“This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I’ll never look into your eyes again
Can you picture what will be So limitless and free Desperately in need of some stranger’s hand In a desperate land
This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free But you’ll never follow me The end of laughter and soft lies The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end This is the end.” Jim Morrison, The Doors (1967)
Despite being a big fan of Jim Morrison and The Doors – having seen them perform live at Cobo Hall in Detroit – I can’t fully explain why I would choose this morose, nihilistic song for this final post. If music had been added to this blog, maybe a trumpet playing “The Last Post” would have been more appropriate. But The Doors song has been sliding around my brain for the past couple of weeks, while Betty & I have made our way north – back into Manitoba.
The sticker map on our motorhome door is as full as it’s going to be on this trip. West Virginia, NWT and Newfoundland & Labrador are still missing, but those would need to come on future journeys. There are no roads to Hawaii or Nunavut, so they are excluded. lol.
Our overlandish odyssey over the past seven years has been a joyous blessing (with one year off to deal with health issues and a couple of years of limited travel – surviving the coronavirus)! It would be far more fitting to finish this blog with the Beatles version of “The End”. Maybe you’ll need to read further to see how it concludes. Lol.
The Mojave Desert surrounded us for most of our time in Nevada.
After leaving Las Vegas, each of our nine northbound stops was for one night, with the exception of Provo, Utah, where we stayed a second night to dump our tanks and fill up with fresh water. Until we reached Nebraska, most days were spent in mountainous terrain.
The scenic Northshore Road took us past many interesting rock formations on our way to I15. For a short, spectacular stretch, I15 cuts across a section of northwest Arizona between Nevada and Utah. On the most amazing portion, from Littlefield, Arizona to the Virgin River Gorge in Utah, Betty took a series of videos from the passenger seat. Just a 7 second video of this amazing route. Veterans Memorial Highway is a breathtaking stretch of road that we seemed to descent for at least 10 minutes, although I lost all sense of time as we marvelled at the landscape. all around us.I15 northbound provided many changes of scenery.Northbound into another new state, with tailwinds pushing us forward..
We had been apprehensive about how our motorhome would perform, given many previous issues traversing the Rocky Mountains. But our old boy has never ran so well as it did on this trip back to Canada!. The Banks Power system, coupled with a new fuel pump added last summer, provided power to spare going up and down the many steep grades.
We began to see stormy weather forming in Utah.Our plan had been to drive eastbound on I70 to Hittle Bottom campground, a free boondocking site near Moab, Utah, just past Arches National Park. But blowing snow reduced visibility. As we were unsure whether the storm would continue, we decided to change our plans away from a very scenic area which may have been hidden in clouds and snow.We drove as far east on I70 as Salina, Utah, spending a free night at a Shell service station parking lot.The next day we headed northwest toward Salt Lake City, with snow capped mountain tops all along the way.Passing one of a number of Mormon temples in Utah..Approaching Provo, Utah, storm clouds surrounded us, with a clear roadway still ahead.We decided to take a break for a couple of days, making a rare stop at the Provo KOA. The sites are extremely tight, with only partial picnic tables available on some sites. But we were able to dump our tanks, fill up with fresh water, and pay a brief visit to the local Costco.Leaving Provo on April 8, we decided to stop for lunch at a roadside pull-off, in order to catch the solar eclipse.It also gave us a chance to add state #47 – Utah – to our sticker map.We had mainly clear skies for the solar eclipse, staying in our motorhome and holding our cameras out the door for pictures. Being a fair distance from the moon’s orbit, we experienced a slight shift in colour, but nothing too spectacular. It was a fun break from driving, though.Passing over higher elevations, there was often snow on the roadside. But the highways north and eastbound were clear.We finally reached I80, which carried us eastbound all the way to Omaha, Nebraska.Strange rock formations continued to greet us on our eastbound journey.With the highway near Green River, Wyoming going straight through the rocks!When we stopped for the night at the Rock Springs, Wyoming Walmart parking lot, Betty was able to add our state #48 sticker. Yeah!As became her practice, Betty added a pic of the Nebraska sign when we passed it. While the interstate was in good condition, gusty cross winds across the mid-west led to some white-knuckle driving.At Sidney, Nebraska, we spent a free night in the parking lot of Cabalas World Headquarters.Using Freecampsites.net, which has been a regular habit, we found free overnight parking in the Twin Lakes Wildlife Management Area, just west of Lincoln, Nebraska.On a final portion of our trip north on I29, we entered Iowa again for a short stretch.Then South Dakota, where head winds reduced our gas mileage and increased the noise level.Choosing a South Dakota State Park (Union Grove) over the Sioux Falls Flying J, we enjoyed our last campfire as the sun set over the prairies. While we were the lone overnighters in the park, we still had 30 amp service and water at site #19E, the only pull-through that we would fit in.Fargo’s Walmart parking lot provided a quiet night, as it often has done in the past. Note that a full service wash in Fargo returned the shine to the old boy, prior to crossing back into Canada.As it’s still too early in the season for our spot at Town & Country to be open (snow on the ground again this morning…) our motorhome is parked for a week at Arrowhead RV park in Ile Des Chenes, Manitoba, just south of Winnipeg. Note there are no leaves on the trees yet, but we hope spring is not far away!
Every aspect of this journey was a marvelous blessing! Betty & I have been tremendously fortunate to experience so many great people and places. In well over 200 posts, this blog has chronicled our travels across most of North America. While there is never an end to the possibilities for adventure, we have more or less reached the goal set out at the beginning of this blog in November and December, 2017.
Hopefully you and we will have more joyful, memorable journeys to come. But for now – this is the end…
“Oh yeah, all right Are you going to be in my dreams Tonight?
…Love you, love you,
Love you, love you…
And in the end The love you take Is equal to the love you make.” John Lennon, Paul McCartney (1969)
Thanks for reading and joining us vicariously on this overlandish odyssey. For each of us, may the end of one journey lead to the beginning of another.
