Last Updated: May 4, 2026
We don’t always take the direct route home from Yellowstone, and this trip was proof of it. After one of our latest-season stays in Gardiner — businesses closing, temperatures dropping well below freezing each night, and several surprise snowfalls reminding us that late autumn in Montana is not the time to linger — we mapped a route south through Wyoming and into Colorado to visit as much of Michael’s family as we could reach. Jake was a good sport through the cold weather and ready to move again. From Colorado we continued east across the plains to Amarillo before cutting west through Albuquerque, stopping in the Arizona high country, and finishing the winter migration at Yuma for the drive home to San Diego.
Garryowen, Montana
The 7th Ranch RV Park in Garryowen was a welcome find as we began the long drive south from Gardiner — full hookups, virtually no other guests, and the kind of end-of-season generosity that comes when a park is winding down. They sold beautiful cuts of locally raised beef and sent us off with free ice cream, and we weren’t inclined to argue with either. The ranch sits just minutes from the Little Bighorn National Monument, one of the most quietly powerful historic sites in the American West. If you’re passing through on US-90 in either direction, it deserves more than a fuel stop.
Evansville, Wyoming
We stayed at Rivers Edge RV Resort outside Casper on a night when snow was moving in across the high plains. Full hookups, a mix of construction workers and long-term residents, and a quiet functional atmosphere suited to a winter overnight. By morning the snow had melted and left the ground thoroughly muddy — Jake’s pawprint pressed into the RV steps was the only evidence of the overnight storm. The North Platte River runs nearby but the weather didn’t invite much exploring.
St. Vrain State Park, Longmont, Colorado
We’ve stayed at St. Vrain before and it remains a reliable base for the northern Colorado front range — full hookups through Colorado Parks & Wildlife, good open walking areas for Jake, and a location that put us within twenty minutes of Terri, Jim, Jon, and their families in Brighton. We went out for Mexican food, caught up on everyone’s news, and appreciated the warmth of the gathering after weeks on the road in cold weather.
Family including Terri, Jim, Jon, their spouses, children, and grandchildren were about a twenty-minute drive from the park. Getting everyone in the same place for a meal is one of the genuinely great pleasures of RV travel — the trip creates the occasion. Jake was delighted to see everyone, and looking back we’re grateful for every one of those visits.
Casey’s RV Hideaway, Elizabeth, Colorado
Casey’s RV Hideaway in Elizabeth lives up to its name — a small park tucked beneath tall ponderosa pines in the rolling Elbert County hills south of Denver. They offer 50-amp electric and water but only a dump station rather than full sewer at the site, and no Wi-Fi, which we’ve come to accept as the trade-off for a peaceful, scenic location. We’ve stayed here before. This time we were visiting Mark, Samantha, and Foster — we last saw Foster when he was working at a winery in Sonoita, Arizona, and it was good to see him well settled in his Colorado chapter now.
Sundance-High Plains RV Park, Lamar, Colorado
Sundance-High Plains RV sits in Lamar on the eastern Colorado plains, close to the Kansas border — a stretch of Colorado that most travelers cross at speed on US-50 without stopping. We stopped to visit Sarah, Todd, and their kids Henry and Grant, got to see their businesses and the town they’ve built a life in, and came away with real affection for this community. Full hookups on an end site, and Sarah made us a proper meal. Lamar has the quiet, rooted character of the agricultural high plains, and it rewards the people who take the time to actually stop.
Oasis RV Resort, Amarillo, Texas
We’ve stayed at Oasis RV Resort before and it remains one of the better full-service parks in the Texas Panhandle — large sites, reliable Wi-Fi, good facilities. The park sits close to Steven, Kari, and their two daughters, and we got to see their home for the first time, which after years of hearing about it from the road was long overdue. Amarillo has an underappreciated energy — Cadillac Ranch, a genuine steakhouse culture, and the wide-open sky of the Llano Estacado stretching in every direction.
Route 66 RV Resort, Albuquerque, New Mexico
The drive from Amarillo to Albuquerque on I-40 cuts through some of the most exposed terrain in the Southwest, and on this day it delivered crosswind gusts up to 30 mph that made towing the Airstream an exercise in concentration. Route 66 RV Resort sits adjacent to a casino on the west side of Albuquerque with full hookups and a nice end site facing open desert. A comfortable stop, and a good jumping-off point for the drive west through the Rio Grande valley and back into Arizona.
AJ’s Getaway RV Park, Overgaard, Arizona
AJ’s Getaway in Overgaard was a genuine discovery — a newer full-service park at around 7,000 feet elevation in the ponderosa pines of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, on the Mogollon Rim just north of Show Low. The air was clean and cold, the pines came right up to the sites, and our end site gave us an unobstructed view of the night sky. We photographed the Milky Way that evening — something simply not possible near a city, and one of the great underappreciated rewards of RV travel in the Arizona high country. If you’re routing through northeastern Arizona on US-60 or AZ-260, this park is well worth a night or two at any season.
The Palms RV Resort, Yuma, Arizona
The Palms RV Resort in Yuma is our reliable final stop before the run home to San Diego. It’s a full-service resort that primarily serves long-term residents and park model owners — quiet, well-maintained, and a genuinely pleasant place to decompress after weeks on the road. From Yuma it’s roughly 2.5 hours to San Diego. We unloaded the Airstream and put it in storage until the next trip.
Jake made the whole trip with us — every snowy overnight, every family dinner, every walk in the pines under the Milky Way. We lost him shortly after we got home. We delayed posting this for a while. It was his last great road trip, and it was a good one.
Practical Tips
Winter driving through Wyoming and Colorado: Late October through November brings unpredictable road conditions — I-80 across Wyoming and I-25 through Colorado can close with little warning during storms. Check wyoroad.info and cotrip.org before leaving, and carry extra food, water, and layers. Wind is the constant factor; crosswind gusts of 30–50 mph are routine on Wyoming interstates and significantly affect high-profile rigs. St. Vrain State Park is a solid base for visiting the Denver and northern Front Range area — much better availability in late fall than summer, full hookups, open walking areas, and the America the Beautiful pass is accepted. Casey’s RV Hideaway in Elizabeth is a peaceful alternative when you want pine trees over metro Denver concrete — 50 amp, water, quiet, and close to the southern Denver suburbs. AJ’s Getaway in Overgaard is one of the better-kept secrets in Arizona RV travel: full hookups, genuine pine forest at 7,000 feet, exceptional dark skies, and easy routing to Tucson, Phoenix, or Flagstaff in a half-day. The Palms in Yuma caters primarily to seasonal long-termers — call ahead in peak season (January–March) when transient sites can be limited.
