Summer trip summary

I’m back at Cave Creek Recreation area after 6200 miles over the summer.  It’s fitting to stay here a night since this is where we stayed our first nights back the beginning of June.  We will look for a place to park long-term so we can winter in the valley.  Unfortunately they don’t have sewer hook-ups here or this is where we would stay because we love this place.

Now that I’m back in the valley of the sun for the winter I thought I would reflect on the trip this summer.  Here are some random thoughts:
- New Mexico needs to learn to smoothly transition road and overpass so that a motor home doesn’t fly into outer space at each and every one.  And fix the pot holes that a motor home can sometimes get lost in too!
- Illinois Beach State Park was one of my favorite campgrounds
- it was so great to see a lot of old friends back in MI and WI and spend more time with family than I had in forever
- the state animal for MN and SD should be the skunk (if it isn’t already)
- I can’t wait to get back to the U.P. and spend a lot of time there
- Illinois had the worst roads of the trip
- The Black Hills of SD are very pretty
- I wonder why Pronghorn Antelope like to hang out next to a highway when there is open prairie as far as the eye can see
- The trip to Grand Forks to see The Ralph was worth it
- It was interesting spending time in a new biome, the grasslands.
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm
- most people say that miles upon miles of prairie or farm land are boring… I say that you need to learn to appreciate the journey and stop worrying about being entertained.  I’m fortunate to have read a lot about explorers and westward expansion so I was always thinking about what those people went through.
- now that I’m back to AZ, upper 90’s here still feels better than humid 80s in the Midwest.  Yes, dry heat is for real folks.
- Camp Verde is still pretty hot.  That valley’s elevation isn’t high enough to be dramatically cooler than Phoenix.
- I’m really excited for hockey season to begin!
- I can’t wait to hit the road again in the spring.  What’s the agenda?  Slow trip up the west coast to Washington for an event in July.  Then Glacier National Park and work back east (Devils Tower); spend time in the U.P.; down through MI to visit again; work down through the Smokies and the Carolinas; maybe winter next year in Florida?  Just thoughts and dreams (why stop dreaming now).

Here is a map of the travels.