It seemed like everyone in the nation – and much of the rest of the world, apparently – was eagerly anticipating the Great Eclipse of 2017. I was among them. And I was fortunate that my granddaughter asked me to take her somewhere in the mountains where she could view it.
The Solar Eclipse of 2017 Nearing Totality
Location / Name: Lake Mead RV Village at Boulder Beach, 268 Lakeshore Road, Boulder City, Nevada 89005 http://www.lakemeadrvvillage.com/boulder-beach (702) 293-2540
Date: 10/09 – 10/10/2016 (2 nights)
Lake Mead was not our initial destination after leaving Lee Vining, CA for our Yosemite visit. I had planned on staying west of Las Vegas at Fletcher View Campground, a USFS campground which has some electric sites. However, I didn’t get around to making reservations soon enough, and there was no room when I tried to reserve a site. I looked around for other places near Las Vegas, which was an appropriate travel distance distance for the day, and where my wife needed to pick up a prescription at CVS Pharmacy. I checked out a few commercial campgrounds in Vegas online, and didn’t really like anything I saw. When I expanded my search to east of Las Vegas, Lake Mead National Recreation Area showed up. It looked good, and although it made our day from California longer, it shortened the trip to Grand Canyon – a good thing since I needed to make sure we got to the walk-up-only campground on the Grand Canyon South Rim early. I called for reservations, and our destination was set. My reservation timing error for Fletcher View turned out to be a good thing. There was a CVS and an Albertson’s just a few miles from the RV park at Lake Mead, the park was nice, and the views from the site were awesome.
Lake Mead from Lake Mead RV Village at Boulder Beach
Location / Name: Mono Vista RV Park, Lee Vining, CA
Date: 10/06-08/2016 (3 nights)
Yosemite National Park was one of the few items on my bucket list, especially after a few of my grandchildren visited it this past summer. Campsites within Yosemite are notoriously difficult to get. I had tried for some reservations earlier this year for when my grandchildren were going to be there, and all reservable sites within Yosemite Valley were gone within seconds of them opening up on the reservation system. Amazing. I was coming in from the northeast, so the Tioga Pass entrance was the logical choice, and Mono Vista RV Park was the only game at that end of the park which had electric. So Lee Vining, California became our destination for the three nights we had available to spend in the Yosemite vicinity.
California State Line – start of California State Route 182
Location / Name: Winnemucca RV Park, 5255 E Winnemucca Blvd, Winnemucca, NV 89445 775-623-4458 or 877-787-2755
Date: 10/05/2016 (1 night)
Winnemucca is a town in Nevada that just happened to be on the route from Boise to Yosemite National Park, and the right distance from Boise for an overnight stop.
Pull thru sites at Winnemucca RV Park
In the previous post, my second trip report, I covered the territory from Stillwater, Colorado outside the Rocky Mountain National Park to Moab, Utah, where we visited Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. This third report covers the three days we spent getting on into Boise to visit the family. We’d enjoyed Utah so far, and were interested to see what else it presented to us before we crossed into southern Idaho, on the homestretch to Boise.
As we traveled US191 through the middle of Utah, it was very much a desert scene.
In the previous post, I reported on the trip segment from Flintstone, GA through the Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Boise, Idaho. We had traversed five states and part of Colorado. I’ll pick up the story as we get ready to depart Stillwater Campground on Lake Granby, Colorado, excited about heading to Moab, Utah. We begin with the 6th day of our adventure, in Stillwater, Colorado.
Trip Map Flintstone to Boise
Ever since we before we got our first RV (a 36.5′ motorhome) and especially after we got our T@b travel trailer in late 2014 I had wanted to do a “big trip” out west, including basing at our daughter’s family’s home in Boise, ID. My wife was reluctant, and so far all the trips to see the “family out west” had been via airplane. This time it changed.
Yeah, I wanted to spend time like this, taking our accommodation with us. Rocky Mountain National Park at about 11,000′.
Location / Name: Cottonwood Campground, Willard Bay State Park, Perry, UT
Date: 08/30-31//2016 (2 nights)
The Cottonwood Campground, Willard Bay State Park, Perry, UT is a bit under 300 miles from Moab, so it was our next stop on our August 2016 trip to Boise. It was in the right location and had power for our air conditioning, so that became my target. I didn’t make reservations. When I checked on our last night in Moab I discovered that I couldn’t make next-day reservations, but checking the following day, 31 of 35 sites were available, so I figured a walk-up would be a safe bet. En route we decided to stay 2 nights instead of one so we’d have a chance to check out the neighborhood (40 miles north of Salt Lake City.) A check-in with our daughter, who was expecting us on Wednesday, cleared us to stay that extra day.
Sunset over Willard Bay at Willard Bay State Park
Location / Name: OK RV Park, 3310 Spanish Valley Trail, Moab, UT
Date: 08/27-29/2016 (3 nights)
Moab, UT is a town I wanted to visit on our trip so we could see Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, and it was around my 300 mile travel day target from our prior stop in Granby, CO. I Googled for some campgrounds, and the location, price, and reviews for OK RV Park were on target. I didn’t make reservations before the start of our journey (although I had a reserved night that I didn’t use in Arches National Park – it was too hot to do without air conditioning), but I called from Stillwater Campground in Granby, CO on the 26th, and reserved 2 nights. My wife and I had decided we’d go for a bit longer day than originally planned and not move one day anyway – I was ready for a layover, and my wife was a bit under the weather. When we spent the first night and then the 28th in Canyonlands National Park, we decided to drop the Arches reservation. OK was able to accommodate us for an extra day, so we were here for 3 nights.,
Sunset at OK RV Park, Moab, UT
Location / Name: Stillwater Campground (USFS), Granby, CO
Date: 08/26/2016 (1 night)
Stillwater Campground is a US Forestry Service campground on Lake Granby, after you exit the Rocky Mountains National Park on US 34, our planned route. I wasn’t sure how far I’d travel the next day, but this positioned us nicely for a push on toward Moab, and made for a reasonable travel distance through the park so we could take our time enjoying the views. This was one of only 2 reservations I made prior to starting on our trip. A good thing, the campground was full when we arrived; not unexpected for the start of a weekend. This was our favorite campground, not only because it is a nice campground (which it is) but also because of the majestic surroundings.
T@b at Stillwater Campground, Grandby CO