8 Days and 41 Gas Stops

Trail Ridge Road I only had one week off from work, and desperately needed to take a trip someplace. I had thought I was going to get 2 or 3 weeks, but some equipment at work was arriving sooner than expected, so I couldn't take that much time. Originally, I had intended to go to Colorado in those three weeks; I wonder if I could do it in one? A long session with Automap and the Rand-McNally convinced me it could be done. I wouldn't get to stop much and smell the flowers, but I could see the Rockies.

I kept a journal during the journey, and what follows is a pretty direct translation from that.  Without the journal, I think my comments would have been limited to wow and beautiful, nothing much more specific.

plain-text version for printing

This trip contained:


  1. Part 1 - New Jersey to Grayson Lake, KY 630 Miles
  2. Part 2 - Grayson Lake, KY to Arrow Rock, MO 653 Miles (consistent, eh?)
  3. Part 3 - Arrow Rock, MO to Burlington, CO 635 Miles
  4. Part 4 - Burlington, CO to Denver, CO 217 Mile
  5. Part 5 - Denver, CO to Kimball, NE 338 Miles (Including Rocky Mountain NP)
  6. Part 6 - Kimball, NE to Des Moines, Iowa 618 Miles
  7. Part 7 - Des Moines, Iowa to West Lafayette, IN 455 Miles
  8. Part 8 - West Lafayette, IN to Zanesville, OH 380 Miles
  9. Part 9 - Zanesville, OH to Home, NJ 460 Miles