Campsite Review

I was looking for a place to stay close to I-80 as I made a drive from Chicago back home to Boulder. This place seemed close enough to the highway to give a look, and I was not disappointed. I rolled in to the campgrounds around sunset and saw some people using the nearby lake to do some fishing.

I woke up, and there was a horse grazing across the road, and I discovered this really large, open space park next to the grounds also had a disc golf course. My campsite had a fire pit and a picnic table, there were others with electrical hookups, and sites that could easily accommodate RVs. There was a dump station and dumpsters for waste.

There were some playground areas, a place for firewood purchase, and a horse shoe play area adjacent to a rec building.

Product Review (update)

A few weeks ago I was awarded the Saris Freedom Superclamp 2-Bike bike rack from a contest run through TheDyrt's Facebook page. I have been able to use the bike rack for about 2 months, and taken it through a lot of different road conditions. You can read about the initial review here.

My overall impressions now that I've had the rack for a while longer is that it's a winner. You can watch a video of my overall impressions. While I still wish the rack offered some kind of way to get into my trunk without having to take the bike(s) off, it's just hard to argue it's a nuisance since it doesn't take that long to take the bike(s) on and off the rack. I've also changed my mind about the built-in bike locks. While I initially thought longer bike cable locks could be useful to lock up your bikes frame and front wheel (since most bikes have a front wheel quick-release option), I realized I had my own bike lock for my bike already that I just used, and I imagine most - if not all - people who will buy a bike rack for their bikes have locks for them too. A longer cable lock would require a larger place for it to be stored when not in use, which adds to the weight of the rack, which in the end isn't necessary.

In the city of Chicago, when I took the bike off during city commuting, I noticed it would have been nice to have the ability to fold the rack up closer to the end of my car, since there's so much city parking that's parallel parking, and the space added to the end of the car no longer made me a candidate for some spots.

Overall, this Saris bike rack is so easy to use, is super secure for my bikes, and was very durable - holding up to all kinds of 4WD-only roads. Definitely recommend.

The Sun Sets on Another Road Trip

Well, this 2,900 mile round trip Colorado-Toronto road trip has finally come to a close, and it's been a lot of fun. It certainly couldn't compete with my Rocky Mountain trip in late June up to Jasper National Park in Alberta on a scenery scale, but it had it's moments of solitude and a lot more lake time. To have been able to use TheDyrt to help plan out a few days on the road like my time in Land Between the Lakes, using info to figure out things like which campgrounds would be good for biking and canoeing, was a real plus.

I tried to avoid the corn fields of Iowa and Nebraska both directions, and don't regret doing the eastbound portion along I-70 and through Kansas and Missouri, but it was more of the same when it came to fields and fields of crops and prairies. My bigger regret is not giving myself enough time to explore more parts of Tennesse and Kentucky like the fun city of Nashville or the distilleries. Then again, I loved every minute of my time spent in Toronto up north in cottage country with my family, and would've regretted skimming days off that experience. With only so many days off, it's pretty easy to prioritize family. It just means I'll be back to Kentucky, derby time or camping season.