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By Katrina Kane, on August 17th, 2009 Heading off to Utah, I followed I50 across. The huge mountain I had to go over was a bit of a surprise. That was the steepest climb I had ever done with my trailer in tow and I almost pulled over at one point to cool off the transmission which was hot but not in the red zone yet. Happily my SUV did very well and made it over with the trailer still attached.Whew! Let’s not do too many of those again.
I needed a place to stay for the night and stumbled on Blue Mesa Recreational Ranch in Gunnison, CO. Very lucky for me I noticed in the office it was a member park in one of the other discount camping clubs which had just become re-affiliated with my Coast to Coast group. They had no problem with me just showing up without a reservation and happily provided me a nice space cheap for the night.
The campground is built on a hillside overlooking a lake. My site was still level and the tiered spaces let everyone have a great view of the lake which is very popular for boating and fishing. The park has one outdoor pool and one indoor pool with a hot tub. There is a hall to gather in and eat. They do have wifi. I wish I had more time to stay there. Will definitely have to go back some time.
By Katrina Kane, on August 12th, 2009 Time to visit another cousin I haven’t seen in a very long time. I headed out west on US 50 bound for Colorado. I stopped for one night in the middle of nowhere ( Lamar, CO) when it started getting pretty hot for my cat and trailer tires. It was rather sparse and desert-like at Country Acres Motel and RV Park but they have a very nice little oasis in front and it was quiet for sleeping.
The next day I moved on to my cousin’s place in Westcliffe, CO. Cousins Pam and George have a 35 acre spread with a beautiful western theme house there in a gated community. You had better know the magic password before you get to the gate as there is no cell phone coverage outside of town and happily I had thought of that. Having previously run a campground themselves, she and her husband put in 2 RV sites with full utilities on their property for family and friends to stay with them and the price to stay is really good (free)! While I was there, we added wifi as well since my aircard did not work there either. I had only planned on staying one week but we hadn’t seen each other in so long and were having so much fun that I stayed another week.
    
I introduced cousin Pam to geocaching right off. My aunt and other cousin had already told her about our exploits in search of hidden treasures worth nothing and she was excited to learn. Westcliffe only had one geocache in the city at the time which we found easily and it appears to be quite popular. I am hoping she can convince others to add many more since it is a great place for it and geocaches can bring in business to establishments with caches on their property such as the hot dog shack with unique wooden furniture and delicious hotdogs that fill the air with temptation all around it. We placed a new geocache ourselves before I left. There are many other caches in the surrounding areas and mountains. We did have fun going after those. One we had to give up on because it requires a jeep to get there as do many others there. I finally ran into other geocachers while in search of one near a castle and joined forces to find it. The minute I saw them way up there on the hill I knew what they were up to and told my cousin to follow the humans. LOL I got them searching in the right spot with my GPS while one of them managed to walk by it at the right angle to spot it.
  
Continue reading Westcliffe, CO
By Katrina Kane, on August 1st, 2009 The drive to Dodge City was easy and flat through some lovely countryside and rock formations in places. Watch out for the toll road they sneak in near Wichita. Unfortunately, just 5 miles to Dodge another trailer tire blew. It was one of my newer ones too which made for a grumpy arrival. No chance of saving the tire even though I heard it blow and stopped immediately. I decided to change it myself and while I was working on it, a very nice young officer arrived. It was nice to have some company and a police car to scare other drivers away from the lane next to me.
I happened to get lucky again and arrived during the annual Dodge City Days celebration. I was able to find a site at Watersports Campground which is right in the heart of Dodge. While not particularly pretty or probably as nice as the other park I looked at, it was reasonably priced and has the best location. It is right on a small lake and has a beach though you can’t put a boat or kayak in there. They do have quite a few permanent residents and the sites are not large. With a little maneuvering around a tree, I got my satellite dish to work. My aircard worked fine there. The staff were nice. This campground is not one I would go to play in but is certainly good enough as a base for touring.
 
I headed to the visitor’s center first thing. They have tons of brochures on both Dodge and Kansas. They also sell the Dodge Days pin needed to get into some events and get into the big drawing for cash prizes. I met Marshal Matt Dillon there and got my picture taken with him. From there, you can also catch a tour bus of Dodge which I definitely recommend. The tour shows you Boothill, the local sights, the fort nearby, the Santa Fe Trail, the stockyards, the giant steer monument, the Wyatt Earp statue, etc. You may even get held up by bandits.
    
Continue reading Dodge City, KS
By Katrina Kane, on July 27th, 2009 Headed on west. To pick up Oklahoma for my state map, I chose a slightly longer route dipping down through the top of Oklahoma. I got to drive a small part of the old Route 66 to earn my patch for that. I stopped at my first Corps of Engineers campground near Ponca City on Kaw Lake. There are many of these parks, often near dams and lakes, and I have a book which shows them all with descriptions. Pick up a copy of “Camping with the Corps of Engineers” from any Camping World or online at RVBookstore. Their parks can be very nice and very inexpensive. Theses parks do honor National Access and Golden Age passes for half off the already cheap price.
I was very surprised at how nice Osage Cove Campground is. It is right on Kaw Lake and has excellent sites that are very long, have BBQs, prep tables as well as picnic tables, firepits, and electric. I was able to find a site in the clear for my satellite dish. A dump station and water are nearby. Swimming is available at a beach. This is a great park and I have heard many of these are just as nice. I would definitely stay there again and in other such parks.
   
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