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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: getting ready first road trip HELP
    Posted: 05 Jun 2018 at 8:39pm
Originally posted by Tars Tarkas

Looking at a map, you must be talking about leaving Mom and the Pod in Bloomfield.  I don't know about road conditions, but Google says that's about an hour out of Chaco.  That's nothing in New Mexico, and assuming the roads are much good at all it should be a beautiful drive in and out twice.

Your timing is great too, with a new moon on the 13th. 

I still don't get it about the extra battery.

TT.

Yes, I meant Bloomfield. I may have said Bloomington or Bloomsville or Bloomsdale or what have you. Next, I have to figure out what's going on with the Colorado leg of this journey, and whether or not we've accidentally booked several more impossible destinations, lol.

I don't understand what people aren't understanding about the leisure battery? 
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2595 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Jun 2018 at 9:48pm
Val, I think your trip is now taking on manageable proportions.  

Lugging a 12v deep cycle battery will certainly give you more options with camping.  I imagine you could charge it with jumper cables to your car.  It makes sense for the time you are tent camping.  For the Pod, the extra battery may or may not be needed, depending on whether you take the trailer to campgrounds in the national forests where there is rarely electricity hook ups for RV's.  [I still can't get used to saying shore power, a boater's term, because there is no shore, just camp sites or parking spaces.]  

If you haven't, you may want to check out https://www.campendium.com/free-camping  It has information about camping places in all over the country with detailed reviews, pictures, etc.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 7:17am
Originally posted by valrenter


Originally posted by David

Originally posted by valrenter

 
Here is my plan B as it is currently shaping up in my noggin: ...

Well, I feel better about your Plan "B" vs Plan "A".

I am curious about the "aux battery" and why new tires for the Rpod???


You take an innocent 12v deep cycle battery that never hurt anybody, and you stick it in a smart box and wrap the box's numerous wires and connectors around the terminals, clamp the box shut and voila: power your cell phone, drip misting fans off of it, string romantic lights all around your pontoons, heat up your George Forman grill, run your mpv player and usb speakers on full blast for the benefit of other boaters nearby, beef up your boat's battery so you can be out there partying all night long, plug in your mini-heater, ... you name it.



Thanks for explaining the "aux/leisure battery". I've lived a sheltered life away from lake boaters.   

Keep posting and keep us up to date on your progress.




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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 12:17pm

NEED ALTERNATE ROUTES OR PERHAPS WHOLE NEW JOURNEY


Goals: darkest sky, ghost town (accessible, abandoned buildings), hopefully one 2-4-hour rent a boat on safe body of water but that would just be a bonus.

 

Original Plan (made while ignorant of any roads, using roadtrippers and various ghost town finding websites):

Origin: midwest, east side of Kansas. mid June.

 

day 1. long drive to Tulsa. full hook ups night

day 2. long drive to Amarillo. full hook ups night

 

day 3. full hook ups near Acoma Pueblo. See Pueblo morning of day 4. drive to Bloomfield afternoon of day 4 on 550

 

day 4. full hooks ups in Bloomfield 'base camp.' drive into Chaco with tent and set up camp. sleep in Chaco with tent night of day 4.

day 5. explore Chaco. sleep in tent in Chaco night of day 5 OR drive back to Bloomfield and sleep there. (I have Chaco AND Bloomfield booked for 3 nights to allow wiggle room if weather gives us trouble with Chaco). Charge up batteries

 

day 6. Mesa Verde. DRY CAMP. Night tour.

Day 7. Mesa Verde 700 years tour. DRY CAMP. (I have Mesa Verde booked for 3 nights to allow wiggle room). Sleep night of day 7 in Mesa Verde.

 

From here on, it's wide open as far as changes are concerned. It doesn't matter WHERE we actually go AT ALL. Goal is just to show my kid some decent abandoned buildings with a feeling of adventure while still remaining safe.

 

Even cancelling Mesa Verde is on the table if necessary.

 

This is what WAS planned/reserved:

 

Day 8. Silverton full hook ups 'base camp'.

Arrive early in the am and park in the "waiting for site" slot. Rented a jeep for 2 days. The idea was to follow ghost town guides with the jeep but NOT to drive anyplace too remote or dangerous. There is a tour related to mayflower gold mill, there is Ironton, and several abandoned sites near and around Silverton. I also wanted to drive with the jeep on 550 all the way up to Ouray on the 550 to see if doing that with the r-pod really was possible as youtube claimed it was.

 

Day 9. still in Silverton. Maybe tour old 100 gold mine, check the roads using jeep, re-route if uncomfortable with the passes. Drive scenic roads with the jeep possibly. I have Silverton booked for 3 nights for wiggle room. Sleep night of day 9. (I have Gunnison reserved for day 9 in case we want to leave early and drive to Gunnison on day 9)

 

to get to Gunnison:

Roadtrippers has us continuing north on 550 then at Montrose turning east on 50, which is a road I have NOT yet learned ANYTHING about.

 

Day 10 Gunnison. 4 hour pontoon boat rented. Sleep day 10 Gunnison.

 

Day 11. great sand dunes. Sleep night 11

 

To get to sand dunes:

Roadtrippers has us staying on 50 until it becomes 285 going SOUTH, which becomes state hwy 17 into the sand dunes.

 

I have not learned anything about 50 or 285 or 17 yet.

 

Day 12. great sand dunes. Sleep night 12.

 

Day 13. long drive into Kansas. Dry camp reserved for night 13.

 

Day 14. very long drive home. Arrive late in the pm.


This trip was reserved without any consideration for any roads beyond Silverton. There is no one special site we really wanted to see except Chaco, which, thanks to your help, we have a way of having a chance to do that. Any trip that can allow my daughter to see abandoned buildings with a feeling of adventure would be fantastic.
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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 1:21pm
Originally posted by lostagain

Val, I think your trip is now taking on manageable proportions.  



Apologies for not quite knowing how to "tag" you or others. I've put my potential trip down below and could really use your guidance as I've never seen those roads and am running short on time for researching other options blind and still keeping my job, lol. 

Val
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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 1:29pm
i mean 'above' not below. Embarrassed
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Posts: 240 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 1:30pm
Originally posted by David

 
Thanks for explaining the "aux/leisure battery". I've lived a sheltered life away from lake boaters.   

Keep posting and keep us up to date on your progress.

Valrenter, you are both smart AND wise (which I pretty much figured even from your first post). You and your family are going to have a great adventure thanks to your planning, which also includes wiggle room for last minute spontenaity. The best of both worlds :-)  
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Posts: 2702 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 1:30pm
I'd like to see the mileage on each of the legs of your tour. You've got a lot of your days devoted to traveling, and you may be pushing it a tad (not saying tha's true, I don't really know yet). However, if you are traveling 7 of 10 days, that seems like a push, depending on distance. It does take a little bit to set up/take down and then travel. We have generally had a better time when we have a day or two to enjoy a place before we move on. 400 miles per leg is perhaps on the high end of what's possible without completely wearing yourself out. Many would consider that too far. 
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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 2:12pm
Originally posted by GlueGuy

I'd like to see the mileage on each of the legs of your tour.   

Hopefully, it's okay to repost such a long post and just add the mileage. I'm going to go ahead and do that, and if amounted to too much posting or broke some other internet etiquette rule that I don't know about, someone will let me know.

My main concerns now are: 

what to do about 550 north from durango up to montrose with the 416 fire and would that be safe even if there was no fire?

what is 50 east actually like? it looks like an ordinary flat road in overhead shots and clicking on the cameras along COtrip website, but that can't be right because it looks like mountains on geography maps.

what is 285 going south to the sand dunes actually like?

I will repost with Roadtrippers' mileage and times between for the parts of the trip that are so unfamiliar.    
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valrenter View Drop Down
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Posts: 31 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 2018 at 2:17pm
Originally posted by Live2Camp

Originally posted by David

 


Keep posting and keep us up to date on your progress.

You and your family are going to have a great adventure 

Thanks so much. I'm still quite concerned about Silverton and 550 going north to Montrose, as well as 50 east AND 285 south. Is there a way to avoid 550 north up to Montrose? Is there a less dangerous trip we could take from Mesa Verde? Is 50 dangerous? etc etc.

These maps and even videos and live cameras aren't helping me really understand what I'm in for.
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