SiouzQ.
7-15-14, 3:35pm
I have been home from my road trip for several weeks, but have been extremely busy and haven't felt like doing a long post. Today I am home sick with a fever so it seems as good a time as any!
I left Ann Arbor at 4:45pm on Friday June 6 and took I-94 west to I-69 south. Camped the first night in Indiana between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. The next day spent driving through the rest of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Spent the second night near Joplin in a weird (but cheap) little campground where rednecks in big pickups kept driving around the gravel campground road all night and kind of creeping me out. The next day was spent driving through Oklahoma and I made it to Amarillo by Sunday evening just in time to set up my new awesome tent before it got dark and THE STORM CAME. I had just enough time to scrabble out of the tent and get in the car when high winds and a deluge hit. It lasted all night, the water in my campsite was about 6 inches deep, but the tent stayed put somehow! I even had to move my car to higher ground because I was afraid the water was going to come in. By morning it was sunny but very cold and I felt a little bit discouraged as I put on jeans, warm socks and a sweatshirt, thinking, WTF, it's supposed to be HOT when I go west!
I made it into New Mexico, and it was hot dry and sunny just like I knew it would be. Spent some time looking around Tucumcari ~ I got off old Route 66 and actually went into downtown which had definitely seen much better times in the past (ie, lots of closed businesses and derelict buildings. I took a bunch of pictures ~ I just love the light quality in New Mexico!
I then set up camp for a few nights in Cedar Crest which is on the south end of the Turquoise Trail. I had some bead shopping for my business in Albuquerque to do, and I needed to drop off the new work to the gallery in Madrid that I'm in. Madrid is a lovely little town so I spent some time there walking around, continuing to make connections with other artists. After that it was to Santa Fe (more bead shopping) and to replenish my dwindling stock of food at their Wholefoods. Then onward to Bandelier, where I camped one night (campsite #27 was ready and waiting for me)!
Next day headed northwest to Abique, and then onto Pagosa Springs, CO, where I made good use of a hot springs pool. From there I headed west towards Durango, Cortez, and on into Utah, ending up in Moab. Found some pretty nice, fairly cheap camping along the Colorado River just outside of town, so I spent five days there hiking and exploring. I LOVE IT there, can't get enough of that red rock, so I think I will go back next summer :)
Then I had to think about actually turning my back on the west and heading back home. Money starting feeling like it was dwindling pretty rapidly by then. I took a nice drive through the Castle Valley road, which is a long but very scenic way to get up to I-70. East I-70 to Grand Juction, then south so I could go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then a long but again, very scenic winding my way through the Rockies, over Monarch Pass and then towards Colorado Springs to visit a friend.
Then three very long days of just driving east through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Something like a total of 4300 miles in two weeks, about $487 in gasoline; all in all, I think the entire trip only set me back about $1100 or so dollars.
So back to the grind and I am already planning next years trip, thinking about how I will have more paid vacation time if I keep banking it up like I do, and then how much more money I will have to save up to be gone for that much longer. I would like to do at least three, maybe four weeks, so I am going to try to save at least $2000, if not more, specifically for travel because that is really the only thing I want to do at this phase of my life. And if I tie it in with my jewelry business by dropping things off to galleries, wholesale supply shopping, researching new galleries, etc, I can see it being a win-win situation for me, doing what I love to do!
If I can figure it out, will will post some pictures from this trip!
I left Ann Arbor at 4:45pm on Friday June 6 and took I-94 west to I-69 south. Camped the first night in Indiana between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. The next day spent driving through the rest of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. Spent the second night near Joplin in a weird (but cheap) little campground where rednecks in big pickups kept driving around the gravel campground road all night and kind of creeping me out. The next day was spent driving through Oklahoma and I made it to Amarillo by Sunday evening just in time to set up my new awesome tent before it got dark and THE STORM CAME. I had just enough time to scrabble out of the tent and get in the car when high winds and a deluge hit. It lasted all night, the water in my campsite was about 6 inches deep, but the tent stayed put somehow! I even had to move my car to higher ground because I was afraid the water was going to come in. By morning it was sunny but very cold and I felt a little bit discouraged as I put on jeans, warm socks and a sweatshirt, thinking, WTF, it's supposed to be HOT when I go west!
I made it into New Mexico, and it was hot dry and sunny just like I knew it would be. Spent some time looking around Tucumcari ~ I got off old Route 66 and actually went into downtown which had definitely seen much better times in the past (ie, lots of closed businesses and derelict buildings. I took a bunch of pictures ~ I just love the light quality in New Mexico!
I then set up camp for a few nights in Cedar Crest which is on the south end of the Turquoise Trail. I had some bead shopping for my business in Albuquerque to do, and I needed to drop off the new work to the gallery in Madrid that I'm in. Madrid is a lovely little town so I spent some time there walking around, continuing to make connections with other artists. After that it was to Santa Fe (more bead shopping) and to replenish my dwindling stock of food at their Wholefoods. Then onward to Bandelier, where I camped one night (campsite #27 was ready and waiting for me)!
Next day headed northwest to Abique, and then onto Pagosa Springs, CO, where I made good use of a hot springs pool. From there I headed west towards Durango, Cortez, and on into Utah, ending up in Moab. Found some pretty nice, fairly cheap camping along the Colorado River just outside of town, so I spent five days there hiking and exploring. I LOVE IT there, can't get enough of that red rock, so I think I will go back next summer :)
Then I had to think about actually turning my back on the west and heading back home. Money starting feeling like it was dwindling pretty rapidly by then. I took a nice drive through the Castle Valley road, which is a long but very scenic way to get up to I-70. East I-70 to Grand Juction, then south so I could go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then a long but again, very scenic winding my way through the Rockies, over Monarch Pass and then towards Colorado Springs to visit a friend.
Then three very long days of just driving east through Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Something like a total of 4300 miles in two weeks, about $487 in gasoline; all in all, I think the entire trip only set me back about $1100 or so dollars.
So back to the grind and I am already planning next years trip, thinking about how I will have more paid vacation time if I keep banking it up like I do, and then how much more money I will have to save up to be gone for that much longer. I would like to do at least three, maybe four weeks, so I am going to try to save at least $2000, if not more, specifically for travel because that is really the only thing I want to do at this phase of my life. And if I tie it in with my jewelry business by dropping things off to galleries, wholesale supply shopping, researching new galleries, etc, I can see it being a win-win situation for me, doing what I love to do!
If I can figure it out, will will post some pictures from this trip!