West POGers!

[Just Plain Jeff]

Since a bunch of us from the East are headed out your way before too long at POG II; many not have had buses past the Mississippi, how about a chat about where you have been, the places you take your coaches, things to look around for and so on. For example, I heard that BLM lands are good places to stay, but in general to avoid the National Parks due to traffic and old roads, etc., which may or may not be true.

We took a trip to Colorado and New Mexico a few years ago and it was great. Our friends at that time had a bus so we doubled the Prevost population in Canon City by driving in their yard.

We then went down to the Santa Fe area, to Roswell, Carlsbad. We then picked up a wide road East through Texas and blasted back to Florida. We found some great spots along the way and having some of your experiences, to-dos and not to-dos would be great.

I may even turn on my radar detector.

[lewpopp]

Also tell us if WMPL s are available along the way.

[Ben]

You can drive the bus through the loop road in the badlands with no problem, but you might not want to explore the sideroads if it's rained in the last week since they are gravel and can get slick.

I'm in the Badlands right now and will be exploring the National Parks in Utah and Arizona over the next few months. I won't be able to make it to POGII though because I'll be in Iceland on business.

[Just Plain Jeff]

Hey Ben, thanks for the update.

Please let us know how the National Parks treat you in your new rig.

[win42]

Being locted in Northern CA and being familiar with a few of the haunts, maybe I can shed a little light on the subject. Summer before last we attended the FMCA western meet in Redlands OR. Had a great time and then headed north to Glacier Park. A lot of good RV parks there and some beautiful site seeing up the mountains. We left there and headed south and made a quick stop at Little Big Horn for some interesting history and site seeing, Next stop was Mount Rushmore. We were able to drive the bus right up in front of the monuments and park it there complete with Tahoe in tow. Very beautiful thing to see. We meandered down from there ( got ripped off at the Crazy Horse future monument. Skip that one. caught a corner of Nebraska and headed west across Wyoming on the Interstate to Green River where we headed south into Utah cow trailing our way back to Hyw. 50 and across Nevada on the loneliest road in the US. ( Hyw. 50 ) Spent a night in Ely NV and completed our journey to Reno and 90 more miles to our home.
On one of our previous trips we took Hyw. 50 again across NV to the Canyon lands in utah. We spent three days there seeing Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon and the North rim of the Grand Canyon. From there to Farmington NM, and Talos NM up across a corner of OK into Kansas visiting in Topeka and on to Shirleys birth place in Huntingburg, IN. We try to stay off of the Interstate Hwy syst.as much as possible. The west is huge and can burn a lot of days trying to see and enjoy it. Sorry about rambling on, but i love to travel.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Win 42 Lots of good road out there. We never hesitate to run secondary roads when we can. Interstates are great for getting home, in a hurry but who wants to do that!

[timebum]

A most unusual place in that it has just about a wonderland of soaking tubs fed by hot springs. There must be 15 of them at different temperatures and the cost to enter is a minor point once you relax after a day behind the wheel. Take a bottle of grape and lean back.

Pagosa Springs is on rte.160 and is north of Taos, New Mexico.

[MangoMike]

Timebum,

You're absolutely right. We hit Pagosa Springs last summer and stayed at that small upscale Prevo park (wolf something or other). Snuck out of the bus about 6am and ditched the kids to hit the early morning Hot Springs right there next to the San Juan River. It was terrific. Would definetly return. Quaint little town.

Mango