Summer 2025: The Long Road Home

The long trek home after a multi-month trip is always a drag, most notably because of this graphic below. We will do almost anything to avoid the soul-sucking route across Texas!

Thankfully, this time we were headed south from Minnesota through South Dakota, Nebraska, and New Mexico. Many RV’ers just “pedal to the metal” it, but we prefer to find some delights along the route (and have a really good playlist at-the-ready). Here are the highlights of the long road home!

In Pickerel Lake, South Dakota …..

We hung out with Arizona friend Connie in her darling 100-year old, 400-square foot cabin;

… tooled around the 955-acre lake on her neighbor Josh’s boat; bought children’s $0.25 painted rocks at the world’s cutest/tiniest farmers market beneath towering farm silos;

… hiked the boardwalks and trails of Waubay Wildlife Refuge, picknicked, and climbed (part of) a swaying, narrow-staired, tall fire tower — before I chickened out;

… and toasted the memory of Connie’s husband, Les, with endless tequila shots and recounted memories from his memorial bench looking over the lake. He passed 5 years ago and was the greatest guy you’d ever meet! We miss him!

In Valentine, Nebraska …..

Here in “Nebraska’s Heart City,” we asked each other, “will you be my Valentine?” in the cute downtown with stunning carved brick facade;

… slowly drove through a herd of 350+ bison (and wildflowers taller than our Jeep) in Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge;

… did a short hike to spring-fed 70-foot Smith Falls, Nebraska’s highest waterfall (and quite a surprise here in the prarie!); and watched kayakers floating the Niobrara River on the popular 22-mile stretch (of 568 miles total!) from Fort Niobrara to Rocky Ford Rapid;

… and planned to return to ride a portion of the 200-mile long Cowboy Trail, a flat rails-to-trails that takes you over a 150-foot-high railroad trestle in the area. Lastly, who doesn’t love a roll in the hay. Or is that a hay in the roll? 😏

In Burlington, Colorado ….

We had our first experience with the new-concept Love’s RV Stop. Love’s Travel Centers are aggressively adding these around the country, with close to 100 already open. In theory, they offer a hassle-free, convenient, full-hookup RV just off major highways, for when you just need an easy and safe place to stay for the night.

We might have “loved” our previous stop in Valentine, but we did NOT love the Love’s RV Stop in Burlington. First of all, they are relatively expensive ($55/night) for a place that doesn’t offer any amenities other than a hookup (not even a picnic table, which is standard at even the crappiest campgrounds). It is meant to be fully automatic; when you arrive and check in online, your utilities are supposed to turn on. Ours did not, meaning we had to go hunt someone down in this busy travel center/gas station, whose lights shone into our windows and whose diesel trucks rumbled by all day and all night.

At that time, they informed us that someone had driven over a water line on their way out, so they had to turn the water off to the entire park. (Why was the line dug so shallowly? Why do they not have the capability to turn off just that one site instead of the entire park? Why?) It’s always a bad sign when you arrive at a campground and guys in safety vests are peering into a big muddy hole. AND, the individual sewer hookups all had metal straps over them; meaning the only choice in this busy travel center was a communal dump station.

Our site was supposed to have full hookups; but because of these two situations, we had only electricity, and nobody offered any kind of a partial refund or other compensation off our pricey stay (or even a “Hey, sorry.”). AND, the Wifi password that arrived via a text message did not work. AND, it did not feel particularly safe to me; the arm that lowers down to control entry was permanently propped open; and there were all kinds of people (mostly truck drivers) walking every which way at all hours.

AND, it smelled like cows. Very, very bad like cows. Maybe the smell came in with the multitudes of flies that entered the RV every time we opened the door. I wanted to LOVE the travel option of the Love’s RV Stop, but we will stick will small mom’n’pop campgrounds going forward, based on this one experience. Like Bonnie Raitt sings, “You can’t make me love you, if you don’t!” We didn’t!

In Taos, New Mexico ….

We returned to charming Taos to visit a special place which was previously a “bust” for us during our visit to Taos in 2021: The Taos Pueblo. With Native Americans at higher risk for Covid, it was closed for multiple years. This time, it was open!

The Pueblo is famous for its multistory adobe buildings, the oldest continuously-inhabited dwellings in America, for over 1,000 years. It’s an active, living community for around a hundred and fifty permanent residents. It is the only Native American community to be recognized as both a UNESCO World Heritage site and a National Historic Landmark.

To this day, houses are built and re-built using straw-reinforced mud bricks and timber-supported roofs. Residents are committed to maintaining their traditional way of life; and none of them has electricity nor running water. For millenia, they would enter their dwellings by climbing a ladder and dropping through a hole in the top … the better to defend against attackers. Now, with the recent addition of doors, most of those holes have been turned into skylights.

Taos Pueblo has two historic churches: the ruins of the “old church” called San Francisco de Asis Mission Church and dating back to the arrival of the Spanish, surrounded by an old cemetery; and the “new church” called San Geronimo or Saint Jerome Church, the modern site for worship and special religious celebrations.

The beam structures look like shade for sweaty tourists like us, but they are actually still used to dry the hides of the many animals living in the hills surrounding the pueblo.

These dwellings are never bought, sold or rented, but are instead passed down through inheritance only. Tribe members live between the old ways and the new, hunting and foraging for much of their food, but also going to the grocery store.

They get all of their water from the sacred river bringing snowmelt down from the mountains, but also have a modern restroom building connected to the sewer system. The family of our tour guide, Bear, has lived here for hundreds of years, but she still had fake eyelashes. Such is the pull of the old ways and new.

Visitors can wander many parts of the Pueblo on their own, or take a (highly recommended) short, guided tour to learn more about the culture and history. You can also buy traditional goods directly from artisans who sell handmade crafts, jewelry and art from the fronts of their homes. You can buy food like traditional frybread, or still-warm bread just pulled out of the clay ovens.

Not all members of the tribe live in the Old Pueblo; many live on surrounding lands, or have moved away entirely, or come and go from various locations. The beauty of their lands, and the story of their existence, is not to be missed while in Taos!

If adobe is not your style, maybe you prefer these “glamping” units being installed at our Taos campground. So, you don’t even need your own RV to visit Taos and the Pueblo!

In Flagstaff, Arizona …

As per traditional, we almost always stop at my parents’ summer home in Northern Arizona (their winter home is in our neighborhood!). Mom showed off her latest knitting creation, and we celebrated my stepdad’s 84th birthday.

And Finally … in Phoenix, Arizona!

We returned to our three favorite littlest people: Connor (4), Violet (2.5), and Graham (2), who are all now in Montessori preschool but will hopefully still have time and interest in spending time with Papa and Gran.

It’s always good to return safely home, and now all that remains of our Summer 2025 Friends and Family Tour, is our traditional “Best Of” summary … coming soon!