Tuesday, 30 March 2010, Day 20

We started the day at Monument Valley, Gouldings RV Park. Last night as dinner was being made (club rollup "sandwiches"- Yummy!), the kids went out for a hike. They found an arch (if you enlarge it you may be able to make out Grant on the top and Hope and Luke sitting on a ledge in the shot from the RV). They gave us walkie talkie updates (and picture requests), and we issued the safety warnings!

This morning we watched the sun rise over the valley (as we lay under all the blankets in bed!). Then we headed for the Navajo visitor center. We decided to move on without a tour, and because of the length of the RV we were not able to drive into Monument Valley further.

However, we have really enjoyed the RV, and although we could have easily stayed in a hotel several times on cold nights, we all preferred just staying in the RV. For those who are curious, we have stayed in a lot campgrounds at $10 to $20 a night, some with power and a dump station, most without. A few free spots on BLM land, and other spots (although those are harder to find on the fly and not always accessible in an RV). Then we have stayed in a range of RV parks from basic -power/water/sewer ($18 and up), to "resorts" with full cable TV, heated swimming pools, showers, laundry, WiFi, playgrounds, one even had a fishing pond, game room, and workout room ($30 to $55 depending on location and time, average about $40). The resorts usually charge a few dollars extra for each person more than 2 people, so we are above base rates. When we were in Moab, we ran into the Jeep Safari, and that was one of the higher rates. Not too bad when you consider that if we stayed in a hotel we would usually require two rooms at probably twice the price each, and would have to eat out. So far we have eaten out maybe 2 or 3 times a week on average. For the first week, we did not eat out at all. We have not made any reservations anywhere, and we only had to change plans a few times. Fuel mileage, not so much, but overall we have really enjoyed the RV.

In an RV, you really are "King of the road" or at least you feel like it at times!

Today we covered the second most miles for a day, 330 miles. However it was longer as none of it was on interstate, and was all on rural highways and byways, with a few small towns along the way.

We also crossed the continental divide, and now the water flows to the Rio Grande.