Westward Bound - Florida to Colorado

March 27 - April 2

When we made the decision to head back to Florida after Texas, we knew the 3rd trip along I-10 wouldn't be our favorite drive. However, if we did want to make it back to Bend before summer, we would need to get started sometime soon. And, after spending spring break with so many crowds of east-coasters and midwesterners, we were ready!

Juggling the trip back amidst an increasingly busy schedule with work, not to mention school, was an exercise in planning. We also decided to start pushing drive times a bit more so that we would spend less time setting up and breaking down "camp". The trek went....

Naples > Pensacola (Again) > Fort Worth > Amarillo > Cortez

The longest leg by far was from Pensacola to Fort Worth, but the long trip was worth it so that we could spend the week catching up and getting ahead before the coming weekend in Cortez. The long drive made for the inevitable nighttime arrival, even though we left at daybreak from Pensacola. I didn't think it would be a big problem - who would have thought Fort Worth wouldn't be a crowded place with lots of street lighting? Well, we were on the outside of town, and ended up there was no street lighting on the way to the park. After another white-knuckle drive, we found the park and made it safely.

Fort Worth wasn't our favorite spot - mainly because of where our RV park was located. Apparently, there aren't a lot of tourists RV-ing in the area, which makes for RV parks a little rough around the edges. We were able to have some fun though at a Top Golf (our 5th visit on this trip!) and watching a short cattle drive in the old downtown area.

Due to an aggressive storm with high winds (not ideal for pulling a 13.5' trailer), we adjusted our trip West, leaving Fort Worth a day early at dawn so we could arrive in Amarillo ahead of the storm and in time for me to work a full day. We decided against visiting the Big Texan Steakhouse as Texas pretty much gave up on COVID restrictions, instead settling for takeout. The following day, we made our way through the remainder of Northwest Texas, Albuquerque and New Mexico, past Four Corners, and into Cortez, Colorado for the weekend.

Overall, we felt fortunate to make it through the south-central part of the country without running into any high winds or tornado watches this time of year. We were also itching to get back to the mountains, and after pulling into Cortez, we knew we were ready to put the South behind us.