Roadtrip Images

Now that we’re nearing the end of 2017 I thought I’d look back on where we’ve been and share a little about where we plan to go in 2018.

2017 in Review

2017 brought a lot of change for us. We had sold the house the previous November along with most of our stuff and headed South to avoid the snow. While there we bought our motorhome in Florida six months earlier than planned, framed a house with Habitat for Humanity, and survived a tornado in Dallas. We explored the Great Smoky Mountains and visited family along the way back North for Spring.

We spent most of the Summer in Northern Michigan getting our sailboat ready to sell and also consolidating the two storage units of stuff we still had left after the three garage sales. In addition, we still had a piece of vacant land we needed to sell. After taking care of all those loose ends we took off North across the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and then West towards South Dakota where we changed our residence and got new drivers licences.

We spent almost a month in the Grand Tetons where we experienced weather from balmy summer temps to snowy winter conditions. The scenery and wildlife photography opportunities were amazing. We then started heading South through Utah to Arches & Canyonlands National Parks. Canyonlands was an unanticipated treat with you guessed it, canyons. Kind of a warm up for the Grand Canyon. Continuing South towards Zion we stopped in Page, AZ to catch Horseshoe Bend, The Wave and Upper Antelope Canyon. We called Zion National Park home for two weeks and we did the toughest hike of the year to the Subway.

After Zion we came down to Northern Arizona and spent time in the Grand Canyon and Sedona areas. We ended the year in Quartzsite, AZ where we did some needed maintenance on the coach along with a side trip to Dallas without the motorhome for Christmas with the family. All told we put 8555 miles on the coach in 2017.

National & State Parks Visited

• Gulf Islands National Seashore – Florida
• Great Smoky Mountains – Tennessee
• Fort Custer Recreational Area State Park – Michigan
• Badlands National Park – South Dakota
• Grand Tetons National Park – Wyoming
• Arches National Park – Utah
• Deadhorse Point State Park – Utah
• Canyonlands National Park – Utah
• Cedar Mesa BLM – Utah
• Zion National Park – Utah
• Horseshoe Bend – Arizona
• Glen Canyon Recreational Area (Lake Powell) – Arizona
• Upper Antelope Canyon (Native american Land) – Arizona
• Grand Canyon National Park – Arizona
• Deadhorse Ranch State Park – Arizona
• Coconino National Forest (West fork of Oak Creek) – Arizona
• Kofa National Wildlife Refuge – Arizona

2018 Plans

We don’t make firm plans too far out but we do have a number of areas we’d like to visit in 2018. A fairly firm itinerary is in place to visit the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Death Valley, Yosemite and Big Bend National Parks. Areas we’d also like to hit are the Pacific Northwest, Glacier National Park and the Canadian Rockies. We’ll probably take a swing through the Grand Tetons again and we do need to spend some time back in Michigan to clean up a few loose ends from last summer. Beyond these, we’ll adjust based on what the year brings.

Here’s wishing you a very happy and prosperous New Year. Karen and I hope you’re able to get out and enjoy the amazing scenery this continent has to offer and spend some time outside making photographs. Remember, there’s no such thing as the great indoors!