First big trip

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I have been lucky in my life to travel quite a bit around the country. Most of it in a station wagon, my parents pulling an Airstream. It is time for me to return the favor to my family.

In the summer of 2002, we decided to take a nice trip. The main destination was Yellowstone. We had reservations there so that was our driving factor. The first night was Las Vegas, we then hit Capitol Reef NP for a couple of nights and a hike. After that was Moab, UT and CanyonLands NP and Arches NP. We wish we had spent more time there and would come back to Arches in the future. Next stop was Dinosaur NM by Vernal, UT via a short jaunt into Colorado. We ran into the steepest road I have ever encountered. We had our Excursion (V10 gas) and were down to 10-15 MPH due to the switchbacks. It was interesting going back to Dinosaur. I remember watching the naturalists actually working on the fossils the last time I was there. This time, however they don’t work on it anymore. They feel there is nothing else to uncover.

We set off from Vernal to get to the Grand Tetons. As we were going through the Flaming Gorge section they had gravelled the road. I looked back at the airstream and I saw the front window shatter. MAN! We pulled over but there was very little shoulder and we tried to remove as much of the glass as possible. The next town was Rock Springs, population around 12K. The first thought was to find a glass company and have it replaced. Well this was a Sunday so that would not do. What we did was get to an Ace hardware, get a piece of plywood, have them cut it in half, pretty good fit, and get a coping saw to cut out the odd shapes in the window. Here is what it looked like:

'Replacement window'

It allowed us to get to Grand Tetons. That night my wife and I slept in the front, it wasn’t too cold but not as good as having some glass there. The next day we went into Jackson Hole to get the front window fixed, and to sightsee. The guy at the glass shop did not have tempered glass, he would have to get it from Salt Lake City but we didn’t have the time. I asked him to put in some plexiglass, but he balked since it was a vehicle. I finally convinced him that this was a trailer and no one would be in it when we were travelling. He agreed.

Grand Tetons is another place that we would go back to, the beauty is AMAZING! We went to Yellowstone the next day. We had 5 nights there. We broke the park into quadrants and tried to visit one each day. The park is HUGE. One day we decided to visit my wife’s brothers in Buffalo. So we did a 500 mile out and back trip to see them. It was worth it. We had a slight animal encounter in Yellowstone. We were resting in the trailer and our daughter said there was a buffalo outside our trailer. We thought she was joking until we looked and there it was! About 15 feet from our trailer, messing with a pine tree. Here is the picture from our trailer door:

Local Buffalo

We would go back to Yellowstone but it would not be a high priority. Time to head home. We went out West Yellowstone and down through Salt Lake City. From there we went to Great Basin NP. I had never been there before and it was a fun place. The road up to the park is unbelievable. It is long and no break in the grade. Make sure your brakes are working. You can visit Lehman Caves there also, a nice little cavern.

Two more nights and we were home. Approximately 2600 miles, 21 days, 7 states and 7 national parks/monuments. A nice way to introduce my family to extended travelling.