Good Times on the Road

Dec 31, 2012 Mon0

My Dad once said he wasted a fortune traveling with his family when he was younger. He also said he never regretted a penny and it was money well spent. I agree.

EDIT: 5/28/2014 to add our 4th camper, a Cougar 325SRX Toy Hauler

I have always kept a travel diary and I recently computed some numbers. I purchased an Aerolite camper in June 1998 when the boys were 2 and 4 years old. Our first trip was to Topsail Beach, NC and my brother Greg went with us. Over the years we had many guests. Nephew Cory spent many nights with us along with nieces, sisters, the boy's friends and Mom and Dad. My brother and his wife eventually bought a camper also and we often camped together as well as meeting up out west in Utah and Yellowstone Park. Then my future wife started joining us in her small Tioga motor home.

I thought it would be fun to write a blog post that only includes photos of our three campers in various parts of the country over the years. Bradley did not go with us on the 2012 summer trip so the numbers I am about to list are a little lower for him. Laurie's numbers are lower also as her stats start in earnest with the 2010 trip to Maine. But Tucker, myself (and Bradley except for the summer of 2012) have traveled 118,019 miles on 120 trips and have slept in campers for 481 nights from 1998 to May 2014.

Aerolite travel trailer purchased in June 1998. We logged 24,820 miles, 24 trips and 94 nights

Jun 5, 2000 Mon 1:10:33 PM EDT
Abilene, KS
Bobby, Tucker Riley

Jun 3, 2001 Sun 4:42:39 PM EDT
Badlands, SD.

Jun 4, 2001 Mon 4:16:24 PM EDT
Mount Rushmore, SD. We walked to the visitors center but the fog was so heavy we could not see the monument.
Bradley Taylor, William F.

Jun 6, 2001 Wed 5:16:07 PM EDT
Rest area in NW Montana.
Tucker Riley, Bradley Taylor

Jun 13, 2001 Wed 9:06:55 AM EDT
At a campground west of Yellowstone Park. We drove on to the park but it was closed and we had to turn around. Tthey eventually received 18 inches of snow, in June.

Jun 14, 2001 Thu 3:16:42 PM EDT Altitude: 10721 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
Medicine Bow National Forest, south east Wyoming.
Tucker Riley

Forest River Wildcat 5th wheel purchased in Nov 2001. We logged 71,499 miles, 83 trips and 310 nights.

Jun 2, 2002 Sun 6:17:38 AM CDTDisplay on Google Map
Camped just inside Texas on the eastern side on I-10. It is 873 miles to the other side of Texas.
William F., Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley

Jun 8, 2002 Sat 3:13:08 PM EDT
Northern Arizona. We are about to get into a terrible sand storm.

Jun 10, 2002 Mon 3:04:37 PM EDT
Monarch Pass, Colorado
Tucker Riley, William F.

Dec 30, 2002 Mon 8:58:46 AM EST
First campground. It was not open so we camped in the parking lot.
Tucker Riley, Bradley Taylor, Cory

Jun 6, 2003 Fri 2:56:24 PM CDTDisplay on Google Map
Monument Rocks in western Kansas.
William F.

Jun 6, 2003 Fri 4:15:30 PM EDT
Near Monument Rocks in western Kansas.

Jun 10, 2003 Tue 6:38:38 AM MDT Altitude: 3975 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
Portal RV Park in Moab, Utah.

Jun 13, 2003 Fri 11:19:10 AM EDT
Highway 12 in south east Utah.
Tucker Riley, Bradley Taylor, Cory, William F.

Jun 7, 2004 Mon 8:26:38 PM MDT Altitude: 5250 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
We met brother Greg and his family at Yellowstone CG at the north entrance of Yellowstone in the town of Gardiner, Montana.
Bradley Taylor, Sarah, Tucker Riley, Cory

Jun 9, 2004 Wed 10:39:00 AM MDT Altitude: 7273 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
Northern Yellowstone Park.
William F.

Jun 10, 2004 Thu 5:20:17 PM MDT Altitude: 3851 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
Near the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We drove around a huge thunder storm that caused a tornado in Sheridan, WY not far from here. The other half of the sky was clear and sunny.
Cory, William F., Bradley Taylor

Jun 13, 2004 Sun 7:55:28 AM MDT Altitude: 5420 ft Camera: Olympus C3000ZDisplay on Google Map
Campground in the Black Hills of SD.

Jun 20, 2007 Wed 7:57:47 AM MDT Altitude: 3449 ft Camera: Canon PowerShot A640Display on Google Map
US 26 on the North Platte River, Nebraska.
Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley

Jun 20, 2007 Wed 10:20:59 AM MDT Altitude: 3891 ft Camera: Canon PowerShot A640Display on Google Map
Courthouse and Jail Rocks near the North Platte River, Nebraska. Photo by Tucker Daniel

Jun 21, 2007 Thu 8:12:03 AM MDT Altitude: 10754 ft Camera: Fuji FinePix S6000fdDisplay on Google Map
Snowy Range Pass, south east Wyoming.

Jul 1, 2007 Sun 5:52:26 AM PDT Altitude: 3733 ft Camera: Fuji FinePix S6000fdDisplay on Google Map
Going to Death Valley from Lone Pine, California. It is 5:50 local time. We wanted to get through most of Death Valley before the temperature got so hot.

Jul 1, 2007 Sun 9:38:12 AM PDT Altitude: -93 ft Camera: Fuji FinePix S6000fdDisplay on Google Map
South Death Valley.
Bradley Taylor

Jul 2, 2007 Mon 4:55:11 PM MST Altitude: 4033 ft Camera: Fuji FinePix S6000fdDisplay on Google Map
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument on US 89 in northern Arizona.
Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley

Jul 2, 2007 Mon 8:25:06 PM MDT Altitude: 4441 ft Camera: Fuji FinePix S6000fdDisplay on Google Map
Cameron, Arizona. We found a real deal on diesel fuel.

Jan 2, 2010 Sat 10:48:39 AM EST
The Mann's home on Long Island, New York.

Apr 1, 2010 Thu 6:27:41 PM EDTDisplay on Google Map
Ocean Waves Campground, Outer Banks, NC
Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley

Jul 10, 2010 Sat 6:31:08 PM EDT Altitude: 59 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Lubec, Maine. The farthest east town in the US.
Tucker Riley

Apr 22, 2011 Fri 3:53:50 PM EDT
Last photo of our Wildcat. We traveled 71,499 miles on 83 trips and slept in it 310 nights. My boys grew up in that camper.
Tucker Riley

Keystone Copper Canyon purchased in April 2011 and sold in Mar 2014. We logged 21,700 miles, 13 trips and 77 nights.

Jun 21, 2011 Tue 12:35:03 PM MDT Altitude: 4547 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Route 66 near I-40 east of Albuquerque, NM

Jun 22, 2011 Wed 1:56:19 PM MDT Altitude: 9006 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
On NM route 4 near Los Alamos, NM. We stopped here for lunch.

Jun 23, 2011 Thu 3:16:22 PM MDT Altitude: 4258 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
South east Utah on Mexican Hat Rock Road.
Laurie

Jun 23, 2011 Thu 7:24:37 PM MDT Altitude: 6028 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
We wanted to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on this day so we were driving late in the day but the late day sun made the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument look very nice.
Laurie

Jun 23, 2011 Thu 7:33:12 PM MST Altitude: 5853 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
We wanted to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on this day so we were driving late in the day but the late day sun made the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument look very nice.
Laurie, Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley

Jun 26, 2011 Sun 10:07:43 AM PDT Altitude: 2494 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Near Panamint Springs, Death Valley. We drove up a very rough road and hiked to a water fall.
Bradley Taylor, Tucker Riley, Laurie

Jun 26, 2011 Sun 1:57:32 PM PDT Altitude: 3738 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
These mountains had no snow when we were here in 2007.

Jun 28, 2011 Tue 9:14:33 AM PDT Altitude: 4916 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Cousin Judy's home in western Nevada.

Jun 30, 2011 Thu 8:53:40 AM PDT Altitude: 5365 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Great Basin National Park.

Jun 27, 2012 Wed 9:17:24 AM MDT Altitude: 3433 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
I had photos and GPS coordinates of this place from 2007. There are miles of fence posts with boots on top. We returned to the same boot we had photographed in 2007. It looked like it had not aged at all in 5 years.
Laurie

Jun 27, 2012 Wed 4:58:41 PM MDT Altitude: 7910 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Small town on I-80 in south east Wyoming.
Laurie

Jun 27, 2012 Wed 5:13:11 PM MDT Altitude: 8054 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Tree rock on I-80 near Laramie, Wyoming. This tree was here in 1867 when the railroad came through and it is said that locomotive firemen often stopped their trains to give the tree some water from their engines. This type of tree can live as long as 2,000 years.

Jun 28, 2012 Thu 9:07:49 AM MDT Altitude: 10855 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Snowy Range west of Laramie Wyoming
Tucker Riley, Laurie

Jul 1, 2012 Sun 3:05:23 PM PDT Altitude: 7460 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Lassen Volcanic National Park. A very neat place.

Jul 1, 2012 Sun 3:27:10 PM PDT Altitude: 8240 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Lassen Volcanic National Park. A very neat place.
Laurie, Bobby

Jul 1, 2012 Sun 3:38:10 PM PDT Altitude: 8469 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Lassen Volcanic National Park. A very neat place.
Tucker Riley

Jul 3, 2012 Tue 3:24:27 PM PDT Altitude: 153 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park near Crescent City, CA.
Tucker Riley, Laurie

Jul 3, 2012 Tue 2:26:15 PM PDT Altitude: 10 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Beach at Crescent City, California.
Laurie, Tucker Riley

Jul 6, 2012 Fri 5:14:07 PM PDT Altitude: 2372 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
US 2 in eastern Washington.
Laurie

There is an interesting blog post about this building here. I first saw this building in 1984.

Jul 6, 2012 Fri 5:54:50 PM PDT Altitude: 2522 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
An old school house on US2 in eastern Washington

Jul 10, 2012 Tue 9:54:35 AM MDT Altitude: 6351 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park.
Laurie

Jul 11, 2012 Wed 10:06:38 AM MDT Altitude: 3680 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Near Devils Tower in north east Wyoming.
Tucker Riley, Laurie

Jul 11, 2012 Wed 2:40:42 PM MDT Altitude: 2636 ft Camera: Nikon D90Display on Google Map
Badlands of South Dakota
Laurie

Mar 22, 2014 Sat 10:56:03 AM CDT Altitude: 341 ft Camera: iPhone 5sDisplay on Google Map
Last photo of our Copper Canyon in Meridian, Mississippi.
Laurie, Bobby