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Durango

 Next stop was Oasis RV resort just outside of Durango, Colorado, a big city compared to Creede. We stayed there for three nights, primarily to ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, which we did! Fire risk was high, so the journey itself was potentially going to be canceled because you don't want to run a coal fired steam train through a fire risk! But, luckily, the train went as scheduled and we had the most amazing time climbing the mountains up to Cascade along the Animas River. We stopped for lunch at the top while the train turned around and then headed back down to Durango. The views were incredible. Andrew's favorite part was the train whistle!! Oasis RV Resort also had a swimming pool, which may have been Andrew's favorite feature. Daddy liked the breakfast they served (blueberry pancakes!) out of a yellow caboose and everyone liked the rubber ducky races in the creek. Scored a Blanton's and a Weller at the local liquor shop and braved the crowd ...
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Creede on the Rio Grande

 Creede, Colorado is a former mining town right on the Rio Grande. It wasn't exactly on our route, but it was close enough and worth the stop. We stayed at an RV "Resort" (no pool or playground, so Andrew might take issue with that title). Got to see some old mining camps driving Bachelor's Loop - the old mining road outside of town - and Carol the Corolla served us well even on this road that was clearly meant for 4x4s! Andrew and I went fishing in the Rio Grande several days while we were there, and I even caught a fish! Exceeds expectations for the $10 rod and reel sets I got us from Amazon. Ella tried to take Andrew to the Last Chance Mine, but it's closed Wednesdays. Probably the highlight of this stop was Rail Biking. Revolution Rail Co. opened their newest location in South Fork, CO so we called them and they opened just for us on a day that they would normally be closed! Ed and his team were amazing guides showing us the route and then giving us a history ...
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Colorado Springs

 Layover #3 was at Cherokee Ridge Golf club. We mostly picked it due to its proximity to the Colorado Springs airport in order to pick up our rental car, Carol the Corolla. It made for a great grocery stop too. The coolest thing we did here was visit Garden of the Gods. Such a neat spot! The land was donated to the city of Colorado Springs in 1909 by the children of the original owner, Charles Elliott Perkins, and honored his wish that it be forever free to the public. We saw some pretty amazing rock formations and some very brave rock climbers. There were signs for rattle snakes and Andrew got a bit worried about them, but we explained that snakes are more scared of you than you are of them!
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Wakeeny, Kansas? Yep, nothing there.

 We are members of a program called Harvest Hosts, which is a network of farms, wineries, breweries, museums, and golf courses that open their parking lots to gypsies like us looking for a place to "camp" overnight. It's a spectacular program. Unless you're the type of RVer who likes to drive 12 hours a day, and most don't, being able to find a place to crash along the way from point A to point B is really important. HH lets us do that for a nominal annual fee, the overnight stays are free after that.  So, how do you get from Indianapolis to Colorado Springs? You crash a few nights along the way. Curling Vine Winery was one, and Big Creek Golf Club was stop 3 on our journey west. It's a super friendly local golf course, 9 holes. No full-time employees, honor system drop box for greens fees and carts. Just off I-70. Turns out, now that we got him his own clubs, Andrew really likes golf! We played 9 holes upon arrival and the next morning hit a few range balls a...
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Clinton Lake

 Stop 2: Clinton Lake, outside of Lawrence, Kansas 3 nights, US Army Corps of Engineers campground. This campground was awesome! Great site right by the lake, and yes, there are lakes in Kansas. This one even had a great beach. Andrew made quick friends with Remy, James and Cayden, and spend most of our time here on the playground with them. Learned how to gut a catfish and play cornhole. We spent a day at the beach and another day we took a bike ride to the Clinton Country Store which was cool.  Andrew is already in camping kid mode - Mr. Outgoing himself. It's so awesome to see how quickly he makes friends, and so fun to just watch kids being kids. So much of kids' lives are structured, we think it's really important for him to have unstructured time too, and it sure seems to be something he really enjoys. 
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Wine in Missouri?

5/30 Layover New Friend: Andy, the vintner's wife! Yep, that's a thing. After the speedway, we headed west on ol' I-70, and I say that because I'm pretty sure Ike laid some of the concrete for this himself and it hasn't been touched since! Across the Mississippi river, passed the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (you can call it Gateway Arch if you want), across the wide Missouri, to the cellars of Curling Vine Winery. This Harvest Host location offered us an awesome tasting of wines from Missouri-grown grapes, and you'd be surprised. We found a few great bottles and some awesome summer sausage and cheese curds. Andrew got some freeze-dried skittles which were also really good, so he was quite happy with this stop.  Side note: being extra close to the highway may or may not be a perk of a Harvest Host location. 
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Get out the Map

 On May 26, 2022, our family set out for an adventure in our new-to-us RV. The plan is a 4-week roadtrip across several of these great United States. When RVing though, the plan is perfect until you actually hit the road, so we'll see what happens on this one!  Leg 1: Lexington, KY to Speedway, IN Visits with: Joe & Beth, Brooke & Jeff, Abbi & Grandpa New Friends: Nora We spent 4 nights at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was a great time, and the neighbors were all super-friendly fellow race fans. We had beautiful weather for Andrew's first Indy500, and he made it 375 miles into the race before we got a "I want to go back to the bus." Andrew learned that one of the best things about attending a race is making new friends. He met a buddy named Nora and they played frisbee and tennis in the infield. Andrew and Ella took a shore excursion to the north side of Indy to visit with Abbi & Grandpa. This included a day-trip to the Indianapolis Children'...
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