Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: May 2020

4/23/2020 – Heading Home

It is been 5 months since my last post so I thought I better write something before I forget what we have been up to.

After my last post in Yuma on April 22 the temperatures in Arizona soared. Most days the high temp was over 100 degrees. We put up our screen tent with an extra tarp on the top to try increase the shade but even in the shade it was hot. We would run our single air conditioner but it was no match for the heat. Most days we were lucky to get the inside camper temperature to 92 degrees. One afternoon it just shut off. It came back on a few hours later which was a relief. Our plan was to leave on May 1 with our friends Steve and Li. They were staying in their recently purchased park model so were a little more comfortable than we were. We needed some relief from the heat so we decided to leave earlier.

On Monday, April 27^th we got up early and were on the road by 6 A.M. We were not sure where we would end up that night but wanted to get into the higher elevations and cooler temps before mid day. We made Flagstaff shortly before noon, took a break to get fuel, then got back on the road. Because of Covid most tourist attractions, parks, museums, etc. were closed. It made sense to just keep driving until we needed to stop for the night. Six hundred fifteen miles later we arrived at Enchanted Trails RV Park, near Albuquerque, just before dark. We were familiar with this park as we had stayed here a few times in the past.

The next day we drove 533 and made it to Brush Colorado and stayed at a nice city park. On the way we had a nice view of the Rocky Mountains on our left and prairie on our right. We avoided Denver by leaving I-25 at Colorado Springs, got on Hwy 25 up to Limon Co then Hwy 71 up to Brush and I-76.

Wednesday had us heading east on I-76 then onto I-80 at Omaha. After making a view calls and finding most city, county, state and private campgrounds closed in Iowa we were thinking we would have to boondock at a Walmart. However after more searching we found a Econolodge in Walnut Iowa with a small campground. Upon arrival we stopped in at the hotel. They said we were their first campers of the season and were not even sure if the power was on. We pulled into a spot and Dennis found a pedestal that had power. We were good to go! The campground was nothing special but was better than a Walmart parking lot. It was another long day of driving, 493 miles, but the weather had been excellent since leaving Yuma as we did not encounter any rain or high winds. After another long 470 mile day we arrived home on Thursday April 30^th.

Where we are parked: Enchanted Trails Camping Resort, 10 miles west of Albuquerque. 135 sites, 115 with full hookups. Mixture of 20/30/50 amps, restroom with showers, Dump station. All sites are pretty level.

Where we are parked: Brush Memorial RV Park and Campground, Located on the south end of town is the city-run campground and RV park offering 18 gravel sites, 12 electrical and water sites, restrooms, showers and RV dump are available. No reservations and the cost is just $25 per night, with a maximum stay of 7 days.

Where we are parked: Econolodge, Walnut Iowa – 15 site campground with electric and water. Sites and road were narrow. Would not recommend for a rig larger than ours especially in the spring when the ground is soft. Otherwise it served the purpose and at $25 and was a sufficient overnight spot.