Michael

[Michael @mcrofut]

We have been living in Braga, Portugal for about 5 weeks now. It has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Moving to any new city has its own set of challenges but moving to a foreign country where English is not super prevalent is downright

https://t.co/l95LB3EudP

[Michael @mcrofut]

It has been a while since I have written a post. Not much of note to share -- until now. The last post was in September. We had just wrapped up our 15 month-long RV adventure traveling around most of the Western US and Canada.
Since

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[Michael @mcrofut]

We left Vancouver BC and crossed the border back to the United States. It has been one year since we were last in our home state of Washington. Wow, we are almost back home. But before completing thisjourney, we had one more National Park to visit --

https://t.co/bvd7XrY0wW

[Michael @mcrofut]

Our route from Kootenay to Vancouver brought us through Kamloops. We met a super friendly couple in Yuma this past winter who just so happens to live in Kamloops. We have a lot in common with Ralph and Debra -- we both love to travel and appreciate and

https://t.co/9OwLMtP0V5

[Michael @mcrofut]

Another week living on the road, another Canadian National Park -- Kootenay :) We stayed in a campground inside the park, near the town of Radium Hot Springs. Radium is known for being the winter home to a large herd of bighorn sheep.

https://t.co/4GTsjQmvBR

[Michael @mcrofut]

The town of Banff is freaking awesome. Located within Banff National Park, the town of Banff which is part of the national park is a separate municipality. Confused? Me too :) It is pretty much like one of the villages within Yellowstone, but on a

https://t.co/ClSONHjafF

[Michael @mcrofut]

Banff National Park - Canada's oldest national park. It has been a dream of ours for several years to visit this place. Finally, we have arrived. After setting up camp in Lake Louise, the northern part of the park, we hopped on the bikes and rode the 1.

https://t.co/ESLLoi0q1v

[Michael @mcrofut]

We crossed the border from Montana into Canada at Roosville. No wait. Quick and easy because of the app where you upload passport and COVID vaccination documentation ahead of time. We were nervous since we were smuggling contraband -- the hard stuff --

https://t.co/mugUABOpnW

[Michael @mcrofut]

Good news, Glacier National Park is a wonderful place full of clear, baby-blue, glacier-sourced lakes and streams and several rugged, glaciated mountains. Bad news, the glaciers will be gone by 2030. Well that's climate change.

https://t.co/TwGvHpyR6P

[Michael @mcrofut]

We are excited to celebrate Yellowstone's 150th Birthday. It was clear from the first couple days in the park that the summer crowds were not as big as they usually are due to the recent flooding and park-wide closure. Hey, that works in our favor.

https://t.co/GIITApuSeL

[Michael @mcrofut]

We were lucky enough to get a campsite inside Grand Teton National Park. We booked it about a year ago right at the time they opened reservations for the days we needed. Even then it was a mad rush tograb a site because literally the entire campground

https://t.co/dMm1cMUSZj

[Michael @mcrofut]

This month, we celebrated our one year anniversary of living on the road in our RV. I can't believe we actually made this dream into reality. Pretty cool. We have had good days, bad days, and excellent days, not much different than life anywhere, huh?

https://t.co/DWiOYJ00LC

[Michael @mcrofut]

We spent the past week at Curt Gowdy State Park which is located in between Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming. Beautiful, scenic, majestic, lots of wildlife, but wow is it windy :) Cheyenne is the 4th most windy city in the United States.

https://t.co/HP3OYActbZ

[Michael @mcrofut]

We are looking forward to exploring Rocky Mountain National Park over the next two weeks. Our home base is LaVern M Johnson Park - a city park in the heart of Lyons, Colorado. Lyons is a nice locationbeing in between Estes Park, the gateway to the

https://t.co/fka9MjCQ9O

[Michael @mcrofut]

We were excited to head to our next destination -- Durango, Colorado. On our way, we stayed at a friend's place in Dolores. They have a beautiful home that fits right in with the natural beauty of the forest and river.

https://t.co/OHUCt6xABM

[Michael @mcrofut]

As we rolled into Santa Fe, we were greeted with a post-apocalyptic scene of smoke and fire. Three wildfires were burning in the area -- one west of Santa Fe and two east that actually joined to create one mega fire.

https://t.co/nz4yRlRY7w

[Michael @mcrofut]

I convinced Emi to ride Potash Road with me. She really enjoyed it. Me, not so much. I got 4 flats and my tire totally cracked and split down the middle. I was stuck on the side of the road and Emi had to ride back to get the car and pick me up.

https://t.co/FJtLwwMzJv

[Michael @mcrofut]

We made it to Moab, Utah. It is one of those places, I've heard about in outdoors websites and magazines as being an outdoors mecca. But that is about all I knew. I really had no idea what to expect or even what type of climate.

https://t.co/PIPvJ3Zplw

[Michael @mcrofut]

Bryce Canyon National Park is one of those magical places I've only seen in photos and YouTube videos. Based on the time of year we were hitting up Southern Utah, I had already written it off because the elevation is too high and it would still be

https://t.co/kOcyVqB8Qr

[Michael @mcrofut]

As soon as we crossed into Southern Utah we were immediately greeted with sweeping mesas and plateaus and beautiful red rock cliffs and sandstone formations. The Greater Zion area is packed full of outdoor recreation areas.

https://t.co/c80hSlLucs