# Our Outwest Trip And Blog



## campntn

Hi folks,
 WE ARE HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME!!!
Everything is going frighteningly too well. Currently, we are in Oklahoma city at Rockwell RV park. We are going to go see the Memorial and then head west to Palo Duro. Rockwell is nice. Never stayed in a "metro-campground". Planes, trains and automobiles. 
Haven't smelled the first thing cooking here at this campground and nobody is out very much. City lites at nite. We're right beside the interstate. But the campground has all the utilities you'd want and it's only $25.00 a nite! 
I am not going to go over all the details again, but if you want to follow our adventure, I am blogging it, with pictures by going here: http://ouroutwesttrip.blogspot.com/ 
(can't get the insert url to work right now)
We will be in/out of wifi so it will be sporadic.
I wanted to thank all of the Outbackers for campground/route suggestions. I want to thank the academy..oops, wrong award.








Hope you all are having a great day,
Mark


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## skippershe

Glad to hear everything is going well









Keep blogging! I love reading your stories


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## wolfwood

What a cool trip!!! Glad to hear it's all going well. Keep up the blogging so we can all live it vicariously....


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## Fire44

Sounds like fun!!!! I will be waiting to read you blog as the days (and miles) roll by. I knew you would love the Duramax!!!

Have fun and be safe.

Gary


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## jbwcamp

What a wonderful trip, hope all continues to go well for you and yours. Enjoy reading your blog I bookmarked it so I can check in on all of you. Be safe and have fun.


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## Scrib

> I'm sure if I had grown up here, I'd love it. But, there is just not enough trees where we are at for our liking. It's very metropolis. Bless their hearts.


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## pjb2cool

I am really enjoying your blog. It is kinda like I am there with you....not!!! Now I am looking forward to your next blog post. Have a blast - it gives me hope that ONE DAY, I will get to go on a massive camping excurson also (before the nursing home, that is!)!


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## campntn

Thanks folks for all the good comments. Except for yesterday towing (read blog) we have had a great time. Seeing so many new things, meeting so many nice people.
As we were walking thru the canyon yesterday, I thought to myself: "This...is what I'm supposed to be doing, right here..right now."
We're all getting along well; it does get a little cramped sometime but we don't stay in the camper just a whole lot anyway. When we do, it's teaching the kids about rules of the road early: 4 way stops. Everybody pull up to the same spot, whoever got there first can go first.








Mark
Oh, no I didn't have a sway bar. Forgot it. It would have made "some" difference yesterday, but not a lot. It was just too windy.
We're here in Albuquerque tonite, moving on to Flagstaff tomorrowwhen the winds die down.


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## photosal

Hey, we were very glad to see your review of Rockwell RV in Ok. City. We're staying there for a week in early August. Then we'll follow your same path to Albuquerque, and then on to Flagstaff. So we're anxious to hear about your campgrounds there also.

Thanks for the review and have a safe trip...
Photosal


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## campntn

Well, to be honest, Rockwell was "ok". But I really don't know if I could handle a week there..It is a very nice facility. Arranged nice with good people there. But, it is a city campground. You are right beside, I mean RIGHT beside the interstate. It was a nice break for one night,you might like it though. 
We are at J and H in Flagstaff right now. I'll let ya'll know later about it. I can tell you that we are the only family here with kids...and not retired. The manager was quick to tell me on arrival that the kids have to be supervised if outside our camper, even at 10 and 13. For the "exercise room" they advertise, it is a treadmill. They do have it relabeled with instructions and a new name: the walker. 
There are signs everywhere, do this, don't do this. 
It's really nice/clean and well organized and it has a beautiful spot right at the base of the mountains.
Please if you or anyone else is in the area YOU MUST CAMP AT PALO DURO just south of Amarillo.
We are having a great time, tomorrow we go to Sedona and the Grand canyon.
I'm gonna get the kids and wife to blog about our trip to the Petrified forest state park today.
Mark


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## skippershe

Keep blogging Mark!

Your diesel filling station story had me rolling on the floor


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## campntn

Hey ya'll if you get a chance catch up on my blog from Vegas..
WHAT A CAMPERS NIGHTMARE!!!
Lesson...don't take campers into big cities. It just ain't right.

But, we're happily back on the road now. 
Orange Grove RV park in Bakersfield is AWESOME!!
Headed to Morro Bay tomorrow.
Mark


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## hyewalt34

Hi Mark,

Hey, where are you staying in Morro Bay??? My best friend is one of the hosts at Morro Bay State Park. If you are headed there I'll have him come by and say hi. Also, a great place to eat (and not expensive) is Taco Temple. It's on Hwy. 1 on the east side of the road about 1/2 mile north of the main part of town. 
Have fun in MB, it's our favorite place to head to!

Your blog has been great. LOL! One more thing, When you head up to Yosemite, if you are passing through Fresno, let me know.

Walter


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## campntn

Thanks Walt. We are at Morro Dunes.... 
I would love to meet a friend of a friend. We will take you up on the eating advice.
We can't wait to get there. But..we love Orange grove tonite.








Thanks for the compliments on the blog.
I build websites on the side, and am thinking of starting some sort of "blogging for campers" efforts. Using mine as an example, it appears an excellent way for campers to keep in touch.
Mark


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## skippershe

Mark,
Your stories always have me on the edge of my seat...I can't get enough








Great reads!









Vegas must have been one heck of a nightmare, glad you made it out unscathed...Good job!


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## mswalt

Mark,

Wow I wish I could have seen you in Vegas! Some fun, huh? Don't you just love helpful parking attendants?

Glad it was you and not me.

I really am enjoying your blog. Very interesting and insightful.

Keep up the good work and have a great time.

Mark


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## Fire44

Mark,

It sounds like you and the family are having a wonderful time. As I sit here and read you blog, I can only hope that I get the chance to take my family on an adventure like this.

Keep writing the blog, I am really enjoying it.

Gary


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## campntn

Gary, you can....


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## Kenstand

campntn said:


> Gary, you can....


Hmmm. Good reply. I guess we all can...


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## RizFam

This is Awesome!! Good for you & your family. What great memories you are making.








Be Safe, Enjoy & keep blogging.... Love it!









Tami


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## campntn

Hey good folks, we had a case of the Nanco tire rot. See it on my blog. That's crazy my friends. Those tires were FINE before we left Tennessee. Had them balanced/rotated and nobody, including me, ever noticed anything wrong. AFTER we came up Hwy 1 on the Cali coast, I notcied the cracks when I was hooking up at Casa De Fruita. (great campground btw)
Dealer paid for 4 new tires, no questions asked. Yea! That's why it pays to go with a good dealer.
Mark


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## skippershe

I've decided that you all can't come home yet....

What will I read at night??


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## BlueWedge

I am really enjoying your blog. I like the way the whole family is adding a bit to each post. Rounds out the whole trip experience.


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## 7heaven

Mark, We loved Orange Grove Park in Bakersfield as well. We camped there twice in January on our big Calif trip and got tons of oranges, yum. Your blog is great!


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## Fire44

OK....now you have done it Mark!!!

I am sitting here at my desk, eatting lunch (which we aren't suppose to do) and the boss walks in as I am reading you blog.....wanted to know what I was "working" on!!! WELL....he was saying something about not using the computer for personal use and all of a sudden he wanted to look at the pictures.

I guess I am going to have to look into a trip to the west. I am really enjoying your blog. It makes me want to pack up and leave now....

Stay safe!!!

Gary


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## skippershe

More great stories to be had in Mark's blog...


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## Darj

Some great stories. Wanted to say thanks for blogging your trip so we could "go" along with you all. I have been enjoying my morning coffee and reading your blog!

~Anissa


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too

what a treat your stories are! makes me want to go across country too! The little dog, Chili, may have been a a dapple daschund







Keep the stories coming, you have writing style


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## California Jim

Lovin the blog Mark & family. However I did spit Dr. Pepper through my nose when I read that "Casa De Fruita" was in San Francisco. How appropriate. Stay safe and thanks for an enjoyable read......"dewd".

CJ


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## campntn

Hi fellow Outbackers!
Thanks for all of the compliments on the blog. We, as a family, have really enjoyed it. It is the one "tech" thing that my whole family has gotten into, along with me. Maybe it'll help turn the tables when I go into Best Buy now and spend too much time.LOL
. We have done more, saw more, met more, laughed more and driven more than we could have ever dreamed. The crew is getting tired.
Getting ready for a landing next Wednesday...we've put a lot of asphault under these 8 tires over the last 18 days. 
Hoping to sleep better tonite. As I said in the blog, none of us sleep well at higher altitudes. Dunno why. We can be fine and go to bed and become restless...same thing happend in Flagstaff. 
Glad where we live is flat.
Hope all of you are well!
Mark


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## Carey

campntn said:


> Hi fellow Outbackers!
> Thanks for all of the compliments on the blog. We, as a family, have really enjoyed it. It is the one "tech" thing that my whole family has gotten into, along with me. Maybe it'll help turn the tables when I go into Best Buy now and spend too much time.LOL
> . We have done more, saw more, met more, laughed more and driven more than we could have ever dreamed. The crew is getting tired.
> Getting ready for a landing next Wednesday...we've put a lot of asphault under these 8 tires over the last 18 days.
> Hoping to sleep better tonite. As I said in the blog, none of us sleep well at higher altitudes. Dunno why. We can be fine and go to bed and become restless...same thing happend in Flagstaff.
> Glad where we live is flat.
> Hope all of you are well!
> Mark


The reason for lousy sleep........ Oxygen.... Its a common thing, takes 3-5 weeks to climatize yourself to altitude.. It bothers many people that are not used to it, its pretty normal. Many get sick.

Keep on safe trailerin!

Carey


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## campntn

I have posted the final blog. Thanks for all the great comments, emails and signing the guestbook. You are all postive and motivating and I'm glad to be associated with such a group.
OUTBACKERS RULE!!
Home, safe and sound, and hope that all of you are as well.
Mark and co.


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