Tom and I are off on our first long road-trip with our new puppy, Aly. We adopted Aly (short for Alyeska) the day after returning from our three month road-trip to Alaska last summer. Alyeska is one of the original names for Alaska from the indigenous Aleut language. Aly is 10 months old and, like traveling with young children, her presence significantly influences our decisions. Before leaving our home in Colorado, we were already searching for dog parks and rest areas along I-25 towards New Mexico. We stopped at several rest areas including the Cuerno Verde Rest Area near Colorado City.
Cuerno Verde Rest Area
The Cuervo Verde Rest Area doesn’t have a fenced dog park but it does have plenty of space to walk them... plus nice picnic and restroom facilities.
It has two large parking lots; one for passenger vehicles and one for RVs and semi trucks. And, according to this website, it even has an RV dump station! We didn’t need to dump since we were just starting our trip but it’s good to know for the future.
Whenever Tom and I see a rest area we always ask ourselves “could we sleep here if we had to?” This is a safe and quiet rest area. It’s far enough off the freeway but not too secluded. A large sign indicates “No Camping”. I can understand why the sign might be necessary. There’s plenty of room to pitch a tent and set out the lawn chairs with easy access to bathrooms. That's probably frowned on. However, I suspect sleeping inside a camper so the driver can rest up for the next leg of the journey is allowed. This boondocker article provides a nice overview on Colorado Rest Area Rules.
Tom and I love boondocking. But, there’s boondocking to camp; put out the lawn chairs and sit around a fire. And, there’s boondocking to sleep. In general, you have a lot more options when you’re just boondocking to sleep, including most rest areas. But, not this time. After a quick break and got back on the road, trying to beat a snowstorm to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Santa Fe Elks Lodge
The snow started coming down and it was getting dark just as we reached Santa Fe.
In other, unfamiliar cities, we might have been a little worried about where we were going to park for the night. But, we knew if we could make it to Santa Fe, we could boondock at the Elks Lodge. Many Elks lodges across the country offer RV parking. Some actually have hookups, others, like Santa Fe, just have a big dirt parking lot. As members of the Elks Club, we’re allowed to “camp” at these Elks lodges. Most just ask for a small donation.
After a good night’s sleep, we woke to a cold but beautiful sunrise. A perfect start to the next leg of our road-trip!
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