Appetite From Hell

Who has dreamed of taking a cross-country road trip and didn’t think they would ever have the time or ability to? My hope for those reading this is to see that it is totally possible to plan an adventure trip for yourself!

To preface: This trip took over a year of speculating/planning. Knowing what we did from previous travel and camping experiences, the first thing that needed to be done was to make sure we had ample TIME. I requested three solid weeks off work (May 24th-June 13th), expecting to be gone much longer than we were on top of having a few extra days. About a month out we solidified major stopping points/milestones, and we had our stuff packed a week out, leaving room for last minutes changes. This road trip wasn’t just an easy drive, but we were off-roading as well to get to a few remote campsites. My fiancée made sure that any needed maintenance was done, we had extra fluids, extra parts if needed, and plenty of recovery equipment at our disposal. On top of making sure the vehicle itself would be okay, we also needed to make it our home for the next few weeks for the two of us and two dogs.

May 24th The Unexpected Relaxing Day

We would have been departing on this day if I hadn’t cut it close with an Amazon order… Of course the thing I ordered that we couldn’t leave without…had a delay in shipping, and it was a staircase for dogs to get in and out of cars! One of our pups is 11 years old, and while his energy is still there, he does need some extra help getting in and out of tall vehicles now! I was so glad we waited for the stairs! Odin had a much better quality of life being on the road! His hips and legs were not sore from excess jumping that trigger his arthritis, so he really was able to make the most of everything! If you have a senior dog that you want to bring with you on future travels, I would absolutely recommend getting one of these stairs! Here’s the link if needed: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FBJVHVF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Because we stuck around to wait for the final package, some extra time was taken to double check things we packed, make sure the FJ was ready to go, triple check all of the dog supplies we would bring, finalize the first few stops, but most importantly relax as much as possible in our own home before sleeping on the ground for at least a few days!

May 25th Kalamazoo, MI to Julesburg Reservoir near Sedgewick, CO

Traveling with dogs does add a few extra steps, most evident on days with longer driving times. To start, my fiancée put up a little gate between the front seats and the back of the FJ where the dogs would have their temporary home. Driving is a lot less stressful when you’re not worrying about pups trying to get in the passenger seat! We also brought pillows and a blanket for them from home to have familiar smells in the vehicle. We also made sure to stop every few hours so the pups could stretch their legs, go potty, drink water or eat if needed, as well as helping ease any travel stress! Apparently most Love’s gas station locations through the Midwest have dog parks, so we made sure to stop at one of those whenever it was time to refuel so the boys could get their break!

We were also lucky enough to have front row seats to a Super Blood Moon! Coincidentally, the first night of our trip would be the first night of a lunar eclipse that would also be appearing very large in the sky! The cloud cover didn’t let us get a full view of the lunar eclipse when I woke up several times through the night to check for it, however, the super moon portion of the night was incredible! Watching the moonrise over the open skies was amazing after a fourteen hour drive! Our younger dog, Tito, was fascinated watching it! We wonder if he thought it was a big dog treat in the sky…

May 26th Colorado Flatlands to Mountains and National Forests

At this point we knew we would be in Colorado for at least a few days, and after feeling a little slow waking up due to the time zone changes, we took the day at our own pace with no timeline in mind. The Pike/San Isabel National Forest where our next site was located wasn’t too far of a drive either. We stopped in Denver to get some groceries and fuel, and were blown away at the mountain scenery as we approached the city as first timers!

Our second campsite in Colorado was something magical. We ended up camping way up there, enough to get the full mountain experience! At over 9000 feet elevation, on an already windy day, we had some huge gusts consistently trying to take our stuff! The end result was moving our campsite from the cliff view a little bit further down behind some natural boulder cover. We have no experience camping in this environment, and luckily we packed well enough to handle it with ease! Lesson learned here: when camping in the mountains, always take wind into account! Another thing to keep in mind when camping in the mountains is the local wildlife, and here we were in bear country! We properly stored our food and trash, and have luckily had no issues!

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Don’t let the wind or elevation scare you off, a site like this is well worth the preparation and trek! 11/10 would go back to spend at least at least 4-5 days in this campsite alone, let alone working your way through the rest of the forest!

May 27th Pike National Forest to Grand Junction, CO

Waking up early is always worth it for the sunrises. The morning view following the Super Blood Moon views did not disappoint! The moon was still huge and gave for some more impressive views! As much as we would have loved to stay for more sights, it was time to pack up and move on to our next destination!

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Working our way down the mountain, we found some more awesome campsites with cool rock faces! While we had the best view at ours, they definitely had some cool shelter options!

After getting out of Pike National Forest, we stopped at a restaurant called Java Moose in Fairplay, CO to figure our plans for the current day and next several days. Shoutout to the restaurant for having some DELICIOUS cold brew (which was truly refreshing after camping coffee for several days) and serving some amazing sandwiches! An unexpected sight to behold on our way out of Fairplay was getting to witness a full-sized male moose wander into town, not caring about cars or people as we turned onto the highway! Crazy, right!? A moose outside of Java Moose!

During lunch, we decided to start working our way out West for more time in Moab, but we needed another halfway point. Unfortunately, because we were traveling during Memorial Day Weekend, many campsites were already taken whether by reservation or by people leaving their stuff behind with rocks sitting on top with then intention of coming back later (which is honestly not cool, if your stuff is there, you or another human being should be there too). After several hours of searching for open campsites, we decided to find a trail on the way to Utah with hopes of potential campsites out there.

Very, VERY unluckily, the only trail on the way that wasn’t an insanely hard grade for the load we were carrying was basically an open cattle ranch, but of course we had no way of knowing until we got there. After figuring out that the trail description was very very wrong, and being tired of facing male bulls periodically, we decided to give ourselves a break and find a pet-friendly hotel nearby!

The Red Roof Inn in Grand Junction, CO ended up being our saving grace after this very exhausting day! It was very pet friendly with full amenities and an amazing staff! A soft bed to sleep, somewhere to shower and wash clothes, and maybe get some restaurant food for the first time in several days was something to truly be thankful for!

May 28th Red Roof Inn to the canyons in Moab, UT

After an amazing night of sleep and decompressing, we were ready to see some cool stuff again! Grand Junction wasn’t too far from Moab, so we left straight for it with the intention of stopping for resupply after arriving! The drive was beautiful, and very inspiring to watch the terrain change from leaving the mountains and crossing into the desert.

After the fiasco of not finding a campsite two days before, my fiancée decided to ask a local working at the visitor center for advice or knowledge of any campsites, potentially near water, in Moab. We struck gold and he ended up giving us directions to the most epic campsite we could have asked for, right next to the Green River! It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows getting there though, we ended up taking the Hey Joe Canyon trail to get down to the site, which we were luckily prepared for with a fully built Toyota FJ!

Can you imagine the stars at this location? Words can’t describe them, you’ll just have to get out here yourself to see them! I wish I had more words to describe the experience at this campsite, but it still doesn’t even seem real looking back on it after the fact, it was that magical.

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About the Hey Joe Canyon Trail: A moderately difficult trail with some switchbacks along a 600 foot descent down the canyon. The road is regularly maintained to deal with erosion issues, and you may even see the lights of the maintenance trucks in the middle of the night from the bottom of the canyon! More info about the trail can be found here https://thetrekplanner.com/hey-joe-canyon-moab-utah/

May 29th Green River Oasis to Upper Big Bend Campground

Advice for camping in the desert: be smart about your shelter and water! We had an extra shade within our canopy shelter that we used to block the sun as it moved through the day here, especially important for the dogs!

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We went into the town of Moab itself to get in contact with a friend who would meet up with us later, replenish water, get some food, and find a new campsite. We decided to go to the Upper Big Bend campsite for ease of meeting up with somebody in an area with no cell phone reception for miles and miles. In high contrast to the day before, after a fairly easy drive to the campsite, we spent basically the whole day relaxing and catching up with our friend once he made it out there.

May 30th Red Rocks and Trails to our home away from home, the hotel!

As this was our last morning in Moab, it was time to find a fun trail to explore! We decided against going to Arches National Park during this trip for the fact of the insane line to get in and we didn’t want to waste our day sitting in the car waiting. Needing some more time to plan, we found a local Starbucks at a grocery location, got some breakfast and coffee, replenished supplies again, and decided on checking out the Chicken Corners Trail.

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Chicken Corners Trail info here https://www.rr4w.com/trail-details.cfm?trailid=6

After enjoying the morning exploring, we stopped at Jackass Joe’s Twilight Zone for some quirky sodas and creative beef jerky before parting ways with our friend and returning to Colorado.

I have to take a moment to talk about how crowded the city was during Memorial Day weekend. We did NOT take the weekend holiday into account when planning the trip, and did our best to avoid crowds however possible. My honest opinion is that national parks and places like Moab overall are going to be more crowded from now on after having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic. That being said, if you’ve never made it out to Moab, do yourself a favor and make it happen. Everything we saw while exploring the trails made all that time, stress, and planning worth it!

May 31st The second hotel is lucky we’re thankful for it…

After a second stay in Grand Junction, we began our trek home at around 9:00 AM. Not much can be said for our time driving through Nebraska and Iowa, we powered through the drive pretty easily and decided to stop at a Red Roof Inn location in Council Bluffs. Unfortunately our experience at this hotel was less than ideal, but still a relief to find a cost-effective and pet-friendly hotel at the last minute (around 8:30 PM) in a place we are unfamiliar with.

June 1st Home Sweet Home

After not sleeping so well, we left around 5:00 AM for the last bit of driving. Luckily, this bit went by pretty quickly until we hit Chicago traffic! After a few hours of stop-and-go while being surrounded by semi-trucks (such high anxiety during this, omg), we made it back to Michigan! We struggled a little bit with the time changes on the way back, but wanted to be in our own home so badly that we didn’t care too much. Most of this drive was spent reflecting on things we learned during the trip about each other, about ourselves, about the dogs (especially with Tito being a newer member of the family and how Odin did traveling officially being a senior dog now), things we would be thankful to see again as soon as we got home, and talking about plans for another road trip in the future!

Bits of advice from our reflection time…

• If you are traveling with pets or dogs, do some research on what exactly is pet-friendly. Find out which hotels are pet-friendly, as well as what resting points during the drive will be best for them too! We found out that some gas stations and rest stops actually have dog parks!
• Make packing lists a few weeks ahead of time, multiple if you have to! Having fun on a vacation like this means making sure you are prepared for anything! I brought one week’s worth of clothes/supplies with the expectation that we could wash our stuff in a hotel or river at a halfway point. It was the perfect amount of stuff, and not too bulky.
• If you need to order anything online, make sure everything you need has already arrived at least a week before leaving!
• Request as much time off as you can, not only to have wiggle room for the length of the trip, but also to relax once you get home. You will definitely be wanting a few days not having to be in a car and sleeping in your own bed before going back to work!
• If you aren’t trying to be totally all out hardcore, do yourself a favor and get a hotel room once every few days to shower, do laundry, catch up on supplies, etc.
• Be completely open-minded and make sure you and whoever you are traveling with (friend, significant other, family, etc.) are in good mental health headspaces. If you are off-roading, time in the car and stress from trails/obstacles can add up pretty quickly, let alone being away from home and the comfortable things we know and love!

My fiancée and I learned so much about each other in the best way! 11/10 would recommend for couples to plan some kind of “difficult” vacation together! We grew exponentially as a couple, and as individuals when it was all said and done!