Summer 23 Trip Wrap Up

I'm reflecting on our five-week summer trip to the cool air of Colorado. 

Maroon Bells reflection

We got out of Texas just in time on July 11th. It got very hot and stayed hot. My weather station stopped reporting online on Aug 4th, but the temperature has remained well above 100ºF each day. We returned on Aug 13th and it was 106ºF. We had great weather in Colorado. It's so nice to cool off at night - sometimes down to the low 40s!

Our Winnebago Travato (The Bebopabago) performed well for us again. We had our 2-year ownership anniversary while on the trip, and we rolled past 23,500 total miles during this trip. Data is at the Travato link above. We climbed several high mountain passes over 12,000 feet and reached the top of Pike's Peak at over 14,000 feet.

I managed to post a few blogs during the trip, and there are numerous photos in each. I included the Telluride blog from 2022, which was written by our dog Bebop. And, I added a few favorite photos below as well.

Our blog site: https://westbrooktravel.blogspot.com/
- Trip Plan and Map
- Early Stops on the Way
- Colorado Front Range
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Maroon Bells Wilderness
- Telluride (from 2022)
- San Juan Mountains

I do love data, so here are the trip stats:

Miles Driven: 2,815 miles
Average miles/day: 83
Time Driving: 73 hours
Avg Speed: 38 mph
MPG: 16.6 (vehicle calc); 15.8 (actual)
Gas Used:  177 gallons, average of 5.2 gallons/day
Gas Cost: $651 ($19/day) - avg of $3.68/gallon
Campground Cost: $881 (avg $26/day)
Campground Cost: $695 (avg $20/day)

A few photo highlights:

Mount Sopris view from Red Hill in Carbondale, CO

Bear Creek Falls in Telluride, CO

Hiking up to Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride, CO

Sunrise on the Maroon Bells near Aspen, CO

Mountains through an old mining structure near Leadville, CO

Elena the climber in Rocky Mountain National Park

Pikes Peak view from Garden of the Gods in CO

Pikes Peak in CO

- Paul