Saturday June 17, 2023 - Recharge Lake Recreation Area NE to John Martin Reservoir State Park

Deb here. We both slept great in our van once again. After packing up we decided to go out for breakfast, so our first stop was the Iron Skillet in York. Busy place, with a decent scrambled eggs, pancakes, and sausage breakfast. 

After the first part of our drive on Rte. 80, we soon deviated off of the interstate at Kearney and onto the back roads. We soon crossed the state line into Kansas, and the countryside was really beautiful. Green grasses, gorgeous trees, rolling hills, and even some blue sky for awhile. The skies have been extremely hazy due to the Canadian wildfires, but today the air was clear and the sky was blue.

We eventually crossed into Colorado and decided we’d reserve a spot at a Colorado State Park. As we neared Lamar, the skies started to turn dark. We refilled the gas tank and then started the last 25 miles of our drive to John Martin Reservoir State Park and the Point Campground.

A couple of miles outside of Lamar the storm started, and wow, what a storm! Lightning everywhere (including the big bolts), torrential rain, and super high winds. John held the van steady but we slowed down and turned on the 4-way flashers. 

By the time we reached the campground, the storm had taken its toll on many of the tent campers, and people were packing up their wet gear and leaving. It was an evening that we were quite happy to have a van and not be tent camping. We’d thought about driving to the other campground in the park to take showers and do laundry, but decided we just wanted to stay put. After dinner the skies cleared and we caught a bit of a sunset and lovely skies.