Ten months-by the numbers

After 10 months on the road, we are calling an end to our travels for now.  Here is what we managed to accomplish during those 10 months.

60 different RV parks

59 National Park Service areas

40 states

17 historic forts

14 race tracks

21 beaches

10 islands

63 interstates

6125 pictures taken

31, 557 miles driven

1 big adventure

Good-bye for now...until the next adventure.

Tombstone, Arizona

One of the well-known towns in Arizona is Tombstone.  The gunfight at the O.K. Corral is re-enacted every day.  But even more interesting than the town is the Boothill Cemetery where many of the famous locals are buried.

Getting ready for a gunfight

Bisbee, Arizona and the Queen Mine

Back in Arizona after 9 months, stopped in Bisbee, Arizona, well-known mining town.  The mining here ended in 1975 due to the drop in copper prices.  Tourism now drives this town, you can take a tour the Queen Mine.  The tour was quite amazing, riding a little train 750 feet into the mine where a former miner explains how they mined copper, silver and gold out of the mine.  We also were able to view an open mine right outside the town.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico is home to a Spanish mission which was founded in 1706.  There is a lovely town square and lots of old world charm, as well as shopping opportunities.  You can also drive on part of old Route 66 and see some buildings with old-fashioned neon signs.  The RV park where we stayed had some vintage campers from that you could stay in for the night.  Very cool looking.

Old Town Square

Vintage 50s campers 

Kimo theater on Route 66

Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, New Mexico, actually has three locations where you can take a short walk, or a longer hike, and see some impressive petroglyphs etched into rocks by the Native American people.  We visited one of the sites, known as Piedras Marcadas Canyon.  We took a mile walk and were able to see many petroglyphs. We also saw a couple of roadrunners.

Fort Union, New Mexico

Driving through New Mexico, we stopped at Fort Union, a large military fort on the Santa Fe trail.  This fort was used as a supply post; over a dozen other forts were supplied from fort Union.  There are many partial buildings left and the footprint of the fort is quite large. The Santa Fe trail ran right through the fort allowing the wagon trains to stock up on supplies.

Jail house

Santa Fe Trail

Supply house

Chimneys left from officers quarters

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

We had the opportunity to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  This place is amazing.  There are over 30 square miles of sand and the dunes are right up against the mountains, so the setting is quite spectacular.  According to the park film, the wind blows the sand up against the mountains and then the wind off the mountain blows the sand back so that the dunes so not move around like some sand dunes do. 

State of Colorado

We clicked off our 40th state on this trip. WOW!  Colorado is also our last new state for this trip.  Heading back to Arizona in October.

Kansas and another world's largest

We drove into Kansas and stopped in a little town called Goodland.  In this town, they have the world's largest art easel with a replica of a Van Gogh painting on it.  Just to be clear, it is not the world's largest painting, just the easel.  The painting is a representation of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting.  Since Kansas is known as the sunflower state, this all makes perfect sense.

Scotts Bluff and Chimney Rock, landmarks in western Nebraska

Scotts Bluff National Monument in Scottsbluff, Nebraska is a well known point on the Oregon Trail.  It was at Scotts Bluff that the wagon trains finally left the prairie and began to get into the rocks and eventually the mountains.  This landmark could be seen by the wagon trains for several days before they actually reached the bluff.  The wagon train went through a pass and on to the west.  The Mormon trail and the Pony Express route also went through this pass.  We drove through it as well.  It makes you stop and think about all the people who have traveled this same path.

Scotts Bluff

On top of the bluff

Driving through the pass

Chimney Rock

Chimney Rock lit up at night.