stigsamericancousin
New member
last year me and a coworker traveled from greenville,sc to the western part of america. some of the stops on the list was cadillac ranch, new mexicos international hot air balloon festival, monument valley, valley of the gods, moab, bonneville, zion national park, pikes peak, grand canyon, etc. 2 weeks on the road living out the roof top tent and it was spectacular.....weather, sights, wait times, lack of crowds, everything was perfect (with the exception of trying to get into archs national park....**didnt happen**) so many pictures id like to upload but the site limits me to 10. hope you enjoy the read!
we managed to leave out sc early afternoon pulling into memphis koa late at night to stop and rest. listening to the bigrigs from the rooftop tent was lackluster to say the least but with a belly full of walmart hotdogs and a couple beers and a mind full of images of monument valley and the salt flats of bonneville we managed to get a few hours of sleep and managed to have the truck together and butts in the seat at sunrise. that day consisted of windshield time until we pulled into amarillo late afternoon, we opted to get a hotel room in amarillo for the ease of quick showers and very early leave time. after unloading the bikes we rode down the street to caddy ranch. the first bucket list item ive always wanted to see. after a beer and wings at the local twin peaks we get enough sleep to leave at 3am, with the hopes of pulling into alberqurques hot air balloon fest. at sunrise just in time to see the first balloons rising over the city landscape. at sunrise we notice the first few balloons rise into the sky as we roll down the interstate.
after taking in the sights of a city completely overrun with hot air balloons we get lunch (breaking bad fans might notice where)
after saying goodbye to albq. we make it to navajo nation, shiprock to be exact.
the following morning we leave NM for utah. camping in valley of the gods was amazing, the amount of lightning that first night was rediculous. each flash lit up the outlines of the hoodoos and canyons
making a loop around the state we head east to colorado. setting up camp near silverton and after a cold snap near pikes peak opted to grab a room at the hampton in durango
heading south we head for the last sight before starting back east (white sands national park)
with roswell nearly on the way back we make an excuse to cruise through ufo land.
pulling in the same hotel in amarillo where we started we lay our heads down realizing weve reached the home stretch without getting caught in any crowds, injuries, bad weather, or broken equipment...
we managed to leave out sc early afternoon pulling into memphis koa late at night to stop and rest. listening to the bigrigs from the rooftop tent was lackluster to say the least but with a belly full of walmart hotdogs and a couple beers and a mind full of images of monument valley and the salt flats of bonneville we managed to get a few hours of sleep and managed to have the truck together and butts in the seat at sunrise. that day consisted of windshield time until we pulled into amarillo late afternoon, we opted to get a hotel room in amarillo for the ease of quick showers and very early leave time. after unloading the bikes we rode down the street to caddy ranch. the first bucket list item ive always wanted to see. after a beer and wings at the local twin peaks we get enough sleep to leave at 3am, with the hopes of pulling into alberqurques hot air balloon fest. at sunrise just in time to see the first balloons rising over the city landscape. at sunrise we notice the first few balloons rise into the sky as we roll down the interstate.
after taking in the sights of a city completely overrun with hot air balloons we get lunch (breaking bad fans might notice where)
after saying goodbye to albq. we make it to navajo nation, shiprock to be exact.
the following morning we leave NM for utah. camping in valley of the gods was amazing, the amount of lightning that first night was rediculous. each flash lit up the outlines of the hoodoos and canyons
making a loop around the state we head east to colorado. setting up camp near silverton and after a cold snap near pikes peak opted to grab a room at the hampton in durango
heading south we head for the last sight before starting back east (white sands national park)
with roswell nearly on the way back we make an excuse to cruise through ufo land.
pulling in the same hotel in amarillo where we started we lay our heads down realizing weve reached the home stretch without getting caught in any crowds, injuries, bad weather, or broken equipment...
