Day 2 of Driving to Utah

Let Day 2 begin!  We had driven roughly 1000 miles in 20 hours on Saturday. There were about 600 more miles to go.

A good night of sleep, ready for another day of driving

We were extremely happy with the way Saturday played out. We started early, with no issues along the way, and the drive really didn’t feel long until the last hour when we got a bit tired and restless before arriving at the hotel.

Day 1 had been a complete success and we were excited about Day 2. We had a good night of sleep, and a relaxing Sunday breakfast at the hotel, and we were ready to hit the road…again!

Colorado – Utah

Almost immediately the landscape changed as we drove into Colorado. The Kansas sunset was probably my favorite part of the trip, but now we’d be getting into the mountains which were why we were moving west.

The drive near Denver was absolutely breathtaking.  The beautiful scenery really perked us up.  We just couldn’t wait to get to our new hometown!

We ran into a quick and powerful rain that flooded the road in a few short areas. This was pretty nerve-wracking since we were driving a big truck with all our belongings! Thankfully, it didn’t last long and most people were very patient with each other.

At another point, traffic backed up a bit. We weren’t sure what happened and we began to see unusual debris on the road. We figured it out just as we saw what was left of a large pull-behind camper. The vehicle and family looked ok, but the camper was completely destroyed. The best way to describe it was it looked like a soaking wet cardboard box was dropped and everything in it was breakable. The accident demolished everything and you had to look for the scattered pieces that belonged together to even decide what the object had been. This image has really stuck in my head as we drive our own motorhome across Utah.

Overall, this stretch of driving was unique and stunning. Lots of flowing water in the creeks, beautiful cliffs with evergreen trees, rocks and boulders, etc.  This is a part of Colorado that we definitely want to explore more.

It was dark as we drove through Utah so we weren’t sure what the terrain was like. We purposely made that stretch of drive during daylight hours one year later when returning from an Indiana visit. It’s another gorgeous area!

Keith’s Fun Facts

(based on the entire drive to Utah)

• We drove 1657 miles.
• We used 240 gallons of gas.
• The U-haul averaged 7 mpg.
• The total drive time was 36 hours*
• Total hours, including stops, hotel stay, and time change, were about 46 hours.

*Google maps says 24 hours, but with the U-haul, we weren’t always able to reach the speed limit.