Well, after two years of blood (literally), sweat (extremely literally), and tears (ahem… figuratively, of course), we finally took our first trip in our Shasta. It’s been a serious trip in itself just getting to this point, and not all systems are totally working yet, but it was time to get her on the road!
We chose a campground near Durango, CO for our first trip. A long distance, but we really wanted to go somewhere out of state and new to us. We went with my wife's entire family and almost everyone had some kind of trailer or camper. The Shasta pulled and performed really well with no problems at all. I was really pleased. The sway control bar helped with wind and trucks passing by and we kept our speed to a max of 65 mph.
Here we are stopped for lunch in Payson, AZ:
We decided to only drive halfway and stay the night in Chinle, AZ. 10 hrs is a long drive with little kids, plus we wanted to spend some time at the Canyon De Chelly national monument. This is a beautiful place. Make sure to stop there if you get a chance. Amazing views. The next time we go through there we are going to hike down to the Indian ruins. We stayed at a great free site near the canyon. This was our first time sleeping in the trailer. It was a fairly hot night, but not too bad.
Here are some pics of the campground and Canyon De Chelly:
The next morning we headed north again on our way to Colorado. My Father in Law took us through a beautiful canyon drive that has a fantastic overlook of Shiprock in New Mexico. Rain poured and impromptu waterfalls poured down the canyon walls. We barely made it up the steep mountain and had to stop and cool off the van at one point. We made it though and kept on trucking towards our campground.
I saw a bunch of old trailers as we drove through New Mexico and Colorado. Here are a few pics of some cool ones:
This one actually had “Not 4 Sale” painted on the windows. Must have been asked a couple times…
Here’s a tiny one:
A Spartan Mansion, I think…
Neat with the storm rolling in…
Sixties Shasta in storage. I think I bewildered a guy trying to get into the facility as he watched me bushwack across the freeway embankment to shoot this pic… haha
I’d love to pull my trailer with a truck like this:
In the last major town before the forest we stopped at a Wal Mart so I could buy some cheap running shoes (in my haste to get the trailer ready, tested, and packed I forgot shoes… haha). Then we drove through the small town of Dolores and on to Mavreeso Campground in the San Juan National Forest. The campground is right on the West Fork of the Dolores River, so we had a nice cool spot for the kids to play, etc… The weater was perfect. After coming from 115 degrees in Phoenix, we were more than ready for a high of 80 degrees.
Here are some pics from our campground:
Here’s some pics of the finished interior. I really like how the curtains turned out:
After a week of relaxing, kayaking, daytrips to old mining towns, card playing, campfires, and skits, it was time to head home. We took the long way home and stopped at Four Corners before back tracking north through Utah in order to go through Monument Valley. We went through a really cool town called Bluff, Utah. My Bro. in Law got some cool pics of the trailer while following us:
This is one of my favorite pics of the trailer in Monument Valley:
Strategic shot at the “Cow Canyon Trading Post”
And finally, the obligatory shot of the trailer next to the HUGE toyhauler my Bro. in Law rented for the trip showcasing the stark difference in RV eras:
We had a fantastic time and can’t wait for our next extended trip with the trailer. We are doing a small two night trip to the high country of AZ in a week. Can’t wait!
Thanks
Paul and Darcy
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