We left Wilson Lake under gray skies and light rain. We had hoped to take a “blue highway” north of I-70 to take in some scenery and small towns, but the weather became so dismal in showery rain that it seemed pointless. With the wet roads, we’d run a small risk of skidding through an intersection somewhere on the back roads, so instead we just took I-70 again and accepted the reality of another day of Interstate highway.

Let me tell you, Kansas is not flat. At the very least, it rolls and pitches like a wavy sea, which makes the Armada roar as it repeatedly downshifts to stay up with the fast-moving trucks. Toward the west, Kansas appears flattish but it is really tilted up, a shallow grade climbing from about 1,500 feet (at Wilson Lake) to about 4,000 feet at the Colorado border.

I hate driving those long shallow grades, especially when the speed limit is 70 (and in Colorado, 75 MPH). The trailer handles fine at higher speeds, but the fuel economy plummets, and with a constant shallow grade, it gets even worse. Add in the rain we had today, and we’ve really got a situation going. Not fun. So I kept it at 60 MPH in the rain, and 65 MPH when the rain finally cleared in Colorado.

Once we pulled into Aurora we got a little tour of the suburbs courtesy of Garminita the GPS. I always feel conspicuous towing the Airstream through crowded streets after a long day on the highway. There are people running their errands, picking up kids from school, coming home from work, and then there’s the giant silver trailer rolling through their neighborhood. I feel like I’m driving the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, and everyone is staring at me.

But then I realize that people are not paying any attention at all, and my feeling changes. What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know how cool an Airstream is? Can’t they see the colorful graphics on the side of the trailer (custom designed by Brad Cornelius, by the way)? It’s always a big letdown when we roll in and nobody even looks twice.

Well, at last we are parked in Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora CO. Long-time blog readers will recognize the name; we’ve been here twice before. It’s one of our favorite state parks. Terrific natural setting, great pull-through campsites with lots of space (and pink concrete pads), bike trails, a lake, and convenient to everything.

Coming here reminded me that I should have done a rollup of our favorite state parks a long time ago. There are many good state parks, but only a few are really great. Here’s a quick list of some of our favorites (all have RV camping):

Cherry Creek State Park, Aurora CO: wide open space, bike trails, wildlife

Henderson Beach State Park, Destin FL: beach and natural Florida dunes environment

Anastasia State Park, St Augustine FL: historic city, beach

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs CA: hikes, views, off-road drives

Gilbert Ray Campground, Tucson AZ (actually part of a county park): incredible views

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, near Crescent City CA: centuries-old redwoods

Blue Spring State Park, Orange City FL: snorkeling in the spring, manatees

Charlestown Breachway, Charlestown RI: absolutely no services, no hookups, no picnic tables, nothing but beach.

There are many great state parks in other states, too, and I don’t mean to ignore them. In fact, as we travel northwest this fall and winter, one goal is to discover some new favorite parks in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. From here on in, state and national parks will be our destinations as much as possible.