Finding Out of the Way Spots Few Have Heard Of and Go-Go, Slo-Go and No-Go

April 19, 2023

Route Planing and Finding Those Out -of-the-Way Spots by Ray

We’re asked by people all the time, “How do your plan your route?” and “How do you find these unique places to visit?”. So, here’s how we plan our trip. I’m sure more of the full timers have their own unique methods to accomplish this task. I’ve even read a couple of posts describing their method and kudos on them for sharing their methods. We often get comments saying something like “We’ve been there several times and didn’t know this existed?” The best part is when talking to local merchants, and when mentioning the places we visited that day, they didn’t know about the spot.

Fantasy Canyon, Dinosaur CO

Another consideration is the condition of my back. After three operations and five fused lower back vertebrae, we limit the drive to max four hours.  Many times, this puts us in obscure locations. This does provide the time to do a “tour” at the end of a driving day.

House on Fire, near Natural Bridges National Monument UT

We usually start the whole procedure mid-April. Why so early you ask? There are a couple reasons for this. First, it’s usually pissing rain outside this time of year and there’s plenty of leisure time. Second, after the explosion of new RVer’s from Covid, the RV sites are filling up much earlier. Planning months ahead allows Deb to make all the reservations. One disadvantage of this is the required deposits and the pocketbook pain so far in advance. She makes sure there is a good cancellation policy though, as plans do change.

Paria Valley, near Page AZ. We found this on the way to an old movie set as shown on the Benchmark Maps

First off, out comes a large-scale map of the western US and figure out what we haven’t seen or didn’t see enough of. After seven winters, we’ve criss-crossed the first and second line of States nearest the Pacific, so off to more interior States. We want to get to higher elevations (7 – 10,000 ft/2,100 – 3,000 m) until the end of October. November, we get to lower elevations of one mile/1,600 m. After Christmas, we stay in Arizona or California and below 2,000 ft/600 m.

Kolob Reservoir Rd on the backside of Zion National Park, UT

Once a general route is picked (this year it’s Portland OR to St George UT, Durango CO, Taos NM, Page AZ then Phoenix), it’s time to identify sites along the way. We purchased Benchmark Maps of each of the western States. The maps are very detailed and are many pages per State. The maps display tons of interesting features, such as national and state parks, geological features, etc. I start a Word document with the route description, including a specific stop to tour and the highways we will take.  From the detailed map I list all local attractions at each stop.

Paint Mines, near Colorado Springs, CO

At this stage it’s on to the computer and searching “things to see in ……”. Trip Advisor always has 15 best things to do and in more major locations, USNews have up to 35 things to do.  You Tube usually have videos of the various spots. These may document more obscure sites. In one instance I found a video about St. George UT. The video detailed many geological sites, (did you know St. George is where three desert regions converge) and where to view them. We were in St. George for two weeks and weren’t aware of any of these sites. A Google search of “unusual things to see in Phoenix” revealed the Mystery Castle Tour, one I highly recommend.

Little Painted Desert, near Winslow AZ

Honanki Ruins, Sedona AZ

This Word document gets passed to Deb. She uses Google Maps to figure out where 3.5 hours puts us. Then she does a search for “things to see in …..”. Deb then Googles sites I’ve listed, and she finds more by her searches.

Wupatki Pueblo, just north of Flagstaff AZ

Here’s an example of what we found in Ely NV by this method: Ward Charcoal Ovens State Park, Ely Renaissance Village, Nevada Northern Railroad Museum, Success Route and Hamilton Ghost Town. While researching the Railroad Museum, we found they have a 90-minute ride on a train, powered by a steam engine.

 

Mystery Castle, Phoenix AZ

Another one of my finds is a little place called Nelson on Hwy 165, just south of Henderson NV. Do a You Tube search to explore this ghost town and all it’s abandoned vehicles. Or the hanging gardens near Page AZ. Definitely both of these are on the list for future trips. 

Flaming Gorge, UT

Hopefully this description helps you find some more unique places for you to explore!

St. Elmo Ghost Town, Salida CO

Mini Time Machine Museum, Tuscon AZ

 Here is a small part of Deb's Itinerary for this upcoming year as an example.

Sept 19 Oregon Badlands BLM  - FREE                                 1 night          3 hr drive

Sept 20 Apple Peddler Restaurant, Burns OR - Free               1 night           2 hr drive

Sept 21 Rome Station RV Park – Pillars of Rome                    1 night           2 hr drive

Sept 22 Clark RV Park Battle Mountain                                   1 night           3 hr drive

Sept 23-26 Ely NV Ely Valleyview RV Park - train ride          4 nights         3.75 hr drive
                    Ward Charcoal Ovens, Renaisance Village, Success Route Hamilton Ghost Town
Sept 27-29 Whispering Elms RV Park, for Great Basin NP     3 nights         1 hr drive

Sept 30-Oct 6 St George, McArthur’s Temple View RV          7 nights         3 hr drive
                        Too long to list, but 10 places to go.
Oct 7 Love’s Travel Centre, Salinas UT - FREE                       1 night          2.5 hr drive

Oct 8 iCamp Green River UT                                                    1 night          1.5 hr drive

Oct 9-10 Indian Creek - Bears Ears NP -  HB Rock                  2 nights         2.25 hr drive

Deb does another much more detailed list with pictures of places we plan to see with info on the RV parks how much per night, always considering discounts like Passport America, AAA and Good Sam, contact information etc.reservation information and deposit paid if one was done. She does this as we have planned so far in advance it is easy to forget what you plan to see and sometimes there is no internet where we are so a word document is a great backup.

Mexican Canyon Train Testle Bridge, just east of Alamagordo in Cloudcroft NM

Second half of this post: Go-Go, Slo-Go and No-Go

This process helps scheduling your bucket list items. Go-Go refers to a time period generally from first retiring until approximately age 75 (depending on your physical fitness). It refers to the time when you're now retired and want to see so many things. You can still go on hikes, set up camp, don't mind driving longer periods as your back still hasn't given out. Slo-Go refers to a time period generally between 75-80. Your physical fitness isn't what it used to be (oh my back). Your concentrate more on cruising or, fly and drive trips. By now you've guessed what the No-Go time period looks like. It's F$&*- it, my back's too sore to get out of this chair, let alone doing some traveling.

We've determined the best use of money, and our physical fitness, clearly indicates further travel south in the winter is our best option.  This means seeing as much new routes as we can. For our Slo-Go, one of our plans is to fly to Halifax NS and spend 4-6 weeks in the Maritimes using B&B's. Another is a cruise in the Caribbean Ocean. No-go looks like a seniors home. The money we now spend on MH repairs, gas, campsite, etc will turn to trips in the Slo-Go period.

Don't get  me wrong on describing the Go-Go period. Certainly, we'd like to be able to go on the odd cruise or fly and drive trip during this period. Being an accountant I created a spreadsheet which tracks our investments and what our target dividends and stock price appreciations are. A portion of any excess returns we can use for these odd trips.We'd just better have enough to cover the expense of that seniors home,

More Spring Cleanup at the Lakehouse - April 11 -16

Monday our new gardener came to thatch the lawn and do the spring cleanup. The gardens sure look nice after they were done. Hayden managed to get a whole pickup of dead grass and moss off our little lawn lol. Fortunately the weather cooperated and the rain quit. There's even some sunshine. The lawn should look good in a month after their reseeding and fertilizing.

Front garden all tidied up.

Tuesday our RV tech, Mike, came to check out a few things for us on the MH. Unfortunately the news isn't good. We are still getting water in the ceiling somehow even after the roof got resealed. Now we will have to arrange for it to go in a shop for further investigation. Also our interior ceiling is sagging due to de-laminating.

Wednesday, Moss Bros. did our pressure washing and does the driveway look as good as new. I moved all the planters from under the sundeck to the upper garage to clear the concrete. Fortunately they moved the last few as I was pooped. Gryphon forgot his window washing stuff, so I let him use our pressure washer too. The two guys were able to get all the concrete, deck etc done in 4 hours. Last time I did it, it took me 3 days and I couldn't walk or lift my arms for 2 days after. :)

 We headed to Nanaimo at 3pm to go out for dinner with the kids and Amelia. It's Jason's 40th birthday dinner. Kristi and Jason were attending a Literacy Event so we took Amelia home with us after dinner to put her to bed.

All dressed up with a bow in her hair.

Dinner seemed to take forever to come, so Jason hooked her up with "Trash Truck" to keep her occupied and not "hangry".

At 6:30 Kristi and Jason installed her in the car seat and off we went home. Amelia is not a happy camper leaving Mommy behind. There's quite a few tears, but in the end she went to bed and fell right to sleep. Unfortunately, she is also teething, pushing through her 2 year old molars. She was mad at me for making her get changed and brushing her teeth .... and had to sit with Papa. She wanted nothing more to do with me. lol All was fine the next morning though. I got my hugs and kisses.

Next morning, Mommy is home.

All smiles now.

We left early from Nanaimo as the guys are back today to do our windows and screens and needed access to the inside of the house to pull the screens. Unfortunately for them, the rain began around 11 so they got a litle wet. They were finished by 1:30 pm.

Now we just need some warmer weather so I can get my planters all set up now that the deck and driveway has all been cleaned.

Friday more clouds. We invited Roy and June our neighbours, over for dinner to catch up on our winter adventures. They went to Disneyland with their grandkids and later Palm Springs over the winter.

Dinner turned out great and we had a lovely visit. June brought dessert. After dinner we had a short slide show of some of our adventures last winter.

Their mouths are full. lol (Notice Ray's 2,000 pce puzzle he starteddx

Saturday night June and Roy reciprocated with a movie night in their home theatre, inviting Pat and Darryl as well. My memories came up in facebook and exactly a year ago we all had Easter dinner here.

Sunday it poured all day and when the clouds lifted we could see snow on the hills across the lake. Still no spring weather happening around here. Darryl and Roy helped Ray put a tarp over the MH as we will try to keep water out until we can take it in to be fixed.

April is here with April Showers???? What more SNOW! and Easter Festivities - April 1 - 10

Saturday afternoon. A very showery cold day.

Sunday, April 2nd we woke up to this! This is a picture Pat took of their back yard.

We waited an extra hour before hitting the road to go to Nanaimo to visit the kids. Need our "Amelia fix" lol

Cooking Nana some soup in her playhouse. lol

Jason and Kristi took us out for brunch.

After breakfast, Kristi headed back to the hospital as she is on call.  When Amelia's nap time came, we headed back home. 

Tuesday Ray headed back to Nanaimo for an appointment and I stayed home resting, as my cold is still bothering me and I'm cooking beef brisket on my Traeger. 

Here a are few spring pictures he took down at the harbour while there. Blossom time. We are a few weeks behind here at the lake due to our colder temps.

After his appointment, Ray met up with Kristi and Jason for lunch at Maduban Indian Cuisine. I am not fond of Indian Food so it's a good time for them to have some.

My Beef Brisket cooked in 9 hours at 235F which is perfect. I will be able to time it better now that I have "cracked the code" with my smoker.

Tuesday morning cold and a bit foggy outside. I think our forecast for the next 2 weeks is mostly showers and rain. It will be dreary but the lake really does need more water in it for the summer. 

My cleaner, Elvira came today to clean the inside of the Motorhome. She can use the money and I hate doing the "big clean" necessary after 6 months down south. There is desert dust everywhere. After 6 hours, the inside is scrubbed within an inch of it's life. lol  All the wood is washed and oiled. Grout in the porcelan tiles all scrubbed. Beautiful, especially with the carpet cleaned. Looks almost brand new.

Next week our mobile RV tech will come and install the new sensor for the rear heat pump system and hopefully get the mid coach heat pump figured out. We have a small list of other things to "tune" up as well. 

I am still fighting the cold Amelia gave us .... hopefully it's gone before the family comes for Easter Dinner on Saturday lol

Wednesday morning is the last nice day for awhile. It will definitely be April showers and rain for the next week.

Puttered around the house and Ray put together Amelia's new "truck" for her visit this weekend. Some of her favourite books are The Little Blue Truck.  Something seemly so simple took Ray 3 hours to assemble ... He is out of practice. :)

Thursday the predicted rain came, needed but sure is dreary outside. The guy from Living Stones came and lifted all of our slate rocks to level them again as they sank and become quite uneven, making them tripping hazard.

Now we will just reseed it and it will look great.

Friday's a beautiful day outside although windy and cold. I did prep for our Easter dinner tomorrow, brining the chicken etc. Excited about the kids coming.

Saturday, rain is back and this time really pouring. The kids arrived at 9:30. The new "Blue Truck" we got for Amelia is an instant hit.

Dale and Nadine arrived around 3 pm. Bunny ears from Granny.

Of course there's the playtime in Papa's boat.

Dinner turned out great, the brined chicken on the rotisserie is really moist.

Jason, Amelia, Deb, Ray, Nadine and Dale. Kristi took the picture.

Half chocolate and half vanilla Easter Cake.

After dinner it's time for dessert. Amelia couldn't wait to even sit at the table lol.

Granny got Amelia bubbles for her Easter gift, so Kristi and I went to the loft so she could "blow bubbles".

Sunday morning Amelia's personal easter egg hunt. She kept saying more, more, more everytime she found some. So cute.

Ray and Kristi took Amelia out for a walk in the rain so Zeus could get a walk.

So much fun splashing in every puddle

Here, have a worm

We've had so much rain this weekend, Sunday morning the lake rose about 2 feet, much better than how low it had been for this time of year. Unbelievably, Victoria barely got any rain.