Travel Diary: 2015 – Wandervogel with the McElvains

Acadia National Park

We decided to squeeze a trip to Acadia National Park before we left the East Coast and moved west. As any good trip planners would, we visited with good friends who live in New England. It was also a fantastic way to burn up the remainder of Jess’ vacation time before she quit.

We were pulled over by police two times on the trip up to Acadia. Ticket free both times – out of state plates and Alex’s red wagon made for a sympathetic combination. The first was entering the GW, where contrary to what the Canadian border crossing agent told us, we are required to adhere to all truck restrictions. Thus we were not allowed on the lower level of the GW bridge. Apparently others have made this error before and there was a special ramp for us to us to get to the upper level. The second was driving through Connecticut – we were not allowed on parkways due to size restrictions. The signage informing us of this restriction was not observed. We had to exit the parkway three miles short of our target destination (the interstate) and got to explore small town Connecticut as we worked an alternate route to the interstate.

We arrived in Acton, Massachusetts and spent a couple nights with Jess’ good friend from high school. As always, we added class to the neighborhood with our RV parked near her house. We also met up with some of the New England motorcycle group. After good times catching up and exploring Acton, we pushed on to Acadia National Park.

We camped a Blackwoods Campground, which was heavily wooded. This was a problem for the time of year with limited daylight hours combined with the fact that it was overcast and raining the majority of the time we were there. We had to be very conservative with our batteries since our main way of recharging them was not functioning due to the lack of sun. We could have run the generator, but that gulps propane and we had a limited supply. An important note – when traveling to an area at the end of the season make sure your key amenities are full. We could not find an open propane station and needed to have enough for the furnace. We did not do our pre-trip preparation well at all. We could not recharge the coach batteries while driving because the solenoid was disconnected (did not discover that until after the trip).

Picture taken when we briefly had sunshine.

Despite the rainy weather, we were able to get a few hikes in. We were very please to discover Acadia is dog-friendly and allows dogs on most trails. Penny, Chewie, and Buster enjoyed the opportunity to hike with us.

On the way back to Delaware, our overnight stop was at the house of friend’s from Dave’s motorcycle group. It was great catching up and great to be able to enjoy a real shower. We pushed on home the next day, and 15 miles shy of our goal, the great transmission failure occurred. Such things happen, we managed to get home in a friend’s truck.

Canada, eh?

CanadaRoute We took Abby and Alex on their first international border crossing. Well, at least Abby’s first border crossing with us. We went to Canada with the motorcycle group that Dave is a member of; this trip is biannual tradition for at least 20 years. Unfortunately, we did not take Dave’s motorcycle on this trip. The logistics were rather complex and we decided it would be easier if everyone was in Abby.

The drive from Delaware to Saint-Alphonse Rodriguez, Quebec took two days. Our first day’s destination was the Lake George Battlefield Park, in Lake George, NY. We arrived literally right behind another member of the group. Following tradition, we ate at Adirondack Brewery, a short walk away from the campground. The next morning, we ate breakfast at the Hot Biscuit Diner in Ticonderoga, NY. Despite having his own breakfast, Alex decided Jess’ biscuits and sausage gravy looked tasty and needed two spoons to get it into his mouth fast enough. Another bonus of the route that we took from Lake George to Canada was the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream stop.

Alex double fisting biscuits and sausage gravy at the Hot Biscuit diner.

We crossed into Canada at the I-89 border crossing. As we approached the crossing we realized we didn’t know what lane to chose. Looking at the pictures on the signs (since all the writing was in French. Quebec, perhaps you are ignoring Canada’s dual language law?), we determined we were not a bus and not a car. But what were we? We selected the lane that looked the most like us, which had a truck shaped picture above it.

We pulled up to the booth and the border agent started speaking to us in French. Dave inquired if he spoke English, which the agent responded in the affirmative. He asked for our passports and Dave did not hear what he said. When Dave asked the agent to repeat himself, the agent inquired if we spoke English. Things were off to a good start.

The agent asked us if we were carrying any weapons (knives, guns, pepper spray). We had the bear spray in the RV from our Western trip and we declared that because the agent seemed like he would classify that as a weapon. The agent inquired, ‘For the spraying of bears?’. We bit our tongues and refrained from replying ‘Bears and snarky border crossing agents.’ Satisfied that bear spray was for protection from bears, the agent then asked us what our commercial load was. When we declared none, we received a lecture that we had used the commercial truck lane and were actually classified as a ‘minivan-camper’ and should always use the car lane. Well. Lesson learned. After a few more minutes of our tongue lashing, a real commercial truck pulled in behind us and the agent directed us on our way.

Smoked meats. Cheese. Bread. What more does one need?

We arrived at Saint Alphonse-Rodriguez and set up camp at a children’s camp. This camp is traditional in the sense that all campers are exposed to a wide variety of activities – canoeing, archery, art, and a ropes course. What really surprised us is the area, which was not experiencing the best fortunes two years ago, is booming. The group found out that the children’s camp will be in operation for one more year, and then it will be sold to condo developers. It was rather fitting that the weekend was gray and rainy.

With the weather, we did not have the opportunity to paddle the lake and critique Canadian lake houses. There is always, however, Staner’s. We purchased some smoked meats, cheese, and bread. We walked down the street to the gas station for the wine. It was a relaxing afternoon as Alex napped. Later in the evening we participated in a beer tasting arranged by one of the members and got to enjoy some beers we normally wouldn’t have chose for ourselves. Alex enjoyed running around and visiting with all the different people. There were a couple of parrots and a dog that he enjoyed playing with.

Canada_01 — Waiting to return to the United States.

Returning to the United States was much less eventful than Canada. We chose the proper lane. The border agent did board Abby to obtain a visual of Alex. The agent was slightly incredulous that we were only bringing back a sticker, but accepted the explanation that we ate and drank all our other purchases while in Canada.

Western Trip: Picture Gallery

A pictorial diary of our trip.

Gallery_01 — Selfie just before we left our driveway.

Western Trip: Side Adventures

Our 2015 trip out west was ambitious. We were always on the move and didn’t have many rest days to explore. However, we did manage to include a few fun side trips into our itinerary.

Little Devil’s Tower; Custer State Park, SD:

Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota.

The trail head for this hike in Custer State Park (see trail map) originates at Sylvan Lake. We did not finish this hike because of time constraints – we had to make sure we got back to our campsite before dark. We really enjoyed the hike and wish we had planned our time better. Multiple trails leave the confines of Custer State Park and enter the Black Elk Wilderness. What was really unusual compared to other parks is that pets were allowed on the trails, but had to be leashed. It was a nice experience being able to take Penny and Chewie with us. We also had Ergo as Alex’s carrier; he was getting to heavy to be able to hike long distances comfortably in this carrier.

On the Little Devil's Tower trail. — On the Little Devil’s Tower trail.

Mount Rushmore, SD:

View of Mount Rushmore down the Avenue of Flags.

Conceived by South Dakota historian Doane Robinson, carving likenesses of famous people in the Black Hills region was done to increase tourism. The sculptures were done by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum. The elder Borglum was instrumental in the selection of Mount Rushmore (the original site, the Needles, had poor quality granite and was opposed by Native Americans) as well as selecting the presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln) to be carved in the mountain.

A close-up of George Washington from the Presidential Trail.

Initially, the presidents were supposed to be depicted from head to waist, but poor quality rock and a lack of funding resulted in the monument we are familiar with today. Construction began in 1927 and ended in 1941, notably with no fatalities.

We walked the trail with Alex, starting down the Presidential Trail towards the Sculptor’s studio. This path wound around and took us under the sculptures. This route had numerous steps, which tired Alex out quite nicely. We completed our loop and returned to the Avenue of Flags; the remainder of the trail after the sculptures was handicap accessible. We ended our visit with vanilla ice cream made following Thomas Jefferson’s recipe.

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad; Durango, CO

View of the gorge that the narrow gauge tracks run along.

Built starting in the fall of 1881, the line was constructed to haul silver and gold ore from the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. The line was completed by July of 1882 and began to haul passengers and freight. The narrow gauge was selected by William Jackson Palmer, a former Union General and experienced railroad man, as it would be well suited to the mountainous country and would have lower construction costs.

RR_02 — Alex at Handlebars Restaurant & Saloon.

We took the bus from Durango to Silverton and rode the train back. We kenneled the dogs at Durango Pet Resort. Parking the RV was a bit tricky and we were very lucky to make the bus up to Silverton. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and the bus ride flew by. We ate lunch at Handlebars Restaurant & Saloon; their burgers were pretty good. If our memory serves, they brewed their own beer and it was meh.

The ride back became more of an adventure than we expected. One of the engines broke down bringing a train up to Silverton and the 12:30 train was delayed so the engine could take the 2:30 train back to Durango as well. Needless to say, the double length train did not move very quickly (train ride back took 5 hours). We were not prepared for the extended trip and had not packed enough diapers or food for Alex. Additionally, the train still made all the stops at various trail heads to drop off and pick people up. A really neat option, but it was frustrating after a long day. We didn’t get back to Durango until after the kennel closed, but they had an after hours pick up option and we were able to retrieve Penny, Chewie, and Buster.

It was a beautiful trip.

Garden of the Gods; Colorado Springs, CO

Our timing for this visit was poor. We arrived soon after Alex fell asleep. He was not in the mood to go on a long walk through the Garden of the Gods. It was also a hot, sunny day, so we took the dogs with us (allowed); they did not make the circus easier to manage.

We took a short hike and then returned to Abby for lunch and to push on North.

Carousel of Happiness; Nederland, CO

The Carousel of Happiness was built by a Marine Vietnam veteran, Scott Harrison. The frame was from the Saltair Park carousel that had its animals removed. Over the course of 26 years, Mr. Harrison hand carved 50 animals for the carousel, of which, 35 can be ridden.

Alex seemed a bit uncertain about his first ride on the carousel. The carousel is beautiful and is worth the visit.

Western Trip: Yellowstone

We had the pleasure of traveling through Yellowstone on the Fourth of July weekend, 2o15. This was one of the most disappointing stops of the trip. Being a holiday weekend, the park was extremely crowded. We would visit Yellowstone again, but during the shoulder season when crowds would be less teeming.

We had a reservation for a single night, July 3, at the Bridge Bay campground. This campground is essentially and open field with tightly spaced spots and no hook-ups. Most spots are relatively level. Firewood was available for purchase at check-in. As state in our summary post, the bathrooms were atrocious. Overall, the vendor running the campgrounds and amenities was less than impressive.

Perhaps the single most frustrating things were the tourists. What do we mean by tourists? People who ignore the signs and rules stated to protect them (selfies with bison, straying from boardwalks around the hot springs) and generally oblivious behavior. A prime example, we

stopped to stopped at Dragon’s Mouth Spring as we were driving across the park. There was a bison laying next to the restroom building. People were walking within feet of the animal to take a selfie. The bison eventually had enough of the paparazzi, got up, and ran through the parking lot. The panic was capped by a woman screaming (imagine this in a New Jersey accent), ‘Larry, LAARRRYYY!! The bison! Look out for the bison!!”. Larry, clearly no where near the bison’s path of travel, waved at his hysterical wife. Panicking and further startling a wild animal, not the wisest plan.

Bison at Dragon's Mouth Spring, taken from an elevated board walk. — Bison at Dragon’s Mouth Spring, taken from an elevated board walk.

Traveling across the park was also slow going. The speed limit is 35 and in some of the more popular areas it drops to 25 mph. This is made even worse by the people ignoring posted signs and stopping in the middle of the road (rather than pulling off on a pull out as advised) to take a picture of some animal that caught their attention. Again, a fantastic example of oblivious tourist behavior.

Alex enjoying his VIP tour of Yellowstone.

The negatives were frustrating and took away from the beauty of Yellowstone. There were some very nice handicap accessible paths to a variety of features that we were able to take Alex to in either his wagon or stroller. As with most national parks, dogs were not allowed on trails. Which is frustrating and limits what we can see. However, these are limitations we accept when traveling with Penny, Chewie, and Buster. And seeing how most people can’t follow simple rules, allowing dogs on trails would be an utter disaster.

Western Trip: Campground Summary

Favorites

Campsite at Sylvan Lake

Sylvan Lake Campground at Custer State Park, SD: Sites were well spaced, secluded, grounds were well taken care of. Site was level. Our campsite was tucked away among trees. The campground was not on the lake, but was a quick hike to the lake and there was access several trail heads. Scenery was gorgeous.

Sylvan Lake at Custer State Park.
Red Canyon Campground at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT:
Abby in our campsite at Red Canyon.

This campground has sites that are a stone’s throw away from the rim of the gorge. Visitors center is a short hike away. Some hiking trails along the gorge rim. Gorgeous scenery. Sites are well spaced and level. We wouldn’t camp here again until Alex is older and listens better. Jess would become instantaneously grey making sure Alex didn’t fall into the gorge. Or he will need one of those child leashes.

View from the Red Canyon Campground in Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area.
Mueller State Park, CO: This campground had nicely spaced, wooded sites. Some sites had a view of Pike’s Peak, but these go quickly on the reservations page. Great laundry facility and playgroud for Alex. Alex’s wagon came into play as our laundry mobile when walking up the hill to the laundromat. Park is well cared for and the staff is friendly. Group sites also available.
View of Pike’s Peak, obscured by cloud cover.

Least Favorites

Mormon Island State Recreation Area, NE: Campground is next to a lake, on an island, in the middle of the Platte River. The lake is part of Nebraska’s Chain of Lakes; these lakes are water filled excavation pits from I-80’s construction and converted to recreation areas.. We stayed here because it was easy access to I-80, had full hook-ups (needed to run the A/C due to the heat and humidity), and it was approximately the target distance we wanted to drive in a day upon leaving Colorado. The lake’s aroma left a bit to be desired. Campground served its purpose, but it was cruel switch from the Rockies.
Starved Rock State Park, IL: The park website looks amazing! Don’t be fooled, the campground is definitely not amazing. If the campground is in the park, it is on the border. You do drive past the beautiful area to the campground, which is mosquito infested to the point you can’t be outside. We would have rather stayed in a commercial campground.

Biggest Pleasant Surprise

View from the bluff at Great River Bluffs State Park, MN.

Great River Bluffs State Park, MN: The geological features of this park are the result of minimal glacial drift from any of the four major glaciers. Sites were well spaced and wooded. Some are not level, so check the reservation site, it should provide information. Nice hiking trails with views of the Mississippi River Valley. And there were little chipmunks for Penny to watch from Abby’s window.

Penny watching chipmunks at Great River Bluffs State Park, MN.

Biggest Disappointment

Yellowstone, WY: It was Fourth of July weekend. There were hordes of people and we were lucky to get a spot. Campsites were crowded. People were oblivious to etiquette. The bathrooms were not clean. Dave said he would rather take one of the poop bags for the dogs out to the woods rather than use the bathroom. Jess was too scared to see the horrors of the women’s bathroom. There will be a separate Yellowstone post to discuss why this was our least favorite park of the entire trip. I’m sure Yellowstone is much nicer when it isn’t the peak travel season.

Western Trip Summary

We started our first long RV adventure on June 27, 2015. We had made the decision just three weeks prior to move to California so Jess could enroll in the UC Davis Extension Master Brewers Program; we knew that when we returned we would have to kick things into high gear to prepare the house for sale (we had our floors refinished while we were gone). Looking back, it is hard to believe we got it all done. And it is still rather surreal that a year later we are packing up our California rental to move to Colorado.

Since it has been so long since our trip, the format for posts will be different from our California move. This summary post will be followed by posts focusing on our favorite/least favorite campgrounds, side trips made along the way, and anything else that may require a stand alone post. These stand alone posts will likely be due excessive length as a result of our poor self-editing skills. Some of our notes (including total gallons of diesel and mileage) have been misplaced in a cross-country move.

The trip was approximately 5200 miles, including side trips. We used about 345 gallons of diesel, averaging right around 15 miles per gallon.

We started our trip on June 27, 2015 and were back July 16, 2015. Just shy of 3 full weeks and resulting in an average of 273 miles traveled per day.

Family selfie just before leaving the driveway.

The trip started out on a rainy, mechanical break down note with Abby’s turbo resonator failing, but after our first day hiccup, it was smooth sailing. We had a great time visiting family and friends along our route. And they were always very kind in giving us a place to park, do laundry, and shower in a full size bathroom!

The whirlwind trip took us to four national parks, a national monument, a national recreation area, two national forests, and seven state parks. We definitely erred in wedged too many sights into our trip schedule; we learned from our errors on this trip and corrected them for future trips.

Campgrounds:

Great River Bluffs State Park, MN – overnight rest stop only
Palisades State Park, SD – 2 night stop, rest day
Palisades State Park in South Dakota
Custer State Park, SD – 2 night stop (Grace Coolidge, Sylvan Lake)
Yellowstone National Park, WY – overnight (Fishing Creek)
Grand Teton National Park, WY – overnight (Lizard Creek)
Bridger-Teton National Forest, WY – overnight (East Table)
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, UT – overnight
San Juan National Forest, CO – 2 night stop (Junction Creek)
Mueller State Park, CO – overnight
View of Pike’s Peak (under cloud cover) from Mueller State Park.
Rocky Mountain National Park, CO – 2 night stop (Olive Ridge – technically just outside the park)
Mormon Island State Recreation Area, NE – overnight
Starved Rock State Park, IL – overnight
West Branch State Park, OH – overnight
View for our campsite in West Branch State Park, OH. Our last night on the road.

Firefly 2015

So what should one do one week before taking off on a 3 week RV vacation? Go to Firefly, of course! We went to the first Firefly in 2012 and really enjoyed the music and small crowd of approximately 30,000 people. We rented an RV for 2012 Firefly, and considering there seemed to be 1 toilet for every 300 people in the tent camping area, we reached the conclusion that the RV was money well spent. However, the festival was so poorly organized and run (volunteers not doing their jobs, parking rules changing constantly, water price gouging, lack of water, Jack White’s sound not working – which may have been a blessing in disguise), we were not going to come back unless there was an amazing line-up.

Then Firefly 2015 was announced. And Paul McCartney was the headliner. And we figured in 20 years Alex could say he saw Paul McCartney in concert. So, against our better judgement, we bought our tickets and reserved an RV spot and made plans to take a one year old to a music festival with a targeted ticket sales to reach 90,000.

We should have taken a closer look at Paul McCartney’s tour schedule. We would have discovered he was playing the Wells-Fargo Center in Philly the night after his Firefly appearance, it would have been a wiser use of our money. So, the good and the bad.

Alex: He had an absolute blast. Loved listening to the music and people watching. Even better, there was a 12-week old there. So just turning one was a late start for a first concert experience.

Alex at Paul McCartney. He was there. It counts.

Music: It was a fantastic line up. We were never close to the stage, but we enjoyed the acts from a distance.

Weather: Okay, we know the organizers can’t control the weather, but a little advance planning goes a long way. Delaware experienced torrential rains ahead of the festival and the RV camping areas were swampy. Fill was being brought in the day the before the gates were to open, but it wasn’t nearly enough. More rains were experienced during the festival, creating a giant mud pit where shoes were lost. To top it all off, severe storms were predicted the last night of the festival, canceling the headliner and spurring announcements to seek shelter. The poor tent campers were directed to their cars, some a 45 minute walk away from their tents. Perhaps using every available golf cart and shuttle to help concert goers seek shelter would have been wise. We left ahead of the rain. We saw people come in and attempt to park their big rigs, and knew if the grounds got much sloppier, there was a strong likelihood these folks were going to get stuck and block the only exit. No point in having to deal with that mess right before our 2015 Western Odyssey.

Organization: We had passes for the camping sites next to the entrance and had to load in by Wednesday. It seemed foolish for Jess to take an extra day off of work and sit around in an RV when there weren’t going to be any acts. So, we purchased a vehicle parking pass, and Jess and Alex drove down to Dover on Thursday. After picking up the parking pass at will call, Jess drove to the appropriate parking lot as indicated on her map. This was the incorrect thing to do. Apparently, festival organizers wanted all traffic directed to a single choke point, and then redirect people to their appropriate location once viewing the pass. This would have meant sitting in line for 45 minutes plus with an antsy 1 year old.

Upon arriving at the appropriate parking lot, Jess discovered that no one was checking for passes or even directing parking. This was also beneficial because Jess got to select her own premium parking spot, but it was clear wasted $40 to buy the pass. The lack of guidance with parking was clear when Jess picked up the car. People had played the always fun game of create your own parking space and block someone else in.

A laundry list of rules that were disregarded or sporadically enforced. Throw in the lovely gentleman who believed that the two foot strip of grass we weren’t occupying in our camping spot was his invitation to park there.

Sound: You think they would have someone in the audience, or several someones at different points in the audience listening to ensure that Paul McCartney’s sound was working just fine. His one mic was not working, but we got to see his lips move on the giant TV screens.

Kids these days: Yes, here is our inner curmudgeons. We should have stayed home right (don’t we wish). But,these are the people who will be wiping our rear ends in a nursing home later, and I am concerned that kids these days cannot even find their own rear end even using their phone GPS.

Again? Would we go again . . . would have to be a truly awesome line-up. And we would spring for the Super VIP passes. We’ve heard good things about Lollapalooza.

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