September 2020 – Stark Adventures

9/24/20 – and…we’re HOME from the cross-country road trip!

September 24, 2020October 3, 2020karenstark

Thursday: This was an uneventful long day. Why is it that the last 500 miles seems to take forever?
We were up around 8:00 for Alan’s pancakes and bacon. Yum! Breakfast always tastes better when you’re surrounded by friends! After hugs good-bye, we were on the road before 10. Just a couple of stops for gas, potty and lunch, and after almost exactly 500 miles we were home by 5:30.

And the house was mighty warm at 85 degrees. It’ll take a while to cool down the walls – they are all radiating heat. It’s good to be home again. I do love this place and being in my own stuff. Tomorrow it’s back to work – laundry, grocery shopping, beat back the ever-fast-growing tropical plants that surround the outside of the house, and go see how Island Girl is. There should have been a whole bunch of work done on her while we were gone…. fiberglass, canvas, windows, and outdoor flooring, and an engine pulled out. Hmmmmm….. we’ll see!

9/23/20 – Great Smoky Mountains National Park

September 23, 2020February 15, 2021karenstark

Wednesday: Today’s adventure took us through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We’ve never been here before, so I determined our itinerary to get home from Kentucky by going through the park. I hopped out and walked down the street to Starbucks for coffee to go. I was sure there would be a line outside at 8:00 in the morning. But NO! There was ONE person that went in before me. That was it!! I thought it would be busy, because I figured most hotels were like ours, and no longer serving breakfast because of Covid. Huh! Maybe everyone went to the sit-down pancake joints?

We talked for about 30 seconds about taking the scenic Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. That’s the one-way scenic drive that would drop us back at the beginning of town in Gatlinburg. We decided not to take the time, since reports that I read were that the park is busiest between 10-6. So let’s get there before the hoards. We passed this sign at 8:50. The Visitor’s Center wasn’t open yet (9:00), so I grabbed a map, and away we went.

9/22/20 – Gatlinburg Tennessee

September 22, 2020karenstark

Tuesday: We slept in a bit, which worked out fine since we didn’t have a real full day to tackle. Hit a nearby Starbucks for coffee to go, and there was a carwash there, so we drove Mr. Lincoln through and got about five states worth of bugs out of his grill. Then some gas in the tank, and off we went, finally heading south. After about 120 miles through the Daniel Boone National Forest, there were some mountains starting to rise up.

9/21/20 – Kentucky=horses & bourbon

September 21, 2020September 21, 2020karenstark

Monday: The plan for traveling through Kentucky on the way home was to hit a few bourbon distilleries that we haven’t been to before in the Frankfort area east of Louisville. One of Kenny’s favorite bourbons is Woodford Reserve. Unfortunately they are not open due to Covid. Another possibility was Four Roses. Nope. How about Buffalo Trace? They make a couple dozen labels of bourbon. Well, they ARE open and doing tours, but only by reservation. And as luck would have it, all tours are “FULL” for the day we’re going to be there. I’ve been watching the website for a week now. I was able to put our names in on a waitlist – for every single tour – so we’ll at least go to the gift shop and hopefully there will be some no-shows on a tour that we can go on. These are the three distilleries… Buffalo Trace is at the top in Frankfort, then Woodford Reserve, and then Four Roses at the bottom.

9/20/20-driving through Kansas, Missouri, & Illinois

September 20, 2020October 3, 2020karenstark

Sunday: This was a long 500 mile day, hitting three states, and going through Topeka, Kansas City, and St Louis. I could definitely see on the map and looking out the window that we were leaving the brown upper plains and entering the green heartland of the country.

9/19/20-Day one in the Heartland.

September 19, 2020September 20, 2020karenstark

Saturday: This was the first of two 500 mile days. Most of it would be straight and flat in Kansas. But first we had to climb the Rockies to the top! This is how we started out, at our 8800’ elevation… going down? Don’t be deceived!

9/18/20- Alpine breathing…or not. In Breckenridge Colorado

September 18, 2020September 25, 2020karenstark

Friday: Not many miles on the tires today – just 100 miles to Breckenridge. And up in elevation. Seriously?! Yep. I-70 follows the Colorado River through a beautiful gulch to the east of Glenwood Springs. There had been a fire here not too long ago, so the westboud lanes were closed, and all traffic was one lane in the eastbound section.

9/17/20-Relaxing in the hot springs

September 17, 2020September 20, 2020karenstark

Thursday: It was a 200 mile drive from Moab to Glenwood Springs. We were here last year, and I figured since we’re going this way again, we might as well stop and take a soak in the hot springs. Here’s our welcome to Colorado sign!

9/16/20-Time for SxS adventure!

September 16, 2020September 25, 2020karenstark

Wednesday: This was a day for nailbiting adventure! Our whole reason for coming to Moab was to meet up with Brian and Amanda to go off-roading. We did a side-x-side tour here before, and it was really fun… saying the whole time that “Brian & Amanda would love this!”. So, we let Brian pick the tour since it was their first time here. Woops! We should have known that he would pick the most extreme and challenging tour with Epic 4×4 Adventures. EEK!

We got up early and picked up Starbucks for the four of us, and met at the 4×4 location at 7:30am. Our guide for the day was Tim, and he expressed several times that this trail was for experienced off-road drivers only, and that usually they only take people on it after they’ve done another tour with the company, to assess driving skill. Kenny and Brian both convinced him that they knew how to do this. (Let’s hope so!). So off we went. These are our machines… Kawasaki KRS 1000. They are pretty new and in really good shape. These buggies are nimble, comfortable, and were great on the trail! But I tried to not let the 6 point harness and mandatory helmets scare me. 😳

9/15/20- We made it to Moab!

September 15, 2020September 25, 2020karenstark

Tuesday: It was a 445 mile drive today, including the metropolis of Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo Utah. For friends in Washington, it’s like driving from Lynnwood to Tacoma. Lots of traffic, construction lane switching, and city to city. However, in Utah they drive like bats outta hell at 70 mph through all of this. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining today like it was the last time we drove through here!