Making our way, the only way we know how

Mesa Verde National Park was all that we had hoped and more. We stayed at an RV park just over the highway from the park, Ancient Cedars RV park and it was honestly one of the most amazing places we've stayed in this rig. We had full hook-ups with access to the pool and the miniature golf course. It was close to town and we were able to access Cortez, CO for groceries, restaurants and so on.

The park itself was amazing - cliff dwellings accessed by steep trails and, in the case of our tour a 30' ladder and two 10' ladders. Our guide was a first national, with ties to the local area and an in depth understanding, as much as is able, of the hows and whys of the people who lived in these scarily inaccessible places,  The kids enjoyed the experience and faced some of the fears of heights and tight areas while dealing with a little bit of altitude sickness.

Happy fourth of July!

Mesa Verde, before the tour

 Kind of a narrow tunnel to clear

 

The 30' ladder from the bottom

A view of the 30' ladder from the top

 The little ladder - 10'

The cliff dwellings across the canyon

The jungle gym that is daddy

Following Mesa Verde, we headed east and landed Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy Fam-Camp, where we took the opportunity to get groceries and relax a little after driving the narrow roads that cross southern CO.

Next, we hit Salina, KS for the night, resting in a hotel and taking time to eat out at Buffalo Wild Wings. Our first hotel of the trip, and a much needed break for the kids to take baths rather than showers for the first time in three weeks and just something different. I slept so well, other than the too soft bed, and it was nice to be on solid ground for a night.

But the show must go on, so we hit the road again, and headed for Mark Twain's boyhood home in the town of Hannibal, MO.  We arrived at the RV park and I stepped out to go unhook the car and get ready to set up. Anyone who has followed our blog from the beginning can foresee what happens next. In case you hadn't heard, there is a recall on the steps to the RV due to a bolt sheering off and the steps becoming unstable. Yooooouuuu guessed it! I took a header out the door, busting the door spring that keeps the door open/closed correctly, tearing up my forearm, wrist, knee, ankle, big toe and achilles. Go big or go home, I say, and when I take out a staircase, I do it with pizzazz! I'm just glad it was me and not one of the kids, as it is quite possible that one of them could have gotten truly hurt.

A temporary work around until we can get the steps fixed

We stayed at the Mark Twain Caves, and toured the museum, Twain's boyhood home, Becky Thatcher's house and where the Justice of the Peace (Twain's father) had served. We also took a quick steamboat tour on the mighty Mississippi. This afternoon,we're heading into Mark Twain's Cave, so see what the fuss was all about (and cool off, it is naturally air conditioned at about 52* year round and we are out of sorts from the heat and humidity of Missouri in the summer, after being spoiled in CA for so long!

In the Mark Twain museum, captains of the river boat

Viewing the sights Twain saw on his tour of the world

Just before our riverboat tour

Life on the road, 2016 edition

Well, we hit the road again yesterday, spending night #1 at the south end of Las Vegas at the Oasis RV Resort. It was a nice enough park, if slightly overpriced, but the best part for us was proximity to Silverton Casino, which contains the Bass Pro Shop and the free mermaid show, both of which we invaded and enjoyed immensely. The RV Park itself had a pretty nice pool for the kids and two pools that were only for adults. The family pool was fun, but it seemed odd to me that they'd have three pools and that assignment of use, but maybe that is just because the family pool was super crowded and the adults only pools were nearly empty, Maybe it was just an odd weekend for that.

Crazy monkeys prepared to travel

Reading Gone with the Wind, how appropriate!

Welcome to Nevada, hasta luego, California!

Before leaving California, we had a rock truck cut us off in an effort to make an exit, and just to make it more exciting, he threw up a stone that chipped our windshield. Now, I'm no expert, but RV windshields are not inexpensive, and this chip seems too large and too deep to be repaired, so we've got that to look forward to when we get somewhere that we can take the time to see about fixing it.

Oops!

For now, we continue on, stopping for the night in Page, AZ, which was a questionable decision, but there aren't many other towns nearby, and we are on a mission both to cross the country and to see some things. We were actually able to get a reservation at near a National Park on a holiday weekend, so we'll be checking out a park we haven't seen before for the next two days, celebrating B's 6th birthday and the birthday of this nation before heading on toward our East Coast destination.

We've cranked out nearly 600 of our 3000 miles in just two days and deserve a few days R&R to enjoy the beauty of both Missy Sassy Pants and the United States. WiFi has been hard to come by, so I will post as I am able.

Weird roads, wind back and forth from AZ to UT and back

Utah is one of the prettiest states, in my opinion, just not that part

Below the dam at Lake Powell

That makes this the dam, right?