Travel Recap #1: Embark

Our launch into RV life began in a whirl. We packed like mad as we rushed out of our Colorado Springs house, selling and donating our things like crazy and storing just a few of the items we weren’t ready to let go of (like motorcycles, winter gear, and a whole lot of books). We spent just a few days at my parent’s house to get on our feet, then off we went, before really grasping that this 45’ fifth wheel really was our home now. 

The first real day was magical and terrifying. We had taken the rig out for some tester nights only a few times since purchasing it, but this was now the real deal. We took the Million Dollar Highway (southwest Colorado) up north of Durango to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The drive was spectacular in many areas (Silverton to Ouray is a MUST), with surreal rock cliffs and mountainous terrain. It was probably not our best idea to drag a house behind our truck over multiple passes, tight hairpin curves and steep drop-off edges, but what the hay, we’re daring adventurers now! It comes with the territory. We found our first night’s stay at a boon-docking location all to ourselves just off of the highway, near the National Park entrance. Finish it off with a glorious sunset, and our first day was officially in the books. 

The next day we visited the Black Canyon, and boy was it breathtaking! Why does the Grand Canyon get all the glory? It looked surreal; more like a Hollywood backdrop than actual terrain. The kids earned their Jr. Ranger badges and played on the upper plateau a bit, but we were too pressed for time to venture down to the river below (and a little nervous about the sheer drops that beckoned our curious kids.) From there, we had a long, hot drive to just outside Price, Utah and the next free campsite along our trail. It was here that our inexperience began to show, as it took us over an hour to scout out the perfect camp spot along a fairly short road. We made it work though, after skimming some trees turning the rig around. Day 2: done. 

(I should mention, we had right around 2 weeks from starting out to make it up to Washington State for a get-together with Alyx’s extended family, so we were hightailing it up there with few multi-night stops… which was a really crazy thing, moving nearly everyday...)

The scenery in Price was beautiful, but there wasn’t much to do in the area and we had another travel day ahead, so we made our way to Salt Lake City. Our first night in a parking lot felt very strange, but we weren’t the only ones and Cabela’s was super cool about it, so we were thankful for the free space. We annoyed the kids with too much car time, still having to run errands and take care of the boring stuff like laundry, the post office, and groceries, even after a long day of travel. Pizza made it better. 

From there we took a lovely drive up the countryside into Idaho, with 2 nights booked at Lake Walcott State Park. Our first time having hookups felt luxurious, with running water that we didn’t have to carefully meter and actual electricity! (We have solar on our RV, but it doesn’t power everything. Half our outlets don’t work and our microwave and electric fireplace are unusable without shore or generator power.) We spent our days biking around the park, splashing in the water and playing frisbee. It was a lovely stay, even though we didn’t end up getting to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument as planned since the entrance was much further away than it appeared on the map. Boo. 

I knew we couldn’t leave Idaho without seeing the Sawtooths, so we headed up toward Sun Valley and scouted our next (you guessed it) boon-docking spot in some part of the Sawtooth National Forest, surprisingly close to a residential neighborhood. It was a pretty, quiet spot in a little valley between hills with a creek a short walk away. The following morning we took an absolutely stunning drive up toward Stanley, stopping to take in the views of a valley shrouded in clouds from a higher elevation, then descending into it and only getting the full picture of the views from below on our return drive. We stopped at a natural hot springs just off the highway, fed by scalding hot water on one side and mixing with the chilly river on the other. What a fun place to picnic and enjoy! After a good soak, we visited Red Fish Lake, and what a gorgeous alpine lake it was, with jutting mountains in the background. It started to sprinkle and we couldn’t find any parking, plus we wanted to be home by dinner so we didn’t stick around long, but it sure was worth seeing. Taren and I attempted to scale one of the conquerable-looking hills that evening, but realized that our eyes had deceived us, the terrain was much too steep and rough, and it was getting too dark too quick for us to complete our task, so we made a beeline back to the RV just after sunset. We thought it looked like an anthill; as it turned out, we were the ants. It was a fun bonding experience with my brave boy, though. Our second night in that spot marked the end of our first wild week.