In late April Joe took the 5th wheel solo from Mesa, AZ to Houghton, MI to help Shaun move into their first house. This was Joe’s first time to do everything without Jane. Like most couples who RV, we have a division of labor and neither of us has ever done everything needed to move our 25,000 pound 60 foot rig alone. Jane needed to teach Joe how to do her jobs before he left. Surprisingly, he remembered most of it.
We usually drive between 100 and 200 miles per day….we’re retired so long days of driving are not necessary. This trip was different and Joe needed to drive more days in a row and longer than was usual. However, no sense in jumping in too fast, and Joe planned the trip to include an evening at 3 national parks as he worked his way up to more miles and more confidence each day.
Day one was Petrified Forest National Park. Each park visit was only a few hours, but they made the trip better. We will go back and properly explore all of these parks. There is no national park you can really visit in a couple of hours.
Day two ended in a stop at Mesa Verde National Park. It features amazing Native American ruins. The people who lived here must have been part mountain goat in order to get to their homes. The ruins are located at 8000 feet in elevation, so winters were no picnic either. Due to covid, access to the ruins was closed when Joe was there.
Next day’s stop included an evening at Great Sand Dunes National Park.
After Sand Dunes Nation Park Joe had run out of national parks between Arizona and Michigan and needed to put more effort into driving each day. He safely arrived the night before Shaun moved out of the apartment into the camper.