Heading East: Carbondale, CO & Saint Peters, MO

In mid-May, it was time to leave the southwest and start a 2-week trek back to NC to see our family! We drove way too much on the weekends but our workweek stops were great! The first stop was in the mountains of Colorado and the other right outside of St. Louis, Missouri.

Our intense driving schedule was slightly complicated by picking up our new kayaks! We knew the particular kayaks that we wanted after trying out our friend’s Pungos by Wilderness Systems. After trying unsuccessfully to find 2 of them used, we decided to start calling stores that were along our route. Turns out, they were also hard to find brand new, but we were able to get one in Kansas and another in Tennessee.

We left Zion NP early on a Sunday morning and made it all the way to the small city-owned Gateway RV Park in Carbondale, CO. Carbondale is between the larger towns of Glenwood Springs and Aspen, an area of Colorado that we had never visited before. After 6 weeks of dry camping/boondocking in the desert, we were glad to have full hookups because the camper needed some deep cleaning. With no weekends in the area and a Thule project taking Michael’s spare time, we didn’t have much time for exploring.

The one exception is that we were able to see the Maroon Bells, which our Colorado expert friend Jake had told us about a few years ago when we road-tripped with him around the state. These peaks, which are some of the most photographed in North America, are located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness area near Aspen. Because of their popularity, you have to make $10 “parking reservations” online to visit. We got super lucky with the road just opening for the season that week and there was availability on Thursday at 5 pm. We packed a picnic dinner and spent a couple of hours walking around the area.

The best time to go is during a Fall morning when the Aspens are yellow and the bell-shaped peaks look red and are reflected in Maroon Lake. We were still pretty happy with Spring in the afternoon!

We drove more that weekend than we ever want to again…all the way through Kansas and part of Missouri, sleeping at a rest area and then at a Cabela’s and picking up the first kayak in the town of Manhattan, KS. Even though it was a long drive, we made it safely to our next stay an hour west of Saint Louis.

We enjoyed our stay at the city-owned 370 Lakeside Park in St. Peters until a town employee informed us that the park is flood plain for the Mississippi River and the small hill around the park that I had thought looked a little unnatural was actually a levee! This type of information doesn’t seem to phase Michael but I immediately had to start researching the current water levels of the Mississippi and Missouri and other small rivers I can’t remember the names of now. After I decided we were safe, I concentrated on other things like BBQ from Pappy’s and getting tickets to the Budweiser Factory tour!

While running errands I ended up in the adjacent town of Saint Charles. This Missouri River town is where Louis and Clark met to begin their expedition and was also the first state capital of Missouri. The historic downtown area was one of the nicest I’ve seen and am thankful for this RV adventure bringing us to places we wouldn’t otherwise discover.

We also got really lucky with the Budweiser tour. The timing worked out so that Thursday of the week we were in the area was the first day the tour reopened from the COVID-19 closure. The tour was called “Day Fresh” and wasn’t a bad way to spend $15pp because I got to see the Clydesdales and Michael got to try some fresh Bud (his beverage of choice during college). Personally, I didn’t think that fresh Bud was any better than store-bought Bud.

Budweiser is the largest breeder of Clydesdales in the world.

The beer made in STL supplies the midwest and their warehouse only stores enough that if production stops, midwesterners will run out in just 18 hours.

After the tour, we stopped to see the Arch, but it was getting late and the rain was getting heavier so we decided to go back to the RV Park and make sure the Mississippi didn’t flood. This National Park and the STL area are on our re-visit one-day list.

The next weekend was Memorial Day weekend and we slept at Cracker Barrels, picked up our Tennessee kayak, and made it home.