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,