The Saaris’ (Sorta) Safe Sojourn – Summary

As some of you know, I’ve been writing a travel blog of sorts over the past six months, documenting a wonderful trip that Pat and I took with our Leisure Travel Vans Unity RV and, for the last half or so, our new Tesla Model Y that we bought in Las Vegas. We were at first hesitant to go on this trip due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we took care to wear our masks and maintain social distance in public places, and we always felt safe in the private bubble of our RV. In retrospect, we are very glad we made the trip, and the Covid cautions did not diminish our enjoyment to any significant degree.

All in all, we put 5,600 miles on the RV (starting from Grand Marais, MN, on October 13 and ending in Lakeville, MN, on April 17) and 5,400 miles on the new Tesla (starting in Las Vegas on January 14 and ending in Minneapolis on April 17). We stayed at 18 state and regional parks in Minnesota, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma – of those, I rate the Arizona parks the best in terms of overall quality, although Palo Duro Canyon in Texas was the most spectacular. We stayed at 10 private RV resorts and campgrounds, all of which were quite nice, but many of which made us feel somewhat claustrophobic due to the closer quarters (as compared with the state and regional parks). We visited 3 National Parks, a National Monument, a National Recreation Area, and a National Conservation Area (again making excellent use of my Lifetime Senior Pass) as well as a National Wildlife Sanctuary and a National Wildlife Refuge.

Here is a map of the complete trip, noting all the places where we stayed with the RV and a couple of the other places we visited with just the Tesla.

It’s pretty hard to see the details in Arizona and Nevada, but maps in the individual posts make things clearer for those portions of the trip. Here’s a list of the ten Parts of the Sojourn story, listing the places identified on the map that I described in each post:

• Part 1: The Cabin (1), Baker Park Reserve (2), Blue Mounds State Park (3), Louisville State Recreation Area (4), Webster State Park (5), John Martin Reservoir State Park (6), Questa Lodge and RV Resort (7)
• Part 2 – Winterlude: Mountain Meadows RV Park (7), also including White Sands National Park, Wolf RV Park (9)
• Part 3 – Sunny and Warm: Wolf RV Park (9), Kartchner Caverns State Park (10), Rincon Country West RV Resort (11)
• Part 4 – Tarrying in Tucson: Rincon Country West RV Resort (11), also including Saguaro National Park
• Part 5 – On the Road Again: Catalina State Park (12), White Tank Mountain Regional Park (13), Lake Havasu State Park (14), Pirate’s Den RV Resort (15), Lake Mead National Recreation Area (16), Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort (17)
• Part 6 – Vacillating in Vegas: Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort (17), also including Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area)
• Part 7 – Mellower at Lake Mead: Lake Mead National Recreation Area (16), Valley of Fire State Park (18)
• Part 8 – Ambling Back to Arizona: Nevada Treasure RV Resort (19), Death Valley National Park (20), Cal-Nev-Ari (21), Tradewinds RV Park (22), Point of Rocks RV Campground (23), Dead Horse Ranch State Park (24), Leaf Verde RV Resort (25)
• Part 9 – Easing Eastward: Leaf Verde RV Resort (25), Ajo Heights RV Park (26), Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (27), Picacho Peak State Park (28), Patagonia Lake State Park (29), Rockhound State Park (30), Boot Hill RV Resort (31)
• Part 10 – Heading Home: Santa Rosa Lake State Park (32), Palo Duro Canyon State Park (33), Boiling Springs State Park (34), Salt Plains State Park (35), El Dorado State Park (36), Worlds of Fun Village (37), Griff’s Valley View RV Resort (38), Airlake Self Storage (39)

Feel free to click on the links above if you want to read more about these places.

Thanks to those readers who followed us along the way, and I hope you enjoyed the journey! Stay tuned to the blog, as I plan to write about additional travels that we will (hopefully) be taking in the future.