LTRVD Episode 14 – RV Road Trip to the Wild West Part 2

In this week’s edition we talk about Mesa Verde National Park, the Four Corners Monument, Monument Valley, Page Arizona, and the Navajo Nation. It can all be summarized as the Wild, Wild, West if you think about it.

This podcast is sponsored by Rad Power Bikes
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Previously on Living the RV Dream

We begin where we left off in the previous episode, in which we drove from Denver, Colorado to Moab, Utah and visited Arches National Park. We spent the night at the town of Cortez, Colorado, at the Sundance RV Resort.

Mesa Verde National Park

Cortez, Colorado happens to be very close to Mesa Verde National Park. The main reason I wanted to visit this park is because of the cliff dwellings abandoned by the Ancestral Pueblo Peoples about 700 years ago. The actual reasons why the abandoned this area remain a mystery to this day. The ancestral pueblo people built this amazing dwellings, almost like apartment building on the side walls of the numerous canyons. If you want to visit the main structures you must make a reservation at the Visitors Center before you enter the park. We reserved a guided tour of the Cliff Palace, one of the largest and more accessible of the structures and were very impressed.

Video—> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzV9GA1a21g

Four Corners

After our visit to Mesa Verde National Park we continued towards the Four Corners Monument. It marks the point where the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico converge. This is the only point in the United States where the boundaries of four states coincide. It is also the only time we area going to step onto New Mexico soil. I didn’t add NM to my sticker map because it doesn’t really count.

Goosenecks State Park

From here we continued deeper into the Wild West. We spent the night at Goosenecks State Park in Utah. At night, thanks to the lack of light pollution, I was able to see the Milky Way with the naked eye for the first time in my life.

Stars long exposure at Goosenecks State Park

The Alhambra Rock, near Goosenecks State Park

Monument Valley: The Wild West

On the next day we visited Monument Valley. The place that epitomizes the “look” of the Wild West thanks to movie director John Ford. It was his movie Stagecoach starring a young John Wayne that put Monument Valley on the pop culture map. We had to take the very expensive tour of Monument Valley because RVs are not allowed on the dirt road, for good reason. Here we also eat some unimpressive Navajo stew and honey fry bread.