BruceA78
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Bruce
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2021
- Threads
- 12
- Messages
- 164
- Reaction score
- 191
- Location
- Kansas City, MO
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 JLR 6-Speed
- Thread starter
- #1
My buddy, my 16 year old son and I got Wanda (my 2021 Snazzbery JLR) all loaded up on Thursday June 17th for what ended up being a 24 day 4000 mile trip from Kansas City through a lot of Colorado on our way to Blanding Utah (an hour south of Moab) and then back to KC.
We left early Friday morning and figured we would try to make it to Colorado Springs but were open to stopping before there if we found a nice place to stop or if we just got tired of driving - this ended up being a bit of a mistake but ended up being a fun adventure. All 3 of us have been back and forth between Denver and KC via I-70 many times so we decided to try US Highway 50 through Kansas as a change of pace.
It was every bit as boring as I-70 but at least it took us through slightly different scenery and towns that we had not been to before. The main issue we had was the 20+ mph headwind and crosswind (coming from the west / southwest). In combination of the Jeep being shaped like a brick, the wind, highway speeds (70-75mph) and having our camping equipment loaded on the roof we got HORRIBLE gas mileage (13-14mpg) and had to keep the steering wheel slightly turned into the wind to keep us going straight. This caused the stability control system on Wanda to freak out a few times and got alerts on the dash that there was an issue with stability control and we needed to get it serviced.
After stopping for gas in Dodge City, KS and having a bit of a stroll around the old town square to check things out we got back on the road, and luckily the wind had died down a bit and the warning light for the stability control went off and we had an uneventful journey through the rest of boring Kansas. After we crossed the Colorado border we decided we would try to make it to Colorado Springs or Pueblo so my buddy started looking through his phone for hotels in either of those places while I drove.
It turns out we should have planned a bit ahead because 99% of hotels were completely sold out, and the ones that were not sold out wanted anywhere from $385 - $685 per night. After calling a few hotels and being told they were sold out and then immediately hung up on we finally got to ask them what the heck was going on for all of the hotels to be sold out and were told "It's fathers day weekend" which I never considered a big travel holiday weekend.
We ended up finding a room in Ordway Colorado which is about 90 miles before Colorado Springs. Ordway is a pretty small town but we ended up having a great time hanging out at the Columbine Saloon drinking Coors Banquet (the only beer they had on tap) and a Jameson or two. I am a bit of a beer snob but I've spent plenty of time in Southeast Asia and have a policy that if there is no good beer available a bad beer can be tolerable if it is served ICE cold.
We took off early again the next day and went through Colorado Springs but decided to skip Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods since there were so many people around and tons of traffic going to these areas. We decided to head the long way to Alamosa Colorado where we would spend a few nights camping on a dude ranch but decided to start checking out some trails on the way. As a warm up for the trip we took a small trail called Tappan Mountain that was more of a decently maintained dirt road than a typical 4x4 trail but the scenery was nice and we found some dead trees for my son to use his throwing knives and hatchets on.
We left early Friday morning and figured we would try to make it to Colorado Springs but were open to stopping before there if we found a nice place to stop or if we just got tired of driving - this ended up being a bit of a mistake but ended up being a fun adventure. All 3 of us have been back and forth between Denver and KC via I-70 many times so we decided to try US Highway 50 through Kansas as a change of pace.
It was every bit as boring as I-70 but at least it took us through slightly different scenery and towns that we had not been to before. The main issue we had was the 20+ mph headwind and crosswind (coming from the west / southwest). In combination of the Jeep being shaped like a brick, the wind, highway speeds (70-75mph) and having our camping equipment loaded on the roof we got HORRIBLE gas mileage (13-14mpg) and had to keep the steering wheel slightly turned into the wind to keep us going straight. This caused the stability control system on Wanda to freak out a few times and got alerts on the dash that there was an issue with stability control and we needed to get it serviced.
After stopping for gas in Dodge City, KS and having a bit of a stroll around the old town square to check things out we got back on the road, and luckily the wind had died down a bit and the warning light for the stability control went off and we had an uneventful journey through the rest of boring Kansas. After we crossed the Colorado border we decided we would try to make it to Colorado Springs or Pueblo so my buddy started looking through his phone for hotels in either of those places while I drove.
It turns out we should have planned a bit ahead because 99% of hotels were completely sold out, and the ones that were not sold out wanted anywhere from $385 - $685 per night. After calling a few hotels and being told they were sold out and then immediately hung up on we finally got to ask them what the heck was going on for all of the hotels to be sold out and were told "It's fathers day weekend" which I never considered a big travel holiday weekend.
We ended up finding a room in Ordway Colorado which is about 90 miles before Colorado Springs. Ordway is a pretty small town but we ended up having a great time hanging out at the Columbine Saloon drinking Coors Banquet (the only beer they had on tap) and a Jameson or two. I am a bit of a beer snob but I've spent plenty of time in Southeast Asia and have a policy that if there is no good beer available a bad beer can be tolerable if it is served ICE cold.
We took off early again the next day and went through Colorado Springs but decided to skip Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods since there were so many people around and tons of traffic going to these areas. We decided to head the long way to Alamosa Colorado where we would spend a few nights camping on a dude ranch but decided to start checking out some trails on the way. As a warm up for the trip we took a small trail called Tappan Mountain that was more of a decently maintained dirt road than a typical 4x4 trail but the scenery was nice and we found some dead trees for my son to use his throwing knives and hatchets on.
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