Travelogues
2015 New Mexico & Utah Trip

November 8 - 10

Lake Skinner

While Carol visited Aunt Syl, I cleaned up the motorhome. After nearly 8 weeks on the road, there was plenty of cleaning to do. It's also our last trip of the year, so it was a good time to do things like re-organizing and cleaning out all the basement compartments and cleaning the appliances. By Tuesday, the motorhome was re-organized and cleaner than it's been in years.

And, yes, keeping with the theme of this trip, it rained at Lake Skinner. The clouds provided two good sunsets, so there was some redeeming quality to the weather.

Lake Skinner Sunset Lake Skinner Sunset

Thankfully, it was only about a 90-minute drive to get home. Once we started to relax, we discovered we were exhausted. The stress of Syl's illness and the chaos of re-planning the trip every night wore us down. Even the last 1 1/2 hours driving seemed to take forever.

When we got home, we unloaded the essentials. We put away the refrigerator and freezer stuff and then collapsed. We had piles of gear all over the house, but there was no way that was getting put away today. We usually have everything put away before we go to bed when we get home. That wasn't happening this time. In fact, we'll have to get the rest of the stuff out of the motorhome tomorrow.

Epilogue

Carol and I had a great time together on the trip, but the final destinations weren't remotely what I planned. Of our 13 planned major destinations, we only made it to 5. The rains made most of our back roads impassible, so every night was spent checking forecasts and re-routing the trip. This was our most frustrating and stressful trip ever. But it was also one of the most amazing trips we've ever had. We had a lot of down town because of the rains. But when the weather was good, we got some of the best photographs we've ever taken on trips.

This trip had a little of everything. Chaco Canyon provided a glimpse into the culture of the earliest traders in North America. Bisti Wilderness looked like something out of a science fiction movie--except it was real. Shooting the lunar eclipse in the main wash of Bisti is a night I won't forget. We found new petroglyphs at Crow Canyon, Dinosaur National Park, Nine Mile Canyon, and in the area surrounding Moab. All were new discoveries for us. Although we had a white-knuckle experience crossing a pass on a narrow one-lane road used by 18-wheelers to reach Dinosaur National Park, the rest of the experience is pushing us to find a way to return in the next few years. Even our Plan E and F stops at Arches and Zion provided some of the best pictures ever. It may not have been the trip we planned, but it was a fabulous trip.

Trip Favorites:

Best Day of the Trip:

Favorite Image of the Trip: 

Favorite Destination:

  • Gene - Bisti Wilderness
  • Carol - La Sal Mountain Overlook

Favorite Campground:

  • Shawn and Grace's RV Resort

Favorite Bisti Image:

Favorite Arches/Moab Image: 

Favorite Dinosaur National Monument Image: 

Favorite Zion image:

Best Petroglyph:

Best Hoodoo: