Travel from Vernal, UT to Rock Springs, WY

We drove our coach 111 miles, about 2 hours, from Vernal, Utah to Rock Springs, Wyoming for the 50th anniversary Tiffin rally in June.

The map route, heading north:

Map route to rally

A view while heading downhill:

View

And uphill:

Highway

Big downhill:

8% downgrade

Lake

A bridge:

Bridge

After the bridge we drove over the top of a dam:

Dam

A satellite view of the entire route:

Route

The early portion had some switchbacks, which aren’t the most fun in a 40-foot coach (or 60 feet with the truck):

Route portion 1

The bridge and dam portion:

Route portion 2

A closer view of the Flaming Gorge dam:

Route portion 3

Onward:

Highway

An interesting ridge:

Hill

Highway

Paladin sitting on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

We really liked the look of this area:

Highway

Snow barriers:

Snow barriers

Highway

Arriving at the Tiffin rally:

Tiffin rally

We unhooked the truck, and I drove it following our coach to the campground:

Tiffin rally

Dusty:

Tiffin rally

Getting parked in our site:

Tiffin rally

Window latch repair

The window next to the passenger seat in our coach got stuck, as the left-side latch pin stopped working. So I ordered a replacement latch for it. Here’s the window:

Window

The first step in replacing it was to remove the handle, attached by a couple of screws underneath:

Handle

This is the latch knob exposed underneath:

Latch

Removing the plastic cover (that just snaps off), you can see latch pins that hold the window closed and in various open positions on either side of the window; they are connected to the knob by a lightweight bit of plastic:

Latches

A closer look at the left latch pin:

Latch

Closer still, you can see the broken connection; that tiny bit of plastic coming out of the latch should be connected to the slightly wider bit of plastic leading to the knob:

Broken connection

I bought a couple of replacement latch pins from Tiffin (so I’d have a spare in case another window latch breaks in the future):

Replacement latches

I removed the broken latch:

Removed latch

A new one on top, compared to the broken one on bottom:

Latches

The replaced latch:

Replaced latch

Both latch pins and the knob:

Latches

I then replaced the cover and handle, and all finished:

Finished

Dinosaur National Monument

While staying in Vernal, Utah, we visited Dinosaur National Monument, which spans Utah and Colorado, and has two visitor centers.

We visited both, starting with the the Utah side:

Dinosaur model

Sign

The visitor center:

Visitor center

Relief map:

Relief map

Visitor center

Up the hill is a separate building with the dinosaur fossils. One can’t drive up there, instead taking a free shuttle:

Shuttle

The quarry visitor center:

Quarry visitor center

The building encloses a wall of dinosaur bone fossils:

Dinosaur fossils

Info sign

Panorama

Display

Dinosaur fossils

Some fossils one can touch:

Dinosaur fossils

Selfie

Dinosaur

Then we headed into Colorado:

Colorado

Sign

Canyon Visitor Center:

Canyon Visitor Center

Relief map

We had a picnic lunch:

Picnic

The park has a weird border, with a long road that is part of the park:

Map

(And yes, I was amused by the name of the picnic area.)

This part of the park is mostly about scenic rocks:

Rocks

Info sign

Road

Info sign

View

Flowers

View

Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday

We stayed at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in Vernal, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-11
Check out: 2022-06-13
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps around 96°F, lows around 61-65°F

Noise:

No road or train noise
Lots of neighbor noise the first night

Site:

#16, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Not very level
Chock full of weeds; kinda run-down looking
Large site: about 75 feet long by about 45 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
100 PSI water pressure (regulator required!); conveniently located
Didn’t use the sewer connection, since only there a couple of nights

Picnic table, fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 13-17 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
Verizon: 9 Mbps down, 10-14 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Past its prime park, close to Dinosaur

Roads are very tight and people park all their extra vehicles all over the place, blocking the road. The layout of the park is not very well thought out. All the pull-through rows are long, with no pathways to get from one edge of the park to the next. As a consequence, we had people walking right through our site to get between the bathroom and the dog park. I’ve never seen so many rude and clueless campers. Our site was so full of weeds we couldn’t use the outdoor area. It looked like there may have been a shade tarp over the outdoor area at some point, but there’s nothing left but the posts now, which were inconveniently located so we couldn’t put out our awning. Overall, it seems like this might once have been a terrific park that’s gone to seed (literally). The nightly rate is after I exchanged $50 in KOA points; otherwise, it would have been extremely overpriced for what it is. We camped at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Our site (I’ve previously masked out our coach and truck license plates, but am not going to bother anymore; I don’t think showing them is a significant risk):

Our site

The site is full of weeds:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

On the first night, we had several people walking through our site, which is a major faux pas in campgrounds:

Walking through site

The reason was that the bathroom block was opposite us, and inconsiderate people couldn’t be bothered walking a little further:

Bathroom

If you’re new to camping, make a note: do not walk through other people’s sites. It’s very rude.

Elsewhere, some cabins:

Cabins

An empty site:

Empty site

The office:

Office

Playground, mini-golf:

Playground, mini-golf

Video

Video: timelapse of motorhome driving from Montrose, CO to Vernal, UT

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 209 miles from Montrose, Colorado to Vernal, Utah.

(Not sure why it isn’t embedding?)

https://youtu.be/u4JHzoLDI9Y

Travel from Montrose, CO to Vernal, UT

We drove our coach 209 miles, about 4 hours, from Montrose, Colorado to Vernal, Utah.

The map route, heading north:

Map route

Leaving the Montrose KOA Journey RV park:

Leaving RV park

“Gateway to the canyons”:

Gateway to the canyons

“Tribute to agriculture”:

Tribute to agriculture

US-50 freeway:

Freeway

We were planning to stop for fuel in Grand Junction along the way, so I left the step cover open. Paladin enjoyed sitting on a step and looking out the lower window (which is typically called the “dog window”, but in our case is the “cat window”):

Paladin

Highway:

Highway

Hey hay:

Hay hey

Highway

There wasn’t a good place to stop at lunchtime, so I got up and made lunch while Jenn was driving — a nice option for a motorhome (but don’t worry, I sit down again as quickly as possible, and keep my seatbelt on when in my seat):

Driving

PB&J is quick and easy:

Lunch

Very curvy road:

Highway

Switchbacks on the map:

Map

Highway

Steep grade, sharp curves, yay:

Steep grade, sharp curves

Curve

After all that, we found a spot on side of road for a break:

Break on side of road

Rough road:

Rough road

Maybe they should have workshopped that name a bit?

Kum & Go

Oil well:

Oil well

Train:

Train

Highway

Dinosaur city limit:

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs in Dinosaur:

Dinosaurs in Dinosaur

I see what they did there:

Bedrock in Dinosaur

Welcome to Utah:

Welcome to Utah

Crossing another part of Green River again:

Green River

Vernal had more dinosaurs than Dinosaur:

Dinosaurs in Vernal

Cycle shop

Mural

Our destination, a KOA Holiday park:

KOA

KOA office

Colorado National Monument

We visited Colorado National Monument, in — you guessed it — Colorado, west of Grand Junction.

Sign

We started by having a picnic lunch in a nice shelter:

Picnic shelter

Picnic

Then continued along the twisty roads, looking at the interesting rocks:

Rocks

The first of three tunnels:

Tunnel

We stopped at several viewpoints:

Rocks

Morons sitting on rocks off the trail:

Morons and rocks

An open-ended canyon:

Valley

Rocks

Big horn sheep; we were excited to see her, as she was the first big horn sheep we’ve managed to get a picture of in the wild (we’ve seen them in a zoo in Palm Springs, and on the side of the road in Lake Mead, but not so close):

Big horn sheep

Rocks

Tunnel

Info sign

Rocks

Viewpoint:

Rocks

Viewpoint

Rocks

Tree

Rocks

Blooming prickly pear cacti:

Blooming cacti

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Artwork

Visitor center

Relief map:

Relief map

The Colorado plateau; been to all of those places:

The Colorado plateau

Views:

View

The other two tunnels:

Tunnel

Balancing rock:

Balancing rock

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park north rim

Another day, we explored the north rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.

Unlike the south rim, there is no visitor center on the north rim, and it has unpaved roads:

Dirt road

But the view is just as impressive as the north rim, while being less busy. Here’s a viewpoint:

Viewpoint

Lots of canyon pics:

Canyon

Tree

Viewpoint

Canyon

Balancing rock

Canyon

Viewpoint

Canyon

Glowy cloud:

Cloud

Canyon

Info sign:

Info

Canyon

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park south rim

The last national park for a month, Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado.

Big enough to be overwhelming, still intimate enough to feel the pulse of time, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park exposes you to some of the steepest cliffs, oldest rock, and craggiest spires in North America. With two million years to work, the Gunnison River, along with the forces of weathering, has sculpted this vertical wilderness of rock, water, and sky.

(From the NPS website.)

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Map:

Mao

We explored the south rim of the canyon:

Canyon

Selfie

Visitor center:

Visitor center

Cancelation stamping:

Stamps

What’s blooming:

What's blooming

Canyon model:

Model

Canyon:

Canyon

Lizard

Viewpoint

Canyon

Viewpoint

Canyon

Viewpoint

Canyon

Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey

We stayed at Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey in Montrose, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-05
Check out: 2022-06-11
6 nights

Weather:

Mosty sunny
High temps ranging between 83-96°F, lows around 53-60°F
Some afternoon wind

Noise:

Some road noise, no train noise
Some neighbor noise

Site:

#5, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Not very level
Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 28 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
I didn’t note the water pressure; conveniently located
Acceptable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 31-41 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: 0.5-2 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 65-190 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Package pick up in office

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Black Canyon National Park

Firstly, I must give a shout-out to the wonderful lady in the front office who saved me from an error in dates. I’d accidentally booked the week before we were planning on being there. She called me up after we no-showed and asked if we were on our way. After discovering my error, she very helpfully rebooked us for the following week and didn’t even charge me the usual fee to do so. That’s what I call excellent customer service!

The park itself is your pretty standard KOA Journey. We had a nice, long pull-through with mature trees giving good shade all day. The downside to the nice, long pull-through site on the first row meant that everyone and their dog used the empty neighboring sites as a shortcut to the rest of the park. Our site was also not at all level; the automatic leveler gave up and I had to work hard to get them leveled manually. We camped at Montrose / Black Canyon Nat’l Park KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map