The Lechler Crew

Our summer road trip through New Mexico, Colorado and Utah spoiled us on camping. We planned to camp this weekend within two hours of the house due to time and couldn’t come up with a place that was as magical as our time traveling so we decided to say home….

I want to do a short and sweet summary of our trip. It was so wonderful, if the winters weren’t so brutal I think I would live around the Taos area. It’s a beautiful place. I loved Marble and Ouray in Colorado too, tough call. We left home with two nights reserved at Sipapu and winged the rest of the trip, there were a few tough times but overall it was a great trip. 
Here is the list of where we were each night and highlights. 

We left home July 1st around 6AM. The Generator went out before we hit San Antonio, our plans on staying at a Harvest Host in Artesia,NM changed to calling campgrounds with no luck. We pulled into Brantley Lake at closing time praying there was a spot for us. 

July 1st: Brantley Lake State Park. Gorgeous sunset. Large lake. A massive storm hit around midnight and we spent 40 minutes in the cinder block bathroom, we saw tents blow away and the campers leave. Fun times. Derek took the generator apart and found the problem, mans a genius and after a early morning wal-mart run to get the parts we continued on the next morning with AC.

July 2-5. Sipapu Summer and Ski Resort. This is where we ski, it’s a place I already love. Nice bar, restaurant, pretty river where the kids can fish and good wi-fi. We spent July 4th in Arroya Seco and Taos Ski Valkey at The Bavarian, it was awesome. 

July 6-8. Rio Chama RV Park. Chris at Taos Fly shop told us about this area. We spent two days fishing on Trujillo Meadows, man it was gorgeous. Next time we will stay in the Trujillo Meadow campground in the Rio Grande Valley National Forest. 

July 7 Lightner Creek Campground. We really enjoyed this campground. We parked along a pretty river and went to Mesa Verde National Park for the day. The kids enjoyed the pool here and playing with a few kids. 

July 8-11 Ouray KOA. What a place! We went to the Wednesday night BBQ and live band, had a few beers and chatted with the owners of the park. Awesome couple, they have it made. Derek and I left the kids took the jeep and had a date night in town. Box Canyon can’t be missed. I’m now obsessed with Ouray. The drive here along the Million Dollar Highway was TOUGH Derek wasn’t a fan. We stopped in Silverton for lunch and toursity shopping. 

July 11-13 4J+1+1 RV park.  Derek and Jag wanted to fly fish all day and I couldn’t be away from cell phone service due to a clients destination wedding so we moved here so that the little kids and I could walk to town and go to the city park where they have huge pools that are hot springs. Incredible but not as off grid as we prefer! We whitewater rafted in Ridgeway with Rigs Adverure Co. the guys Fly fished and we took a trip to Telluride. 

July -13. Rifle State Park. This day was no bueno. Derek found a place he wanted to camp but when we saw the river he decided it wasn’t up to par for fishing. We ended up driving ten hours this day. Again no bueno. Camp sites are very hard to come by, we tried. We back tracked the next day.

YEP

July 14-16. Marble Campground-Meri Daes. Love it here. I went here as a child with my parents and we rode horses up to Crystal River Mills. They no longer allow horses but you can rent an ATV, hike or drive your own 4×4 up. This is an incredible town where you can instantly throw on a flannel, grab coffee and wi-fi at The Hub then cross the street for live music, fantastic food and drinks at Slow Groovin BBQ. AHHHHH. Another town I would love to spend more time in. The marble and sculptures spread around town was fascinating, someone from Italy now owns the quarry and the marble is said to be equal to carrera marble. 

July 16-17. Moab Valley RV Resort and Camprground. This is where things get wild. We have friends that were here July 4th and told us about it. We were heading to Estes, called a few campgrounds and weren’t having much luck, we came to a intersection and Derek yelled LEFT or RIGHT?!? Meaning Utah or continue on North of CO, I YELLED LEFT MY FRIEND and on to Utah we went 🤔. So there we went in Utah when we realized that damn Utah is hot. We had one awesome night in Moab and explored Arches National Park. The kids loved the campground and had a blast playing with beautiful children from Chilie, Denmark and Chicago. Jett asked me to try to find George from Chicago on FB. Fun times. We hung in the pool in the sweltering heat and hauled butt back to the mountains in the morning. 

July 17-20. Carson National Forest. Yeah…my fav campground yet, two miles from Sipapu. 

July 20. Texas pit stop in Kerville. Pulled in, found a spot had a great night FREE sleep and were out by 7am and home that evening. 

“Picture Dairy Queen trash strewn about the RV”

Writing this made me ready for my next adventure with my family in the RV, I’m dreaming of Thailand next summer but we will make time to travel in the RV, maybe Montauk. 

Until next time ✌�?�?