Ruth & Mike's 1st Big Trip

 

Ruth and I married in 1971. She’d survived a head-on car accident a few months prior. She took months to recuperate and learn to walk again. She finished nursing school and by 1973, we were both physically capable and ready to go west. The Air Force provided 30 days paid leave. By September I had saved up my full allotment. We bought a yellow, 1972 Datsun 510. I took out the rear seat to allow for more space for a fold-up fiberglass picnic table. We put on a roof rack for a 10x12, two room camping tent. Inside we had a stove, a lantern, cooking utensils, cots, tarps, food, water and other camping accoutrement. The car was stuffed. I got a map atlas of the US and using a highlighter we sat down and plotted out a bang she-bang, go west, see all, National Park centric, BIG trip to the coast and back.

We were in Bellevue, Nebraska where I worked at SAC HQ. Ruth was a Registered Nurse. We set out one early morning, crossed Nebraska east to west and headed for Colorado. We’ll never tire of seeing the foothills of the Rockies on the horizon as you approach Colorado. Memorably, we drove through Big Thompson River Canyon between Denver and Estes Park, which is an amazing drive. The first night was to be spent in Rocky Mountain National Park. We headed up to Longs Peak campgrounds at 9,500 feet. By September, the sun was down by 7PM or so. Our arrival at 9 put is in total darkness. No ambient light anywhere. We parked facing our camp spot, which we’d picked out at random from what was left and shined our headlights on the area, huffed and puffed from lack of oxygen and set up our big tent. Circus was coming to town. An hour later we settled in for sleep. By daylight we realized we’d disturbed about a dozen other campers who were all around, within a few feet of where we’d set up but hey, it was dark.

We stayed there for three days, driving around, visiting all the sites we could fit into our time window. We also found time to walk around Estes Park. Elk also walk around Estes Park. In the coming years we’d stay at the Stanley Hotel, which we only visited this trip. The drive to the sun, where the Alpine Visitor Center sits at 11,000 feet, was memorable. We exited after three days, by driving around to the park’s west side to Grand Lake.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

From there we drove to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Lots of spectacular views into the canyon and just great campsite. Not crowded. The first night we were startled by a guy who walked up to our campfire and hung out to tell us people were driving around and shooting out of the side of a van, so “watch out.” He disappeared into the night just like he appeared. What he was doing or where he was going, we’ll never know. Nobody shot at us.

 To condense the narrative, I’ll list some of the spots we visited from there. In general, we set up camp and stayed at least two nights, most places three. After two or three two or three nights of camping, we’d splurge for a motel room to clean up and sleep in a bed.

Mesa Verde – Cliff Palace

It was dry the few days we were there but the final day brought a gully washer and we loaded the tent all wet into the bag that went onto the roof rack. The Native American relics were amazing.

Grand Canyon

The tent, once set up, was dry in five minutes. We walked along the south rim in both directions and couldn’t stay out of the wonderful camp store. Never saw so many Japanese, each with a Nikon. I saw a gal who had walked the Bright Angel returning from an overnight back pack trip to the Colorado. She limped from tree to tree to balance her backup. She was done. I made a mental note and in less than two decades we would make that backpack trip with Jacob and Natalie.

Lake Mead - Hoover Dam – Las Vegas

I tried to pound in the tent stakes at a campground in Vegas. Each stake broke and flew away. The ground was hard, dry and impenetrable.  We got a motel room. The first one was cheap but a bit of a dive and when we asked the desk clerk for our money back to move on, he got insulting. “Just like you to walk across dirt.” I walked off the sidewalk to go to our car. There was no grass. We hit the strip, Circus Circus, Caesar’s. I won at black jack until my nose started to bleed like opening a tap. Embarrassing. Ruth posed by the fountain at Caesar’s for a picture and a car stopped to see if she was a “working girl.”

Los Angeles – Leo Carillo State Park, Malibu – Disneyland

We drove the LA freeways and the air was orange. Our eyes teared. It was an “air inversion.” It was also pollution. Carillo State Park was across the coast highway from the pacific and we hung out there. Ruth wanted to move on but I said “let’s check out Disneyland.” The air was clear and dry. The sun was beautiful. We stayed over ten hours. I ate three frozen bananas and we used up all our e-tickets. We were both in our 20s but I don’t think any kid anywhere had more fun than we had that day. Just amazingly memorable. A real tribute to Walt Disney.

Morrow Bay campground – Morrow Rock

San Luis Obisbo campground

Carmel – Monterey by the Sea – Monterey Bay Aquarium

We saw “Magnum Force” with Clint Eastwood. We always tried to take a few minutes to go into towns close by when we could to check out the night life.

The PCH – Pacific Coast Highway

The most amazing drive imaginable. From LA to Frisco. Ruth fought car sickness. The winding road. The amazing views. We looked out of the Pacific and was even with and sometimes above the clouds over the sea.

Frisco – Oakland – BART – Golden Gate – SF Bay tour – Alcatraz

We drove around Frisco and witnessed a couple of car wrecks. Ruth got nervous and we drove across the Bay to Oakland and got a motel with a really nice swimming pool. We started using BART to commute to downtown San Francisco. We took the Bay boat cruise under the two bridges and out to Alcatraz in the bay. The fog rolled in and out obscuring a lot of the sights. We were at Alcatraz and could hardly see it.

Yosemite

My favorite National Park. They run a natural gas powered double decker bus around to each point of interest. Free. We had Golden Eagle passes and stayed for free. We stayed extra days. It was cool. We shared our campsite with raccoons who would come into the tent in the morning and try to take my Captain Crunch from me. Every site in Yosemite is plainly spectacular. Every time we rode the bus by Yosemite Falls the narrator would point out “Dried Up.” And so it was that fall.

Mariposa Sequoia Grove

Took the tram tour. All the sequoias are spectacular. Words fail me. A day in heaven. We learned the trees need fire to propagate.

East Yosemite – Glacier Point

The sights back across to Yosemite Valley from the East are, again, indescribable. The best.

Lake Tahoe

Amazing

Reno

Probably better than Vegas. Just nicer surroundings with similar attractions. We had a nice room.

Great Salt Lake Flats – Salt Lake City

Vast. The Wasatch Range is amazing.

Laundromat

I change my own oil. While washing clothes at a Laundromat I dropped the oil filter while trying to retrieve it from the side of the 1600cc engine (it was slick with used oil) and it landed on the hot side of the starter motor and shorted the wire out. The car would no longer start. A guy who was watching came over and showed me how to start the car by shorting the positive and negative leads to the starter with a long screwdriver. His car had no lock on the trunk. We got it fixed the next day at a dealership but we wondered if the guy would show up in the middle of the night at the motel and borrow the Datsun. Thanks, guy.

Yellowstone – Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone – Old Faithful – Paint Pots – Morning Glory Pond - Bears, bears, bears – Hayden Valley – West Yellowstone

It takes days to just drive around the park.

Buffaloes, Moose, wonderful camping. By now we were closing in on October and tent camping was getting cold. We got a Coleman fuel heater to put between the cots but tents don’t hold the heat well. I remember speaking with our parents from a phone booth. It was nice to get inside. Once the sun was high in the sky the days were beautiful and we never tired of exploring.

Yellowstone is Ruth’s favorite National Park. It’s a large chunk of Wyoming and it varies, depending on where you are. Rivers in great canyons. Erupting geysers. Paint pots and ponds. Diverse. Wild. Unusual. Nowhere else like it. Wolves are welcomed. We stayed several days but our time was winding down.

We headed home to our trailer in Bellevue. Thanks, Datsun. Thanks, Coleman. Thanks, America. What a wonderful country. How lucky we were and are. It would not be our last big trip but it was extra memorable because it was the first time we saw so many wonderful places. Places never to be forgotten.

 

 

Campsite at Mesa Verde before and after tent set up. Notice picnic table in screen room