enjoy themselves!

We went back to camp and sat by the fire and talked about the fun we had on our trip, and discussed possibilities for future trips (we’re headed to the east coast) and I thought about the long stressful trip home with my engine likely grenading itself from the inside out.

We went to bed and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, we made it successfully the remaining two mountain passes and 9 hours later we arrived safely at home where we unpacked and wished we could have stayed out longer.

Now as I write this I am in the middle of rebuilding the engine so we can go have more adventures as a family!

the aftermath, this came out of the oil pan and below is my lifter.

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Oklahoma Adventure Trail 2023

Day 1: Red Rock to Stillwater

Today we did not make our planned destination we got a late start and departed Newkirk at about 6pm on June 2nd.
When we got south of Ponca we hit a pretty big rain storm and even got a little bit of hail! We went South and met the trail at the intersection of OK 15 where we met our first road closure of the trip the second we got on the trail. We continued on. We met the other side where there was a locked gate, so it’s a good thing we didn’t try to go through.
So we continued to follow it and we stopped at Lake McMurtry and that’s where I’m writing this post from right now on my phone I love technology.
It is now the third and I’m cooking bacon. Waiting for the kids to get up life is good. I tried a little bit of fishing at lake McMurtry, but did not have any luck.

Day 2: Stillwater to Cleveland

Today went smooth had to make another stop at Walmart luckily there was one right off the way. Had to get a bike tire and tube for my bicycle I had a flat yesterday and today. We’re setup at the Feyote Creek rv ground. It was $9 no water or electric but with the solar were good.

The fridge froze up last night but sorted itself out today not sure what happened it got down to 30f and my bacon was solid!

The kids are getting along great playing together and being goofy goobers most of the time. We saw frog rock drove down some of the narrowest most rough roads I’ve ever been on haha everything is shook up, we bent the bike carrier I’m pretty sure.

The road to the graffiti wall was pretty, it followed close to the river with a rock ledge to the side opposite the river. We got to the bridge and were like oh cool the grafiti wall! When we looked at Osmand maps the marker was like 1/4 mile down the road hmm. We took pictures with that one then kept going and boom there was the wall it was pretty cool!

We also visited the town of Ingalls I guess some famous outlaw or something was there. It was kind of meh, some modernish buildings with faux faces on them to look like old time saloons or whatever.

Day 3: Cleveland to Grove

Today we decided to skip the dirt roads since the only thing we had to do was go visit my brother Mike and see one old bridge on the map. So we hit to the highways to make up for lost time we were a day behind lake McMurtry was not on the list of places to stay, we just stayed there because we didn’t leave Newkirk until 5 P.M. on Friday. On the way from Cleveland to Grove we stopped in Cleora, I managed to catch A single crappie lol.

Later on we left and made it to grove things were going well, we popped up the tent to let it air out and dry since yesterday I put it down kind of damp. Got the truck leveled up in Mike’s driveway and took the bikes off for a quick bike ride since the kids were cooped up in the truck sleeping most of the day, highways are boring lol.

The kiddos stayed inside in the spare bedroom they really wanted to sleep in a normal bed so I let them, I slept out in the tent as I don’t usually get to sleep in the tent alone and the weather was perfect, mid 60’s with the crickets chirping and dogs barking… can’t beat it!

Mike and I stayed up till almost midnight reminiscing about how non functional our family was when we were kids, all in all we had a great conversation. This morning I’m sitting here on the 5th typing this up waiting for my therapy appointment in an hour, then me and the hillbillies are off to start the trip again.

Mike told me about a place on the way back to the trail with a bunch of waterfalls, we’re definitely going to check it out on our way today. I almost forgot to mention bub had a bit of a tumble down the stairs and bumped his noggin his face is pretty scuffed up but he didn’t seem to have any kind of concussion or anything so that’s good.

Day 4: Grove to Salisaw, Kerr Lake

Monday, I am pretty excited today I missed work and didn’t really feel guilty about it. Me and the kids have been having a good time but you can tell on day 4 the trip is starting to wear on them they are starting to get grumpy and argue a lot lol. They h ave been really good up until this point but they haven’t really been bad. The waterfall place Mike gave the heads up about was well worth the stop and should be added onto the route if you ask me!

This morning we departed Grove and headed back on track to make some headway on the trail, we had a couple detours today, one road was being redone and the other had a house sitting in the middle of the track, in hindsight it probably didn’t track him doing the loop so it jumped the line down what looked to be an old road haha. I’ve been following an original version of the trail I need to make a post on the forum about the roads that were closed now if someone hasn’t already I was too lazy to look for a more updated version. Anyways. One we got back on the path it was some really narrow windy down into creek bed sharp rocks and steep climbs I almost had to use 4lo to get up one side. Once we got to the end of the road and got back onto a decently maintained dirt road my dash lit up and said tire was low, stopped after the next intersection and got out and looked sure enough I could hear the hissing of the air coming out of the driver front tire. Got that tire swapped out with the spare and did a quick walk around and heard the front passenger tire hissing, crap! I hit google “nearest tire shop” 60 miles crap! So we start hauling butt since we only had one spare we had to make it before the other tire went flat or we’d need a tow. Thankfully I saw the exit for Tahlequah surely there is a tire shop there, which we were only like 10 minutes into the drive. Sure enough google says there’s one! Thanks google!

We lost an hour there which we made up taking a highway diagonal out of there back to the trail about where we would have been if we hadn’t got the flats. Which worked out great because we made it to camp right at dinner time, Ahri made some chicken and rice from a dehydrated packet, those things are really starting to grow on me, I haven’t had one I disliked yet, they have all actually been pretty good and minimal cleanup. Caught A single bluegill on my first cast and nothing the rest of the whole 20 minutes. Though bub did learn how to use my spinning reel and got pretty good but no luck today.

Solar Panel is still working great though we’ve been doing A LOT of driving this trip, it’s definitely made a difference in fuel mileage, I was averaging 12mpg highway with just the tent on, with the panel tilted up to the same height as the tent I’m averaging about 15 on the highway and it shifts into 5th a lot less often. I think that about covers today, I forgot to mention Mike makes some badass chocolate chip cookies! Oh yeah the bike rack got bent all to crap on the trails from bouncing around, found an easy way to bend it back gonna have to tie it up to the rack the rest of the trip so it doesn’t bounce around and snap off.

Day 5: Kerr Lake to Cedar Lake

I didn’t do an update last night, we had 0 service so I’m typing this on Wednesday the 7th. Yesterday started as usual I got up before the kids, made some coffee while I enjoyed the peace and quiet for a short while until they get up and start saying dad dad dad lol. We hung out at camp later than usual so the kids played on the playground and I did some fishing for breakfast we had some sausage and egg breakfast burritos.

Later in the morning after my video meeting, we got things around and finally got on the road at about noon to make up for the missed time we took the highways yet again to hit the spiro mounds real quick since there wasn’t much to see as the building was closed and the mounds were fenced in, so we kept rolling.

After a while of worrying about getting back on the dirt roads, I finally made the decision to get new tires. So we rolled into Poteau on the highways since I was afraid to trail those Good Years anymore after having a double flat just the other day. So google found me a place in town with my size of all-terrains in 10 ply, bit the bullet on that one and rolled on to the worlds highest hill.

The worlds highest hill was neat, it had a pretty cool view but overall seems like an afterthought to all the cell towers and stuff on top with the site. The truck rode so much better with the new tires, didn’t bounce around near as bad, so that’s good. Later we rolled back on-trail and got on a pretty rough road south of Poteau. I noted in my journal that it was the closest thing to some of the mining roads I like to drive on in Colorado, it was fun a lot of stop and go and steep roads definitely had to use low gears down the grades.

We ended the day at cedar lake which was just below the mountain road we just rode in on, it was a beautiful campground, and was pleasant as long as there was a breeze, to me something smelled like pee, like the septic system somewhere was overflowing and rank with urine lol reminded me of when Rudy, Tyler, and I stayed at the KOA in Ouray ended up with a septic truck exhausting it’s sucker right into our site and our site we figured then was soaked from the septic tanks overflowing! Ok back on track, other than the smell on occasion it was a really really nice campground on a beautiful part of the lake with a fishing dock, swimming beach and pretty clear water.

Day 6: Cedar Lake to Hugo lake

Today went pretty well, and pretty not well at the same time, we finally got to get on a halfway difficult and slow trail, the bad I scratched THE CRAP out of my pickup. We started the morning off with French toast and slowly packed up, I got up at my usual 5 so I got up and had coffee made, camp packed and breakfast made before they ever got up, the French toast was delicious!

We spent the more time on-trail than we have the rest of the trip I think except day 1. It was the day for the Kiamichi Fire Tower, which is up at the top of Kiamichi mountain the highest altitude was 2300ft that I saw on Osmand. The trail up wasn’t bad coming in from the East just slow going nothing technical just a ton of like 6 inch rocks to roll over, unless you love bouncing around haha. Once we got to the fire tower the kids wanted to make Spam sandwiches, so I stayed there for a bit and made us all sandwiches after I climbed the janky thing took and some pictures. Then we got on the move because we knew the rest of the trip was going to be at-least as slow as the trip up which took an hour, and the way out was twice as far.

The road after the fire tower on the other hand, the Kiamichi Mountain road is mean on the West half, the trail got so narrow I almost touched both mirrors on trees, and they were folded in already, in some spots it was that tight. The truck got pinstriped all to shit I will definitely be spending a lot of time with a buffer over the next couple weeks getting those out. The back side had a few places that got kind of technical and really tested the airbags on the rear, since I hooked them together they articulate great letting them transfer air between the bags so it’s not trying to teeter on 2 wheels. It felt like it was never going to end, it was bad enough Ahri requested we stop somewhere and take a break (which I NEEDED and she knew I was stressed out) It took almost 2 hours to get out the other side, only took 1 hour to get up on the East side.

After getting the crap beat out of us on the fire tower road at 3mph we were exhausted and just punched into google the fastest route to Hugo lake, there were no other real sights to see in this corner of the trail so that detour got us back on track to make it to Turner Falls Tomorrow, where we have reservations. Not ready for this trip to be over, this is going to be a more common thing I’ve had a blast the kids have had a blast and they are so excited for Turner Falls!

We ended the day at Hugo lake where we set up camp and roasted hot dogs on the fire after that some s’mores and just sat by the fire and chilled and just talked about stuff while Owen played Animal Crossing. I’m typing this under the stars on a beautiful night listening to some jazz, just kind of processing the trip realizing tomorrow is the last day.

Tomorrow were going to look at some cool bridges and stuff so come back and check!

Day 7: Hugo Lake to Turner Falls

The last day on the trail was today, it was a fantastic day, the kids got along great, we got to do the longest portion of the trail yet and best of all everything went smooth as butter. It tried to storm on us when we got to just get a slight drizzle not even enough to get anything wet.

The day started well we got up I don’t remember what I made for breakfast, but I do remember I was out of coffee so first stop on the way I was getting some lol. We departed and got on the trail pretty quickly and we drove it for just over 3 hours with no hiccups at all, the ride was smooth on the new tires, no detours, and best of all no more narrow trails, I’m going to be buffing the truck for a month. We found some old tunnel bridge and an old metal arched bridge that were on the list but at this point it was 2pm and IF we got on the highway now we’d make it to turner falls by 5 which has been our goal for setting up camp so we all had time to relax and visit, I really enjoyed this time during the trip because after a day or two the kids really started to open up and talk just about normal everyday stuff, and just reminisce about the day and how much of a good time the kids are having which made my heart feel full. I really needed this trip but I think the kids ended up enjoying it more than I even did haha and I loved it.

So we hopped on the highway and hightailed it to turner falls, we were all hungry and hadn’t eaten out the entire trip, and I was tired of cooking and didn’t feel like wraps, I let the kids pick where we were going to eat and we were going to sit down and enjoy a meal in the AC and not have to cleanup after. They picked mexican which I was all for we know how I like my tacos lmao. I got a taco and the kids got enchiladas and we all cleaned our plates which is unusual for me or my kids. After our relaxing lunch we were back on the road to Turner falls.

When we finally arrived upon first look it was pretty cool but once we got checked in and they told us where the primitive campsites are I was like whaaaaat. It’s way way back in the boonies, like half a mile from the waterfalls and too steep of hills to ride our bikes there, so we couldn’t set up camp and ride down, so we drove the truck back once we found out how far it was. We tried to find the big 77 ft waterfall, walked all around where it said it was on the map but couldn’t find it finally we gave up and went back to setup camp. We stopped at the small shop there on the way back to get some Hershey’s bars for s’mores later and I was informed even way back there in the boonies the kids have to wear life vests to swim in the 18 inch deep creek. I was like oh ok Ahri is 12 lol, when we got back I let Owen get in but I was holding his hand the whole time just incase a park ranger came down or something.

Overall the camp was kind of meh, it was the only one I got bug bites that are still making me very itchy a day later when I am writing this, we had a scout camp right after we got back so I didn’t have time to write in here last night. The entire primitive area was dirt, no grass no gravel just oklahoma red river silt so it was super fine and got everywhere, kids couldn’t roll around in the grass etc.. As a whole it was kind of a let down experience, I’d have rather stayed at a KOA or a Corps of Engineers campground. One of these days I’m taking them on a trip where were only boondocking which is where the solar will definitely come in handy. Back to the camp, it was overall alright and next to a pretty creek with the sound of the small waterfalls down the way to ease you to sleep at night if you could hear it over all the partying college kids in the site next to us, I’m starting to sound like an old man haha. It was also the only camp site I got the bug bites at, I might have mentioned that earlier but crap its itchy!

Final thoughts, the trip overall was a fantastic experience and the kids said nothing but good things about it and said they are ready to go on another one! I couldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did without them they were pleasant and kind 95% of the time. We made our own chill playlist on pandora during the trip which is a collection of jazz and chill beats which was Ahri’s Idea, Brockbeats and Phoniks were a couple hits with them here’s a link to the playlist. We’d play it for a while before bedtime to wind down. I had an amazing time, the weather was great, a little warm during the day but once the sun went down it was perfect.

The kids warmed my heart every day I’ve never seen them so happy and positive for so many consecutive days, even on vacation usually they are ready to go home by the end but these trips they and myself could stay and keep going, but alas we have bills to pay lol. We’re going to be doing the western half of the trail in the fall hopefully, but I think we’re gonna do trips like this every few months. I had such a good time I don’t think I could even go on trips by myself anymore, the solo trips were fun, I really enjoy not having any agenda and just winging it with no one else to worry about upsetting, but the time’s I’ve traveled with friends or the kids have just always hit different. Welp I’m gonna wrap this post up, I got so much to do and get cleaned up, wish it’d stop raining so I can mow the grass grew like a jungle while we were gone lol. WOW I started writing a lot near the end haha the more the trip went on the more I felt like my old self less anxious, less worried, and a lot more understanding and patient, especially with the kids.

6-10-2023

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We will be posting our adventures here as we go along, look forward to sharing the fun with everyone!