The Great Southwest (No hay mucho verde)

Our big trip this year had a number of goals: 1. Visit a bunch of National Parks 2. Visit a bunch of National Monuments 3. See family 4. See some sand dunes 5. And be flexible

The route, as planned, would take us down into Oregon, across into Idaho and Utah, down into Arizona to see both the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, more stops in Utah and then Colorado. From Colorado east into Kansas, down to Big Bend on the south edge of Texas, some parks in New Mexico, and then Arizona again. Finally, California,a sprint across Oregon, and home.

Changes to the plan weren’t frequent but we did have to make changes to accommodate the National Park Service closing the campground at the north Rim of the Grand Canyon, Gail’s cousin coming down with Covid (she has since recovered), and New Mexico wanting anyone that stopped in the state to quarantine for 14 days (we just cruised across without stopping). We also had an electrical problem in Kansas that caused us to skip a couple of stops in Texas. Google Maps came up with a figure of just 0ver 7,000 miles for this trip. With changes and side trips we did 7,395

With all that out of the way, let’s look at some pictures! On to page 2