Road Trip In-Between Locations
Shoshone Falls, Idaho.
How many times have you heard or said the age old line“It’s not the Destination, it’s the Journey” line?! I have said it, I have practiced it, and I have completely ignored it many times in full transparency! In this article I share our road trip in-between location highlights we enjoyed en route from Ohio to Colorado (where we spent two weeks at my parents and in Rocky Mountain National Park.) Then from Colorado to Washington (where we lived in Seattle for several months.) Whether you are focused on the journey or the destination or somewhere in between like us I hope you enjoy your adventures on the open road!
If you are going somewhere, sometimes you want to get there. That’s totally understandable. The world is big and our time on it shrinks with every breath.
BUT…
Sometimes it’s nice to stop and smell the roses along the way, find a detour, or just overall move like a tortoise instead of the hare on the open road.
As someone who has crisscrossed the US a few times over the past year, like most things in life, I have come to realize that it’s a bit of a balance. I want to enjoy the journey but ultimately getting to the destination in a somewhat efficient manner matters as well.
At the time we did these Jill had a 9-5 job and we liked to limit our road travel to the weekends so she didn’t have to burn PTO days for us to haul to our next nomad location. We have tightened this process up over the past several months and when we were faced with the daunting prospect of going from Columbus Ohio to Seattle Washington (where we planned to spend the for a summer along with a slight detour to Alaska) we conjured up a plan to break the trip up.
Road Trip In Between Location: Salina, Kansas.
Nissan Rogue Taxi Cab Confession: I am in love with KOA campsites and if you think I am loving up on them you should see Jill blush when you mention a KOA!
KOA is short for Kampgrounds of America and what I love about them is the convenient locations to the national scenic byways and interstates of the US. They are located within a mile or two of an exit so it’s a quick jump off (just like a roadside hotel.)
Plus they have clean restrooms/showers, wifi, and encourage non-rowdy campers at their sites.
Hell the one in Twin Falls Idaho (we’ll get there in a few) even had a pool and ice cream social!
Anywho Dorothy let’s get back to Kansas.
We had a 20 hour-ish drive to Fort Collins from the C Bus and Salina was our overnight stop. It was about 12.5 into the journey.
Salina Kansas Highlights:
1. A cruise through the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve. This is as gorgeous as it gets on the open road in America.
2. Pizza and a sud from Blue Skye Brewery and Eats. YUM!!!
3. The Yesteryear Museum. A walking tour of the agricultural history of the state, randomly located right next to the KOA.
4. A trail run on muddy/soddy filled farm roads as the sun rose over the fields before we embarked on our drive to Colorado. In five miles I passed two homes, zero cars, and a lot of birds.
5. A jump rope & kettle-ball sunset workout on a dirt road while conversing with a fellow road tripper. She was returning to one of our favorite nomad spots, Grand Junction Colorado, and had attended and led reiki retreats in our favorite Desert Town Around, Joshua Tree!
Yesteryear Museum in Salina, KS.
Road Trip In-Between Location: Twin Falls, Idaho.
Back at another KOA, we landed more or less halfway between Loveland CO & our upcoming long-term airbnb rental in Queen Anne Seattle. The drive was around 18.5 hours and this KOA in Twin Falls measured in at a 9H 14M drive from my parents house in Colorado. Literally halfway within two minutes!
Idaho is one of my favorite, and in my eyes, perhaps most underrated state in the US for fun outdoor adventures. If they didn’t have so much conservative banter going on it would be as cool as Washington or California :).
Regardless of the desire by some Idahoans to remove democracy from the US I do still love the outdoor scene in Idaho! This KOA was popping too as I mentioned earlier. They had a pool, an ice cream social (Jill waited in line for 30 minutes to scoop up), and a gem mining experience for kids. Throw in the mom/son driving on a ripping road trip as she donned her pink robe for bed in the tent and the two recent HS grads all the way from Pennsylvania who had a broken tent (they blamed their friend Clare’s car for running over it) on their way to the Grand Canyon and this was a fun night under the stars!
Snake River Canyon.
Highlights of Twin Falls Idaho:
1. Shoshone Falls is the “Niagara of the West” and seeing the falls and playing frisbee at the falls park was a great respite after a 9 hour drive. The waterfall is impressive.
2. Hiking the Snake River Canyon Rim Trail.
Starting the day on this trail before heading to Seattle was a perfect way to watch the sunrise. This is a 12 mile loop trail that gives you the best views of the Snake River not located in Jackson Hole & Grand Teton National Park.
3. Breakfast at Abracadabra’s.
After they got over the shock & awe that there were people in America who were still wearing masks when entering public places as preventative safety measure they lightened up and served up a tasty breakfast! All the stereotypes about two liberal nomads heading to Seattle were true as well, we got the “California Vegan” and passed on the sides of gravy for dipping. I kid I kid but honestly the staff was kind, while staring profusely at us because of our masks, and the food was DELISH.
4. Live Music at Koto Brewing Company.
Four of the forty liberals that reside in Twin Falls formed a reggae/punk group that played some great tunes on our Saturday night hanging out at Koto. The other 36 liberals either own or hang out at Koto I am almost certain. The nachos and roasted brussel sprouts were ON POINT! The downtown had a cute makers market & the city park had a festival that looked like fun as well!
More waterfalls chasing in Twin Falls!
We made it to Seattle but it was fun to break up the trip and explore some on the way. To me that’s a fun piece of what we are doing. A dose of perspective and a connection with other areas that we normally don’t visit or experience. Twin Falls Idaho and Salina Kansas were just two of the more recent examples of great road trip in-between locations!
Being a nomad to me is about opening up my mind and challenging my own beliefs and thoughts every single day. It’s about having fun, adventuring, and spreading love and kindness to all humans, animals, and pieces of nature around the globe.
That includes the locations we are spending months in (WE LOVE YOU WASHINGTON!) but ALSO basking in the beauty of an overnight stop at a KOA and random In-Between Location like Twin Falls, Idaho or Salina, Kansas. We’ll likely take a different route back to the C Bus in the fall (seeing my parents in CO isn’t the direct route but we wanted to go there) so it will likely be more in-between experiences on the open road!
(UPDATE: We went to Bend Oregon, Crater Lake, the Grand Tetons, and then I picked up my Mom in Colorado to head to Ohio. So yes we did take a different route!)
Thanks for reading and being here friends.
Until our paths cross again on the open road, be well friends. Oh, sign up for our newsletter in the footer too ;).
Because Adventure Feeds the Soul,
Mike R