A trip of extremes

We have made it full circle and are back at home in Eagle. 29 days, 5005.7 miles, 5 states, 16 national parks, and more amazing memories! 16 nights of camping and days without a shower. The truck is unpacked and clean (it took Jim a full day to get all the mud and grime out of every crevice), and the gear is stored. When we started out 29 days ago it felt like we had all the time in the world. A month goes by fast on the road!

It was a trip of extremes:
Temperatures from a low of 47 to a high of 119.
Elevations from -235 to over 10,000.
Desolate landscape where nothing grows to the largest tree in the world.
Dry desert heat to so much water that it breeds kid-eating mosquitos.
Tiny trees to some of the oldest Bristlecone pines in the world.

We explored environments that were totally new to us and learned about animals we had no idea existed. The girls were captivated by the Ocelot at the desert museum in Tuscon. They would like one for a pet. They will have to settle for King Hume, our Giant Sequoia. He made it home and is looking forward to being planted in a large pot.

This was also a trip of trees. We saw fields of Saguaro cacti, Agave that looks like a Dr. Seuss tree, Joshua trees, enormous Giant Sequoias, very old Bristlecone pines, and everything in between. Each time the girls do a Junior Ranger we learn more about the plants and trees and how to identify them. It's fun to look around and see what we can figure out with our very limited knowledge.

We visited so many national parks! From the deserted Organ Pipe to the city in the woods of Yosemite. Each is beautiful in it's own way. Bryce and Sequoia/ Kings Canyon were highlights. While it is one of the most beautiful spots, Yosemite was a challenge. Too many people, limited services, very crowded parking. Sadly, this is a theme in the bigger parks, especially when they are so close to as many big cities as Yosemite. While it's nice to see these amazing places, we enjoyed some of the remote places on this trip as much, if not more.

It's hard to believe that we have been on three month-long family road trips. That's a lot of time together and a lot of time in Big Red. Samantha and Ali are growing into their roles as part of the system that makes it all work. They love to camp and have gotten very good at helping to set up and take down camp. They also love to help in the "kitchen" and work with me to prepare meals and clean up. They continue to amaze us in so many ways. The word "bored" rarely comes from the back seat. They make up games with cards, pencil and paper, their stuffies, or sometimes nothing at all. They read and do workbooks. At a campsite or a lunch stop the game might be with a stick, their scooters, or some rocks. They entertain themselves so well. It's a gift that I hope sticks with them forever.

There were many highlights of the 2016 trip. For the girls most of them had to do with water and ice cream. The mist trail, the swinging bridge swimming hole, and top of the list- Hume Lake. For Jim and I the highlights are more about the travel together and the adventure of finding a spot on the map and going there. It won't be long before the girls start to choose those spots too. We look forward to that and the future Maule Family Adventures!

Thank You!!

As always, we could not have done this trip without a support team! A big thanks to Grandma Kim and Grandpa Alan for being our road-trip travel agents.

Special thanks to Jim's Uncle Ray. He was the only family we saw on this trip and left an impression! We hope to get back to Las Vegas to see him sometime soon.

Other things that helped out along the way....
iPhone maps,
Road Trip America (the wacky, wild, and weird app),
GasBuddy,
Yelp,
Our trusty and tattered Rand McNally US atlas,
and the kindness of strangers, both local and those on the road like us.

It's always an adventure when we travel- thanks to you for going along with us. Knowing that we will document each stop and experience helps us articulate it. Know that we have readers makes it much more fun!

Loma, Colorado

Our last picnic of the 2016 road trip. 132 miles to go....

Welcome to Colorado

The girls are SO excited to be back in Colorado. Mile 0. Only 147 more to go. 

This marker was on the old road before I-70 was built. The road was about a mile from here. It was refurbished and placed here on June 25, 2016. (That was last Saturday.) We didn't think we had seen it before....

Hidden Arch

We had to explore a little of Sego Canyon to find it...

We also found a rock tunnel/ A frame.

Rock pictures in Sego Canyon, UT

Pictographs (pick- tow-Grafs) are paintings on rock usually painted in red.

Petroglyphs (pet- row-glifs) are pictures carved into the rocks usually faded if they are old.

By Samantha

PS this is a fact

Looking for fossils is dirty work.

We drove big red in to a giant mud puddle. It was soooooo fun we did it again and again. 

He was dirty so we had to go to a car wash.

Dirty big red before.

Clean big red after.

From Alexandra!!

Fossil point UT

We went to fossil point UT! We looked for fossils and bones of dinosaurs! We found a couple bones. Looking...

We give up 

Going down 

Bones

And we have made it down!

We found lots of rocks! They were not all the same color. There was cool colored dirt too! 

2 blue berry muffins for each of us!

Yum! We got blueberry muffins from the Budget inn motel! The man made them him self! They're so good!

SOOOOO TEMPING TO EAT!! 

By Samantha 

Back in Utah

We are heading east towards home. I-70 through Utah is breathtaking. We stopped at every overlook.

The light was perfect and the storm made it nice and cool. Not the typical summer Utah weather.

(In case you were wondering... Ali is in her pajamas. Day 28 was apparently PJ Day. And we are all in need of a shower!)

Dead bristle cone sliding board

At the start...

Sliding down...

All the way down! Sam fell off.

By Samantha 

Bristlecone Trail

Amazing trees that grow at high elevations and live for thousands of years. They are shaped by the elements and twist into some amazing shapes. They grow slow and are very dense. They do not decompose so the standing dead ones are really old too!

The hike up.

Bristlecone trees.

Sam reading about the two types of trees in the grove. There are also Limber pine trees.

Great climbing trees!

We called this "thumb rock".

Cold camp night

Who would have thought that the worst weather of trip would be in Nevada! While we were in the cave a storm rolled in. It rained at the visitor center but at the campground at 9886 feet it was hail. We got back to a soggy tent surrounded by little piles of hail. It sprinkled on us as we put on our warm gear and built a campfire. Down to 47 degrees!

Cooked burritos over the fire. While we were eating we were treated to a few moments of sun on Wheeler Peak and a full rainbow.

Yummy huckleberry milkshake

Sammy (left). I said it was yum yum yum yum yum yum! 200,000,000,000 thumbs up for the cafe! Highly rare and super good huckleberry ice cream milkshake!! Ali (right). She said that the double chocolate ice cream milkshake was...THE BEST EVER!!!!! By Samantha! 

P.S Dad stuck his hand in to show that he was sharing! 

Great Basin National Park

A nice diversion from the lonely road across Nevada. The park has caves and bristle cone pine tree groves. The highest point, Wheeler Peak is over 13000 feet. We planned out stop as a way to beat the Nevada heat and camp at the top of the road, 9886 feet.

Lehman Cave

Samantha helped the tour guide by pointing out the graffiti from 1891.

This was one of the rental cabins from the 1920's.

Ward Mountain campground.

A quiet campground near Ely, Nevada!  Some fire wood for fires. Ali gives it 200 thumbs up! All it needs is paved roads and a creek! Sam said that she would give it 455 thumbs up if it did not rain. We could not look at the stars with the rain cover on.

-Samantha 

Lunar Crater

Another red dot on the map. 8 miles up a dirt road. Totally worth the drive to see this volcanic crater.

A panorama is the only way to capture it.

Probably as deep and wide as Meteor Crater.

Looney family at the lunar crater.

Collecting dirt.

This is definitely off the beaten track. We haven't seen another car for miles!