Saying goodbye to the summer

Hello from a laundromat in Vermont!

I’m not going to do the usual introduction of acknowledging that this blog post is late and probably inadequate to really tell you all about what we have been up to, instead I’ll just lead in with the fact that we have done so much stuff that there has barely been time to stop and think at all.

So we have to pack a full quarter of the country into this post… maybe it will be a two parter.

Our time in STL was a really nice break from the road. We spent the time fixing the bits that were hanging off the rig, both metaphorically and in the case of some of the trim, literally, enjoying a house with all of the mod cons that we have been missing, and friending hard. The big update from our maintenance was that we successfully replaced the cooling unit in the fridge! I still can’t quite believe that we took on something that big, especially considering that we had to do all the work with it lying in the camper (we couldn’t fit it back out through the door), but it is done, and other than some minor hiccups it has been working really well. The other upgrades were the extra air springs to assist the struggling suspension on the back axle. Also since we have been on the road we have replaced one of the dead propane tanks and the regulator and hoses, switched out the two ancient and unyielding vent covers in the camper so now we can dehumidify a little, learned a little more about the bloody right indicator which frequently requires an ever so light punch to get it to work, and a hundred other tiny fixes and fiddles which make up camper life.

It turned out to be a little more of a stay than we had anticipated, but it was worth it. We left the city again, headed north, around mid August. Can we just take a minute to talk about Iowa? I have heard nothing but mildly derogatory statements about how it is all farmland and not interesting at all. Well we have only spent any real time in the east of the state but from what I saw it is an excellent place to be! Every day was spent driving up along the Mississippi exploring thriving little river towns with a great mix of art and heavy freight trains running through them. Every evening we stopped in yet another beautiful state park (seriously nice and cheap camping) shrouded with mist and full of deer, and yes there is a lot of farmland but it is the most bucolic, well maintained rolling countryside that you could care to find yourself in! In short we thought Iowa was lush.

Further north we went, bouncing back and forth across the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota, until we were very nearly into Canada. We to the north shore of Lake Superior to visit our friend Matt, captain of the schooner Hjordis which sails out of Grand Marais. And of course, like with so many other places on this trip, we fell in love with the town. There is just such a cool vibe to the place. It is touristy and a little expensive, but given how short the summer season is that far up you can’t really grudge the prices, but there are a ton of really nice quality galleries, the coffee is good, the harbour is picturesque, and the people are lovely. But what really stole it for us was North House Folk School. Have you ever wanted to know how to build your own canoe? The folk school has a course for that. Want to know how to forge your own short axe? There is a course for that too. Want to learn how to pickle food, or cross stitch, or timber frame,or bake bread, or learn a bunch of sea shanties? This place has got you covered. It is a little campus of buildings set right next to the harbour, and throughout the year experts are brought in to teach skills that together amount to pretty much everything you could possibly need to be able to feed, clothe, house, and care for yourself. It also functions as a center of the community, with potluck pizza nights and evening gatherings. The people who work there are all young and enthusiastic and friendly and we felt totally welcome. Seriously, we can’t say enough good things about the place. Also we got to sail at sunset with Matt and our new friend Thane, and play guitar and tell stories. It was idyllic.

It was with a lot of regret that we left Grand Marais after 3 days, but it was only a short day’s drive down to Duluth and being hosted by another friend! I don’t know what they put in the water up north but everyone is bloody nice! Despite being super rushed with work Ora made time to meet up for dinner, and show us her home and let us use the laundry and shower, and gave us free use of her couch. Again we wish we could have spent a bit longer, but we were as always behind schedule. Duluth is another one of those places where you wouldn’t necessarily visit as a vacation destination but was still a perfectly nice town. It’s pretty industrial but you get a beautiful view of the lake from pretty much everywhere, and there is a close knit atmosphere, plus there are a tonne of good breweries! We also got acquainted with Northern Waters Smokehaus, and are very sad to have left it behind.

It’s probably a good time to talk about how bizarre the great lakes are. We caught ourselves calling Lake Superior the sea on a daily basis. They are even minutely tidal! The geology surrounding them is pretty spectacular too, much to my chagrin the camper is once again full of rocks. We made a stop at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (I almost typed seashore there, again, the lake is SO BIG) and puttered around on a beautiful beach which we had all to ourselves. We also visited a log slide, which was a great rut in a huge sand dune where they used to slide huge logs destined for the timber trade down. We could have thrown ourselves down it too, but making it back up again would have been the workout of a lifetime and it was pretty close to getting dark. Plus there were a load of signs telling us that if we chose to do it the nearest rescue crew was an hour’s drive away and it was going to cost us several hundred dollars to call them out...

After passing through the UP of Michigan and trying their version of a pasty (very different from those of the UK, but still tasty), we took a shortcut through Ontario. Finally getting into Canada felt like quite an achievement, even though we spent less than 24 hours there. Despite that we did fit in a very nice visit  to see Dani and Lex and to hit up the original Tim Horton’s in Hamilton, our first quest outside of the US completed! We also availed ourselves of at least 3 other Tim’s stops… we might have a problem. Oh, we also crossed back in to the US at Niagra! What a cool place! It was absolutely lousy with us tourists, but we made the most of it and bought a fridge magnet :)

We then scooted our way through upstate New York. While Zora has long known how pretty central NY can be when it’s not a frozen hellscape, I have only seen it in the dead of winter, so it was a nice experience. Again it is lovely farmland, but land that has been warped and wrinkled and is now a series of super steep hills and valleys. It made for an interesting drive!  We stopped into visit Colgate, Zora’s alma mater, and remind ourselves what undergrads look like, it is crazy how much campus has changed in preparation for the bicentennial next year. We also had a great catch up with Zora’s undergraduate advisor Amy for a lovely coffee and a chat. It’s bizarre how often that has happened on this journey, that we have been able to just pop in and catch up, despite the road to getting there being thousands of miles long!

The next few states are kind of a blur. We were in chug on through to Canada mode. Highlights were; getting our first glimpse of the Atlantic (it is so gray and cold looking!), taking an unplanned trip to an NPS site in Maine, Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, and finally cutting our way back down the track to Michael’s house at Otter Cove.

It has been a wild, wonderful, and fast paced period of the adventure!

Like Lewis and Clarke in Reverse

Hi Questies!

We are back for another thrilling installment of 'Where the Hell Are We Now?' It has been another stretch of busy, fun things, and not much time to think let alone compose a relaxed blog post. However we feel that we have earned a little R&R after driving over 2000 miles in 5 days, finally arriving safe and sound back in St. Louis on Thursday afternoon. We are very pleased to report that Vroomy stood up to the prolonged beating like a true shield-maiden, no further pieces fell off Leaky, and that both of us appear unscathed by the rapacious bacteria that was no doubt beginning to colonize our persons after so long without a shower.

The road trip was uneventful but tough. Washington, Idaho, and Montana were beautiful and we would have loved to have explored for weeks more.  Once in Wyoming we did break up the drive with a visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, and an amazing scenic drive down highway 191 through the Wind River Reservation. It is a truly spectacular part of the world. We saw a small herd of bison, which created a massive traffic jam of people slowing down to take photos, and we joined hundreds of other people to watch Old Faithful do it's thing, which was cool but man is that place over-visited. The parking lot was freaking enormous! Unfortunately those roads were so slow with other traffic and steep curves that we had a lot of ground to cover afterwards. The rest of Wyoming, all of Nebraska, a small corner of Iowa, and the full width of Missouri were just head down, flat out interstate grind. Our record was 700 miles in one day when crossing Nebraska.

Anyway, here we are, back at home base. It is so nice to have access to some mod-cons again! Road life is wonderful and it is obviously a fantastic lifestyle, visiting far flung places and seeing long lost friends, but having a house to laze around in for a while is like being on vacation. It's funny how things get flipped around. Mind you St. Louis is living up to it's reputation for heat and humidity, we are missing the coastal breezes!

So I am happy to report that we got to the appointment with USCIS on time, and that it all went very smoothly. I've got a really good feeling about the STL office, it seems to be very well run compared to the others that I've had to sit in, so I'm quietly hoping that the processing time will be considerably less than the worst case scenario. I've also got my handbook for studying for the citizenship test! Did you know that the US is a representative democracy? We celebrated by taking a quick trip to the newly minted Gateway Arch National Park and getting another stamp in our NP passport book. It's been renovated and revamped really nicely, the museum is fascinating. We would have stayed all day but I think we are both road-lagged (is that a thing?).

We have got a whole raft of things to do whilst we are back. Replacing the still broken fridge cooling unit, jacking up the rear suspension with air bags, cleaning ALL THE THINGS, extra sealing on the roof and around the windows in preparation for the fall and winter, and getting some work done. Zora has a pretty important application to work on as well. But we are going to try and break up all of those things with some hanging out with friends and appreciating the city in the summer.

Once again I'd like to say a massive thank you to our west coast ohana. It is ridiculous how hospitable and fun you guys were. You made it an incredible visit!

In which we write a novel about our prolonged absence...

Hey Questies,

It has recently been pointed out that the last update to the blog was back in May! This came as a shock for 2 reasons, the first was that that was a looooong time ago and a bunch of stuff has happened since then, the second was that people might actually be taking the time out of their busy lives to read about the misadventures of a couple of vagrants like us. With this rather uplifting surprise buoying our spirits we are going to attempt to engage with the site in a more proactive way. It will inevitably peter out after a couple of weeks and there will be the usual long periods of radio silence from us (you know how it goes; every once in a while you resolve to be better about communicating and writing a diary, and you do it for a couple of days and all of a sudden you are making vows to yourself that you will never let the tiniest screed of information be lost to the mists of memory without skewering it to the pinboard of your journals with precise, sharp witticisms and self reflective grandeur… and then it all gets to be a bit too much effort so you begin to forget/ignore it and play video games instead until the next time you start the cycle again (we’ve all done it)) but until that happens we should be writing a few more things on here. Oh also we’ll probably cut down on the number of photos included in the blogs, purely because it takes soooo long to upload them and format them on the website, so if you want to see stuff follow our instagram and facebook!

So the plan now is to update you about where we are and the shape of things over the past couple of months, then we will follow up with some catch up blogs for each state, and then we can get back to short little updates on a regular (read semi-regular) basis. Ok. Alright? Got it? Good, then I will begin.

We last left you with a bit of news about our goings on in New Orleans, we liked the place, it was very pretty, but we were there at a bad time and I don’t think we got everything we could out of the city itself. Maybe someday we will go back driving a smaller vehicle and appreciate it at a more leisurely pace.

From NOLA we began the grand Westerly migration. Taking a wide sweep South through some beautiful countryside (there is so much Spanish Moss down there), and spending a couple of days sitting at a truly remote spot near a boat ramp to recuperate from the crazy, we came up and rejoined the I-10 around Lafayette. We were pretty well done with Louisiana roads by this stage so decided not to dawdle. We had a night in a truck stop, which was fine but a note for all you future vanlifers out there; 18 wheelers nearly always leave their trucks idling overnight, so if you want some peace and quiet don’t stay near them! And a night in a casino parking lot, another note; if you go into the hotel/conference part of a casino they usually have random furniture lying around in the halls to fill up space. They are close to power outlets, so you can put on a clean shirt and go and relax on a comfy couch and steal some power without raising eyebrows! The best thing about this stretch was heading down to the gulf of Mexico and getting a little swim in at a place call Holly Beach. Well, I swam and Zora observed nature, and we both appreciated the pelicans. Then we got out of there and crossed into Texas.

Ah Texas, what a mixed bag you were! We had some really nice times. Doing the Enchanted Rock Quest was fantastic, appreciating the well maintained roads was nice as well, staying at a couple of wonderful campsites, watching bats fly out of their roost in Houston, appreciating your nature at a prairie chicken preserve, all good things. However you also kind of kicked our asses. We found ourselves getting lost in just how vast it is down there. Every leg takes hours and hours, and by the time you get there you want nothing more than to sleep. We also had a propane leak, and the place we found to ‘fix’ the problem on short notice didn’t really do a good job, and they ripped us off royally, so all of a sudden we were short on money, without propane for a day so no fridge, NO TEA, and high on fumes. Also we nearly got struck by lightning. By the end of our stay we were keen to move on to the next state, so we made an epic push up to the border of New Mexico.

Carlsbad Caverns, NM

This was another surprise state, like Arkansas, which we connected with more than we expected. It started with a beautiful, rough, barren campsite overlooking the Chihuahuan desert. And having a quick succession of amazing experiences at the Carlsbad Caverns and the Guadalupe Mountains. Seriously, I think Carlsbad may have spoiled all other caves for me, it was spectacular, and huge, AND pretty much the first cold place we had experienced in 3 weeks. Moving onwards and upwards we went through the Lincoln National Forest, where we met Verne, a very interesting person who we drank wine with and listened to road stories from. Then down out of the mountains and across the valley West of Alamogordo and into the White Sands National Monument. What a weird/amazing place! Hundreds of acres of violently white gypsum sand dunes, which roll off in every direction. It’s like a snowy landscape went on a summer holiday! And of course it is like standing in a furnace, with all the heat reflected back at you. Heading onwards we passed over the Organ mountains and through Las Cruces. The focus of the rest of the NM leg was reaching the Gila Cliff Dwellings North of Silver City. It was an amazing place, but getting there we had a crash course in how/why to use low gear when descending mountains, I nearly boiled the brake fluid!

Gila Cliff Dwellings, NM

We headed down and rejoined the I-10 corridor to cross from New Mexico into Arizona. I guess that one of the defining characteristics of the previous 3 states was that we were almost entirely alone, really getting used to long term habitation in the camper. Well that changed abruptly in Arizona, starting with a visit to the parents of our friend Cassie. Candy and David did an amazing job hosting us in Sierra Vista, right down on the Southern border. They fed us, they drove us around to some amazing places, they let us play with their adorable dogs, I borrowed tools to fix our camper door which spontaneously fell off, and they paid me good money to do some household chores whilst watching the Monaco Grand Prix. It was a wonderful stay! After a few days of getting used to the settled life we got back on the road and went to volunteer at the Appleton-Whittel Reseach Ranch, a grassland ecology research facility. Again we were made to feel incredibly welcome, and met some wonderful people, and could have stayed for much longer than we did. From there we had ANOTHER connection to visit with; Roy and Laurie, friends of my dad who live in Tucson. Again we got very spoiled, being taken out to dinner and sleeping in the biggest, softest bed in the world, and generally treating their home as our own for a few days. This stretch of the trip really was luxurious, and much needed after the weeks of roughing it. But we were aware that we had to pick the pace up, there was still so much ground to cover. We headed up to Sedona, where we joined the Top of Bell Rock Club on Zora’s birthday, and were generally impressed with the spectacular scenery and the beautiful desert.

Saguaro National Park, AZ

After visiting Jerome and Strawberry we moved further North, visiting the Petrified Forest and Canyon De Chelly, in the Navajo Nation, both of which were very cool. Our goal was to spend a couple of nights in Utah at a place called the Moki Dugway. Unfortunately when we got there the road up the 1000ft cliff just looked too dangerous/difficult for our rig to do (all the signs said we shouldn’t and for once we listened). We may have been able to make it, but why take the risk. Fortunately the ‘Valley of the Gods’ was right next to it, and that was, you know, a compromise. That’s the place you see in old timey Westerns when they want to set the mood with a bit of impressive geology. The ancient mountains have been eroded away over eons to form these amazing standing pillars, surrounded by boulders and scree. Our next little drama was that my seatbelt spontaneously decided to lock up and stop working, so we had a fun time driving to a NAPA, buying an appropriately sized wrench, and taking the driver’s seat apart in the parking lot. But we fixed it! From there we began heading West again. We got a little too ambitious with our off roading at one stage crossing a dry stream bed and digging the foot of one of the jacks into the ground. We dug it out without too much damage, but it was touch and go there for a bit and we did have to improvise. Thank goodness we brought a spade with us! West, West, West.

By this stage it was getting super hot and we had basically had enough of the desert. This was confirmed when we started crossing Nevada. We very nearly killed the rats just by leaving them in the camper as we travelled, which up until this point had been fine because as we drive the air blows through the camper and in combination with our hyper reflective roof, keeps everything cool. Except the air in Nevada is like 130 degrees, so when it is moving you are just getting heat pushed into your skin rather than nicely cooling you off. Thankfully a bit of trim decided to fly off the camper on the highway and we pulled over to sort it out and realized just how hellishly hot it was. We probably didn’t give that state enough of a shake, but the coast of California was within striking distance, so after a night on Lake Mead we noped on out of there. To be fair we tried to go to the Hoover Dam on our way past, but as it happened a nutter had parked his homemade armored car on top of it and was causing a national incident… Oh well.

San Diego Zoo, CA

So, California. California, you big, beautiful, expensive, overcrowded, tasty, fun, foggy, wonderful place. We have had a fantastic time in this state. We will tell you all about it in a future post, but the long and short is that we stayed with friends in the middle, went all the way down and stayed with family at the bottom, came back up and stayed with more friends in the middle, and are now heading up, seeing more friends at the top. We have seen wonderful things and beautiful places, and have had some pretty terrible luck with our truck and camper. But not enough to stop us. So this is where we are at now, on the 4th of July, the 4 year anniversary of my coming to this crazy country, parked next to a lake and waiting for the fireworks to begin later on.

It is not every year that you have so much to remember, and we are both very grateful that we get to live this life of ours, with all of its ups and downs and infinite interesting moments, and see so much of this beautiful land together.

Right, before I go over 2000 words and begin to feel like I am back in school I’m going to stop. Till the next time peeps!

Love T & Z.

Reyes Point Lighthouse, CA

Bumping along through our third state.

Well, it looks like we are pretty terrible about writing this blog, and with keeping the website up to date. I'd like to blame it all on bad internet, but honestly a lot of the times it's just because we're having too much fun! And we've both become obsessive knitters. We decided one of our projects on the road would be to salvage yarn from junk shops we visit (a favorite pastime of Zora's) and turn it into one big colorful, messy, knobbly blanket as a document of the trip. We're going to assemble all the randomly sized results and maybe put a back onto it over the winter. We'll see if we end up with a baby blanket or a full sized quilt at the end, but we're off to a good start! 

Our progress so far! Zora's is on the left.

We have now completed our trip through Louisiana and are somewhere in Texas! Louisiana was a mixed bag for us. We had a lot more trouble finding places to camp, so we've now added RV parks (one really nice, one right next to a busy railway yard, both expensive) and casino parking lots to our list of places we've tried (and usually succeeded) sleeping in. We have faced the challenge of driving our rig through an unfamiliar, busy city (New Orleans), and discovered that either NOLA drivers are blind/jerks, or that our turn signals are just too dim compared to modern vehicles to be comfortable changing lanes on highways. We also discovered that Louisiana roads are TERRIBLE. We did take the rig down some very sketchy gravel tracks in Arkansas, but by going really slowly (and not having to worry about anyone else on the road) we could get over some really challenging terrain without anything making terrible noises or rattling our teeth out. Louisiana didn't give us that option, not on their back roads, not on the streets of New Orleans, and not even on the freakin INTERSTATES! Most of the roads were made of concrete slabs instead of a continuous pave, which meant every time we hit a seam (every 10 ft or so) the whole rig would jump, no matter what speed we tried taking them at. Add in potholes and the usual assortment of neglected maintenance issues, and abundant traffic, and we were left carsick, worried that the whole thing was going to shake apart, and pretty much at our wits end. There's a reason we are looking especially happy under that Welcome to Texas sign, the roads on this side of the border are way better! 

I would like to take this opportunity to reveal that our beautiful, hitherto anonymous steed finally has a name! Ladies and Gentlefolk, may I introduce the steadfast, reliable, lovely, powerful VROOMHILDA! We've been agonizing over the name for a long time now (and still are struggling to name the camper), but we have finally identified her. Like her Shieldmaiden namesake, she is strong, competent, and super badass. 

Also I didn't mean to make our stay in LA sound like it was all stress and truck angst! We did find some beautiful places. Tris got to meet a 500 year old oak tree at St. John Cathedral in Lafayette, and we took a long walk on the swamp boardwalks in Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve. It was such a foreign landscape for the both of us, and we fell in love with it totally. So many neat trees and plants and abundant wildlife! We met a yellow crowned night heron, lizards, interesting insects, water snakes (Zora distrusts swimming snakes as a rule, but these guys were chill), and our first WILD ALLIGATOR! He was about four feet long, playing/hunting in the water, and not very fussed about our presence, pretty much the best way to encounter an alligator we think. We also discovered we have a penchant for photographing dragonflies, so enjoy the barrage below, we're pretty proud of them.

---

---

We also spent a night in New Orleans! We unluckily arrived during Jazz Fest, so the RV parks had doubled their prices, which was a bit painful. But we did get to see all the festivities going on around the festival. Frenchman street was swarming with musicians and colorful characters. We had tons of recommendations from friends and friends of friends (thanks everyone!) and had way more to do/see/eat than could be crammed into our one night there. We had a nice walk next to the Mississippi and saw the touristy steam paddle boats, saw the Art Market and a touristy junk shop, ate beignets and drank coffee at Cafe du Monde, watched the busking across the street, and enjoyed the ability to wander around with a beer in hand (Abita Strawberry, yum!). We went into a couple of the bars and watched a huge brass band play on the streets. However, I think we've been too long in the wilderness. The chaotic excitement of the city drained us pretty fast, and instead of the full night out watching music and getting mildly drunk, after a cheeky feast of sweet potato fries and a daiquiri on the very edge of the quarter, we caught an uber back to our park and were passed out by midnight. I think if we had managed to meet up with a guide we would have had a better chance of holding up against the excitement, but there we are.

We rounded off our stay in Louisiana by heading down to the Gulf and dipping our toes in the water. We found a little place called Holly Beach. It was a cool, mellow town where all of the buildings were built atop stilts, and in the manner so common for coastal communities, they were all painted in vibrant colors. Tris swam very briefly, Zora waded in to her knees and looked skeptical about the water quality. We both sat and poked through an amazing tide strand of oyster shells, finding beautiful mother of pearl lined mementos, while flocks of pelicans beat their winds against the onshore breeze and plovers (pipers? should know the difference by now...) waged little wars against their neighbors in front of the small waves. It was a nice way to say goodbye to our third state.

Oh and one further question: Where are all the dogs in Louisiana!? I swear there can't be more than 30 in the whole state! We saw a grand total of 9. It was very disappointing...

We are still here... there... somewhere!

Hi Questies,

This post was originally intended to be sent on the day that we left.... that didn't happen. Then I wrote a chunk to send after about a week... that didn't happen. We have now been living this life for 13 days, and it feels like years, and we have been taken pity on and provided with some wi-fi, and laundry, and a hot shower, and some great companionship, so we are taking the opportunity, at last, to tell you about the quest!

We have been thinking about you guys a lot, but we have been basically unable to update any of our accounts and this website, because apparently the first places we chose to explore are miles away from getting cell signal. That isn’t a terrible thing honestly, it’s been a pretty stark transition from the creature comforts of Michael’s house to our lifestyle as it is now, but we are developing a routine and becoming more comfortable with our transient lifestyle and having an amazing time poking around Southern Missouri and the North West of Arkansas!   

We have traveled over 1000 miles in our truck with no name, and are both feeling more comfortable and confident in what we are doing. Every day there is so much to see, and it is so easy to go and explore and have fun! And there is so much nature! It's all over the place, just lying around! Zora has spent at least half of the journey pointing at rocks and birds :)

We began our journey by heading South from St. Louis, and briefly dipping into Illinois for a night, before heading West over the Mississippi flood plain and beginning our ascent onto the Ozark plateau. After exploring the region around Wappapello lake for a few days, and weathering a pretty incredible thunderstorm, we progressed to a conservation area around the Current River. We had a beautiful night spent making s'mores and skipping stones on the river. We continued our Westward journey, descending slightly to the area South of Springfield, MO. By this time we were tired and both of us had colds, so we took the luxury of a rest day in the Drury-Mincey Conservation Area Campsite. We enjoyed some hammock time, and experimented with our fantastic little washing machine, which worked like a champ. We also met our first Quest friends, Beth and Mike and their son Isaac, a family who have been on the road in their own truck camper for 19 months. They gave us a ton of useful information, having just come from Arkansas.

So when we felt recovered enough we set off again and made it into NW Arkansas. It is both of our first time here and we LOVE it. For anyone who has ever questioned what, if anything, Arkansas has to offer, just come and check it out. You will not be disappointed. It is beautiful, and wild, and full of lovely people and awful roads :) We stayed for two nights at a campsite on the Buffalo River. It is one of the most special, wonderful places I have ever seen. Our spot, which we had to ourselves on the first night, was surrounded on three sides by the water, which at our spot ran swiftly to the outside of the bend, but remained still as it met the beach by our camper. The cliffs on the opposite bank were enormous and sheer, starkly patterned limestone with water stains darkening the faces, and newly budding trees clinging to every ledge. We stayed for two nights, taking a swim on the second morning, which was COLD! But a lot of fun.

From there we moved on and had our first fuel scare! After a day of finding ourselves on some of the craziest gravel roads we have ever seen, and certainly a bit on the wrong side of what our rig can safely handle, we did the Hawksbill Crag hike. It is a gorgeous 4 mile round trip out to see a bluff which extends like a diving board over a beautiful valley. We got the obligatory photos to prove it (Zora even managed to brave her way out there), of course. However we ended up at the base of the access road after finishing the hike, in the dark, with the low fuel light on, with barely any reception, not much of an idea of where we were, and 40 miles and 2 mountain passes away from the nearest gas station.... needless to say the next hour, grunting our way up mountain roads at 25 mph and coasting on fumes down the far sides, were tense. But we got there! By this time it was very late, and there were no good options for camping so we ended up popping our Walmart cherry and spending the night in the parking lot of the shop in Huntsville. It feels like a right of passage, but hopefully it will be the rare exception, it was not the best night's sleep.

And that brings us to the last couple of days. During which we have met some of the nicest people it is possible to meet. A friend of ours from Hawaii (Hi Janine!) has a friend, Sara, in this neck of the woods, and she connected us through facebook. We managed to get in communication and she invited us to spend the day with her family at their home. It is in a valley only really accessible to four wheel drive vehicles, and it is stunning. There is a little creek where we met Galen, her husband, and her two boys River and Rowan, they were kayaking and jumping into swimming holes, and having the best time. We walked around their property, and admired their home and garden. We shared lunch and got to know each other, walked down to the creek and pointed at more rocks and birds, we established, yet again, that the Welsh are pretty awful at basketball. In the evening we went with them to Galen's parent's house, where we ate a delicious meal, and played with 4 day old chickens. In the evening we were deposited back at our truck, and drove over to Headwaters community school where we spent the night, ready to wake up and do our first day of volunteering!

We will put another post up about Headwaters and what it is, but we were fortunate enough to be able to help out by removing two large pine trees that were too close to the school building. I climbed, which after a winter of sitting down, was a little bit of a shock to the system, and I was very abley grounded for by Zora. It was a a community work day, and we met some great people who had all attended to help get the school ready for the spring and summer. It all went smoothly and safely! I did manage to spear the top of the second tree straight into the ground rather than giving it a nice horizontal landing, but it made a pretty impressive totem pole. We were hosted last night by Rain and David, who invited us up for food and a hot shower, both of which we were extremely, EXTREMELY, grateful for! We had an evening of chatting and drinking wine. And today we are having a morning of laundry, and charging our devices, and writing a bloody essay which hopefully you all have managed to read through :)

Anyway, we are having a wonderful time. We will update our map, and our progress on our quests, and respond to all of your contributions and suggestions that we have seen but not replied to.

Be well all, and see you soon!

Not leaving, but definitely moving forward

A long awaited hello questies!

Sorry we've been so absent on the blog! We have been working pretty full tilt on the camper and also seem to have a ton of friends who suddenly wanted to hang out with us and make it as difficult to leave as possible (in all the best ways). 

In the past while (almost a month, geeze), we have accomplished so much! We have also been frustrated repeatedly, despairing of ever getting on the road, snappy with each other and distracted with Saint Louis stuff. Here's the cliff notes version:

• We scrubbed down the roof and cleaned all the outside walls using bleach spray to encourage the fungal blooms to clear off.

• We stripped, and resealed all of the seams on the roof! So far so good and we've had a lot of rain to test it out (SO MUCH RAIN, UGGGH!!!). Please see Tristan's note at the end of this list.
• We have stripped and resealed the port side windows and the nose window and all the seams up there. Next we have to move on to fixing up the seams everywhere else, but luckily we can also work on them on the road.

• The awning has been tested, admired, damaged, repaired, and reinstalled. Hopefully the repair holds and we don't have to jettison it somewhere in Utah.
   
• The wall the awning demolished as it fell off the camper has been repaired!! We dug out the rotten stuff, and Dad did a great patch and even managed to find complimentary hideous 90's pastel wallpaper, our third different pattern! Remember the 90's? It was certainly the zenith of vinyl wallpaper design.
   
• We tried our first water test...The freshwater tank passed (sound, holds water, did not fall off the camper). The drainage valve (petcock *snicker) did not. Tristan whittled down a cork and stuck it in there with a bit of wire to hold it in place. It seems to be how it will have to be since we cannot figure out how to detach the old one to replace it (it had to be the ONE thing in the entire camper that isn't easily accessible/deconstructable. Seriously one of the previous owners screwed in and sealed a board over the access panel that was underneath). 
   
• Found out that the water pump works too and so do the cold water sides of the bathroom and kitchen sinks. We still haven't fired up the water heater though we forgot to put its plug in to great leaky hilarity. The shower is working too (weakly). Outside shower TBD.
   
• We failed to unwinterize properly so missed the fact that one of the pipes under the sink wasn’t fitted and that was a splattery panic. Hopefully it's all good now. Tris tightened everything up and fingers crossed it will work properly for the next test.
   
• We discovered further rotten bits of the camper we're just going to have to hope stay together. *sigh*. When we finally manage to dig out and reseal all of the seams on the sides and corners of the camper we should be entirely water tight. Then we can do some much needed patching en route. By the time our journey is over we will have dried her out!

• We now have a set of completely functional tail lights!!!!! WE ARE STREET LEGAL!!! Tom from Neibling's came over with tester kits and spludge and knowledge and Dad had replacement bulbs and suddenly everything is working!! Tristan also got under the truck and replaced her damaged plug.
   

• Yesterday's major milestone was rigging up our 12 volt power supply and ground directly from the truck battery. This has been a long time getting sorted, from ordering the part from Lance (they have to be different from everyone else), to working out where things are going to run, where to mount a 40 amp fuse, to drilling a hole in the wall of the truck bed, running the wires along the frame, deciding where to mount the ground. It might not sound like much but installing it all and actually having it work is a great feeling. At last our batteries will all be getting charged as we drive and our fridge will stay cold! Tris was very happy (in a screamy jumping around gleeful way, don't let him tell you otherwise).
   
• We have also started deep cleaning the inside of the truck cab. THERE WAS SO MUCH MUNG*! The steering wheel and handles were producing this black, cruddy combination of hand sweat and skin cells. It was nasty. We are only halfway through the clean, so plenty more mung to get, but the driver's side is looking nice. Next major clean will be on the seat belts. Such glamorous work!
   
• We stripped all the upholstery from the cushions and mattress in the camper and took it to the laundromat. It now smells a bit less musty. I think we are going to throw out the carpet squares on the floor and embrace the "beautiful" (again, 90s style), easily cleaned linoleum.
   
• Michael scraped and primed the rear bumper for painting, but we didn't get further than that yet (did we mention it's been either raining or cold nonstop?), we kind of want a nice deep red color to match the strip down the side. What do you think?

Now "all" that's left is to purify and recheck the water system, install the rat cage securing system (they'd be very upset if we forgot to mention them here, they are very particular about staying in the limelight, however they are way more popular on instagram than we are, so I don't know what their problem is), and continue the endless cleaning. I swear both the truck and camper looked very well maintained and clean when we bought them, but as soon as you dig down and start taking close looks at all the places the eyes usually skip over, you've got a lot of work to do. Definitely not a judgment against the previous owners, just a fact (I'm sure our previous landlords would say the same about us). And we still have to load the whole thing up with our growing pile of stuff in the living room (sorry Dad!) and see if it will fit as well as Zora predicts (but she is the tetris master).

We were hoping to get out on the shakedown cruise today, but alas it will be tomorrow (hopefully in a bit of sunshine, however weak and feeble). Still aiming to be getting on the road full time on April 2! 

Tristan's Note: I want to talk to you all about silicone, and how it has absolutely no place being used on the outside of a camper. If you are thinking about using it because it is a nice, solid, permanent solution to a problem that you don't want to deal with every few years, DON'T! The bloody stuff goes rock solid, and when it does that it can't expand and contract with changes in temperature, which means that it ends up pulling away from one side of the seam that it is sealing, which allows water in but not out, which is bad. Plus when the next poor sap that you sell the camper to tries to remove it they have to spend days, DAYS, using stone age tools to pry and scrape and gouge the stuff away. After that they have to use industrial solvents to melt all the remaining crud, mop up the resulting glue snot with an acre of rags and kitchen towels and all the old toothbrushes in the house, wash it down again and then dry it out before even thinking of replacing it with a suitable product! And all before the rain comes back and prevents the new sealant from setting properly.

Luckily it is very satisfying to have finished up there, but curse you previous owner (not you Brian, I know you didn't do it)!

*Mung: A term used on the ships of SEA (and others?) to describe the slurry of skin cells, dirt, dust, food particles, engine grease, shoe rubber, lint, and other detritus that collects absolutely everywhere, but especially in the sneaky places. A vessel owner (which I think our rig qualifies as) is in constant warfare with the mung. Not only because it is disgusting but because it is corrosive AF and will eat through just about everything if given enough time (seriously, I've seen it eat through stainless steel, it's potent). 

It hasn't all been hard work

Our home is home!!!

Hi Questies,

Well, it has been a day! After weeks of thinking, planning, cursing, worrying about finances, dragging each other out of minor panic attacks, buying parts, listening to advice, arguing, and questioning our decision to ever leave Hawaii we have finally achieved a seemingly impossible milestone. The truck we own and the camper we own are connected together with equipment we own, outside a house that we (very briefly) live in. It was not easy, but we have made it!

At last! Isn't it beautiful?

We started out down to House Springs earlyish this morning, with the hope that we could just pull up, reverse under the camper, buckle it down and be out in an hour. Sadly that didn't happen. Brian had of course gotten everything ready for us and was enthusiastic about helping us to do the job, which started out fine. The new battery went in and the electric jacks worked perfectly to hoist the camper up off the more substantial jacks that were supporting most of the camper's weight. Even with the swing out brackets on the front legs it was incredibly tight trying to squeeze the dually between them, but it mostly went well, and after a bit of maneuvering we got the truck lined up good enough under the camper.

We have been worried this whole time about the clearance over the lights attached to the top of the truck cab, and sure enough we didn't have enough space. If I had not spent so much time yesterday banging my head against a brick wall trying to figure out how to wire up the camper's trail lights/signals then I would have gotten to the hardware store for some wood to put in the bed and give us a bit more height. The solution was a two by four at the front end of the truck bed so the section over the truck cab was elevated. Easy fix (though it's currently a bit unstable and temporary)!

The next problem was that our turnbuckles did not reach all the way between the tie down brackets and the connectors on the camper! So we all loaded into the car and drove into town to get a soda and visit the hardware store for chain and shackles. There was a bit of humming and hawing about what we should get to make the extra connectors, they didn't have any shackles in stock, but eventually we figured on some chain hooks with small shackles on the end. Great. We got them back to the camper.... and the small shackles wouldn't fit around the eye bolt. Ugh. So Brian got the angle grinder out and set to increasing the opening a bit. It was all a bit of a headache. Luckily however he remembered that he had some extra shackles in his garage (a proper man-cave of mechanical wonders) so we did a quick switch over and boom, ready to go. Then we had to figure out how the turnbuckles worked, which isn't complicated but does require you to understand what is supposed to happen when you put them on (if you notice in the photos the one on the front left is upside down).

The long and boring story is that Zora and I, after faffing for four hours, and being very well taken care of by Brian, set off on our first real life truck camper drive together, and brought our toys back in one piece. The ride was a bit more boat like with the added weight and I was nervy about how the rig would all hold together, but the engine barely noticed that the load was on the back. I really think we bought a great truck for everything that we need it to do! We have to say a massive thank you once again to Brian, he has been totally patient with us, it's been three weeks since we bought the camper and it has sat on his driveway the whole time waiting for us. He was the person to find the advert for the truck we bought, he has researched various things and sent us through suggestions on what else we could be doing and other things to consider. He has even done extra work on replacing light covers and building little supports for the rear step since we bought it! So thanks Brian, you have been excellent.

It is quite remarkable how nice people have been with helping us out even before we have started the quest. I think folks must really like the idea of what we are doing. Billie, from Niebling's auto just across the way, gave us a fantastic little travel washing machine from her days doing pretty much the same thing that we are. Thank you very much, it will save us a ton of money being able to skip the laundrette!

It's so cute and useful! And so easy to store! Billie says believe it or not, it will wash up to three pairs of jeans at once! We'll only have to brave a laundromat (or occupy our friend's laundry room) when we have to do the really big stuff. 

We are just so happy. Today was exactly what we both needed. Thanks everyone for following our progress, and supporting us. I promise we will leave before too long and start doing some cooler stuff for you to look at. Please keep the quests and suggestions coming in, our journey map looks so much better now that we are getting more. And if you know anyone who may be interested in what we are doing, feel free to let them know about it. Keep a look out for more updates as we begin the process of prepping the camper for departure.

-T 

Scraping and Painting and Drilling

Hey Questies,

Quite unusually for us we have had a couple of days progress in a row! I (Tris) have been giving our truck some love and attention, and generally making headway with getting her ready for the task we are asking her to perform.

I'd like to thank my father in law Michael. Doing these kind of jobs is so much easier when you have access to every tool you could ever want, and a brain that has done them before and can point you in the right direction without the need to spend hours on end watching youtube videos to work it out. Don't get me wrong, youtube has helped me often in the past, I couldn't tie my own shoelaces without watching a 'how to' video, but having someone answer questions and give advice is much better.

Also whilst I was having fun playing with the truck Zora was doing taxes and laundry and a hundred other things that I would prefer not to have to do, so thanks Mush.

The previous owners used it to tow a fifth wheel, so they had this big old bracket mounted in the bed, and it must have done some pretty bad damage to the paintwork over the years. You can kind of see the shape of where it was mounted from the rust spots. When we first bought her the bed had a mat over the top and a load of leaves and crud built up in the grooves of the bed. But a good scrub and a sweep and it came up nice. Fortunately most of the rust hadn't penetrated too deeply and the bed is fairly heavy duty metal. So as you can see the process was pretty simple; scrape the excess off with a wire brush and flat knife, take a drill with a wire brush head to get into all the cracks and make the metal shine a bit, use paint thinner to remove any rust dust and stain from around the worked areas, prime with an oil based paint, then finish with some white that Michael managed to find in his basement. Easy!

The other major job was mounting the Happijac tie down brackets. The bracket at the front had to be secured through the front wall of the bed and bolted through the bed onto the frame.

I've never drilled metal before, and man was it tough trying to get through the cross beams under the bed. In hindsight it may have been better to invest in some new bits. But get there we did, and for a pretty complicated installation it all went very smoothly. It's now ready to cinch our camper down! 

I do have more to do. One nice thing about the truck is that it has nice big running boards, which makes getting in and out easy. However the coating which the struts supporting the boards are made from has obviously aged worse than the rest of the truck because it is all rusted to hell. I think that it is structurally ok but I'm going to have to strip and reseal what I can. If it falls off it doesn't really matter, it's just an luxury, but where some of the bolt holes are drilled into the frame of the truck rust has set in as well, and those beams support the weight of the bed! It's a good lesson for working on metal, make sure you seal around any holes you drill. I'm going to have to get into those and do what I can to stop the damage getting any further, especially close to the wheel arches where road spray keeps the metal wet. But that's a job for another day.

Oh and we also got new tyres (tires (the endless anglo-centric argument about spelling)) fitted! We are making progress!

Big wheels keep on turnin...

We are ticking off the challenges one by one!

1. We are fully insured!! A last ditch call to Geico worked out well for us in the end.

2. Unfortunately the tires we ordered and the tires Costco thought we ordered were not the same thing and it took the tire shop getting at least some of the old ones off before they realized the error. So an afternoon wasted but they are waiving the install costs and we should get the correct tires put on tomorrow. 

3. Today we went down to Brian's to visit the camper for the second time and to put the swing out brackets on it (which we got on a great "scratch and dent" sale online, and they are basically new!). We managed to get it all rigged up in an hour! Other than a few electrical pluggy bits I think we're almost (I HOPE) done buying parts. 

A successfully installed swing out bracket, and no one even killed each other in the process of 4 brains working on the same small problem! Tristan's looking a lot older after the ordeal...

4. I (Zora) drove the truck for the first time!!! I was pretty scared about it (she really is huge), but as soon as I got it out of the parking space it was actually a pretty natural fit. I learned to drive in Condo the Great White Whale (the affectionate name for my Dad's giant suburban), and this truck really isn't all that much different. I've always liked being high up on the road (it felt strange when I finally started driving normal cars), so a lot of muscle memory came back. Having the second set of back tires will definitely take a bit of adjusting to, but not so bad. We took her down some winding back roads on the way to Brian's so I could get used to non-highway maneuvers. Now to see how we both adjust to having a monster camper on the back with us...

Me driving the truck and eating jerky like a true red blooded 'Murican. The playlist at the moment is Greatful Dead's Truckin. 

In other news I think we're officially pushing back our leaving date til after St. Patrick's Day. There are a lot of social reasons we want to stay (Six Nations rugby, the parade, still people we haven't seen) and still a lot of work/cleaning to do on the camper. I think we're going to get the truck bed scraped and painted (there's a bit of lingering rust) tomorrow if the weather holds, and put all the holes in it (nervy) and install all the camper mounting bits (there's several). If that all goes to plan, hopefully the camper will be coming home on Friday!! 

Really nice to have a day of things getting accomplished! 

Paying the piper, and everyone else!

Hi Questies,

Well, we have hit a rather frustrating amount of difficulty trying to get our beautiful new truck (name pending, we are open to suggestions) registered. To do that we need insurance, and to actually get insurance we have to communicate with someone who wants to take our money, and that is surprisingly hard to find! It has now been 2 days of playing phone tag with agents from State Farm and Farmers, trying to give them the mountains of details they need, fielding their confused questions about what exactly a truck camper is, and repeatedly telling them that no, we will not be at a fixed location.

Anyway, we bought four new tires on Monday, that was another day long process of calling different stores for quotes, I didn't realise that there was so much to learn about them, but I'm now feeling significantly better informed! They are already waiting for us so when we are legally able to drive we will head to Costco and have them installed. Other expensive and complicated things are that we bought are: A new tie down system for the camper, so when the weather warms up ever so slightly I'll go and drill a few holes into the frame of the truck, and hope one or two of those line up as needed. A new battery to run all the electrics off of. Swing out brackets for the jacks on the front of the camper. These should provide just enough width so that the truck's big ole hips can squeeze between them. We would love to have the cash available to install a solar panel on the roof. But at this stage it's just not doable. Mind you I'd also quite like to haul around a hot tub and a fully stocked mini bar, but that might spoil the pioneering spirit of the quest.

Every step recently has taken more time and money than expected. Every stage involves more taxes and paperwork. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that it will be worth the headache in the end. And of course all the stress now is going to make being out and on the road even more uplifting!

Other than dealing with logistics, life is very enjoyable. We are regularly sleeping in. Michael is being an excellent host, and getting to make use of his kitchen is a real treat after cooking in our tiny Hawaiian home (an experience which will serve both of us well when we are adapting to the camper). On top of that it is six nations season, the winter Olympics has been pretty great, Nova rat is still alive, and my little sister just shared some wonderful news. So yeah, I'm a happy guy, and extremely lucky to be able to live this life. I can't wait to share some photos of the rig all loaded up!

Keep on Questing!

Tris 

WE HAVE A TRUCK!!!!

That's right Questees, The Giving Quest finally has a trusty steed. How trusty it is remains to be seen but we have got a good feeling about it!

So 2 days ago we went for yet another jaunt into Illinois. Seriously we have almost spent more time driving around those highways than we have sitting in St. Louis. We had 3 trucks lined up to view; one that was far too cheap, one that was far too expensive, and one that was just right... but 3 hours away and still more expensive than we wanted.

First stop was Highland, about an hour away from home. Such a cool little town! Lots of independent stores set around a well kept town square. It had a Gilmore Girls vibe to the place. Unfortunately that didn't stop the truck we were going to see from being a rust bucket. It looked so good online but one glance at the support beams under the truck bed and this was a no no, didn't even take it for a test drive. Annoying but it did give us a chance to wander around.

A gift shop with an oddly similar name...

We love old theaters, and Tris matched the sign!

After scoffing a pretty baller chocolate dipped strawberry since Zora stuck her bottom lip out about not getting one on Valentine's day, we headed next to Collinsville. This truck was way way better. A 1997 Dodge Ram 6.4l, 24 valve, V8 Cummins. It was nice! I'd like to think that I've learnt a bit over the past few weeks about what to look for in a diesel engine, that and the fact that a website had specifically said that this was one of the best engines ever made helped impress us both. It wasn't very clean, but there was not a speck of rust on the whole thing. Travis took us out for a good test drive and the truck really performed extremely well. However the price tag was $13,500. It was probably worth it but that is just too much for us. The trip wasn't wasted however, because we saw another middle America tradition... a novelty water tower!

This one's for you Tom.

The final stop of the day was a convenient two and a half hour cruise up to Peoria. Ugh. If this one was a bust then our day would have been totally wasted and I would have driven for 7 hours for nothing. Fortunately this was the one! Zora had been talking to Phil, who seemed like a really nice guy and was selling the vehicle for his father in law, and he managed to change his plans at short notice to come and show us the truck. It is a beauty. A 2001 Ford F-350 Super Duty V8 Diesel with only 143k on the clock! It drives great, it pulls like a black hole, it has been kept super clean and tidy, AND it has a tape deck (bring on the audiobooks!).

Also it is reassuring to meet someone who will go out of their way to help you out, and is not so cynical that they wont trust a stranger. We didn't have cash on hand for the purchase, and the bank wouldn't wire the money through that evening, but Phil didn't want us to have to travel the extra 5-6 hour round trip again to pick it up, so instead he gave us the title and let us drive home with the truck that night. We left a check and photos of our licenses with our address. The deal was that we would wire the money from the bank first thing, then he would send a photo of the check torn up and delete the license photos. And wouldn't you know it that's what we actually did?  So thanks Phil, you are the best!

Our ride back was of course harrowing, because Zora was behind the wheel of the van as I drove the truck. Every time she has to drive for more than 20 minutes it is invariably dark and raining and treacherous! This was no exception. Plus we were on mostly unfamiliar roads and I was driving a strange and very large vehicle. But we got here, AND NOW WE HAVE A TRUCK! It needs 4 new tires, and we need to purchase some brackets so that the front jack stands on the camper will be wide enough to fit around the dually wheel arches, but after that we are good to go! This is extremely exciting and very real and totally wonderful!

Oh, and by the time we got back to St. Louis my new axe had arrived!!!!! That was just the icing on a big, fat layer cake of a day.

It snowed. What do we do with this stuff? I think this is the first time we've seen in properly snow in years. Can't wait to dump the rats out and see what they make of it!

Eagerly awaiting a 3000 lb camper to balance it out.

Can you believe that this thing is 17 years old? Most teenagers are disgusting!

Zora is very excited about the truck and the snow.  But not enough to actually come out into it. It's too cold!!

WE HAVE A CAMPER!!!!

Hi Questies,

I don't know if the title of this entry has already given it away but we have found The One! Actually it's more like one and a half because this thing is freaking BIG, the size of a baby whale big! But it is beautiful, and kitted out, and has more mod cons than our old house, and we now OWN IT!

Can you tell we're in love?

We were both quietly confident about this one. It was close by, it was a good price, and Brian had taken good quality photos of it. You know a lot about the quality of something that you are buying off the internet based on how well the seller has photographed it! Zora also caught the advert for it as soon as it was published, or within an hour at least. So a few days ago, feeling confident, we went and got the cash out from the bank. We also asked about getting a car loan but apparently we aren't a good investment without jobs to back us up :p.

Look at all the space!

Brian was great at showing us around. He showed us every different part of the camper, told us what he had done to fix it up and pointed out what else is left to do. He made sure we understood the drawbacks of owning a camper this size, but also showed off all it's positive aspects as well. We had fun trying to set up the sofa into a bed and back again, which we managed to achieve and which means that we have plenty of space for people to come and join us! We feel like we are very well informed about what we need to know, which is a nice change. Most people wouldn't go into that level of detail with the enthusiasm that he had.

Our guide to the truck camping world!

It was everything we have been looking for. There are small fixes to do to bring it up to scratch. They are mostly cosmetic but like every other option we have looked at the seals on the roof will need to be re-caulked. Not a problem. We also have a whole load of manuals to look at, probably a few days worth of youtube 'how to's' and of course we have got to buy a big hulking truck to get it off Brian's driveway (he's generously letting it sit there until we do). But afterwards we should be ready to hit the road!

This grand adventure has suddenly gotten a whole lot more real. It's fantastic, and a little daunting. But we are both feeling relieved that this phase of the process is finally over!

More photos to come as we start personalizing it!

We've bought our very first home together!!

Searching flatland for a bargain

Hi Questees,

It is the morning after the day before. Not the night before obviously, that's for young people who do things at night, but yesterday was quite tiring enough. We got up at, wait for it... 7 AM!? That's right, you know it's going to be a big one when we have to get up at normal people time. Mind you if we had gotten up that late back in employment land we would be seriously tardy. We had arranged to go and see 3 campers, all a good drive into Illinois, and all about as cheap as you can expect to get a camper whilst it's still refurbishable.

This is the one that very nearly became The One. And possibly might still become The One, if the large house of a camper falls through.

After heading over the Mississippi and sending a few texts we were not confident that the fellow that we had been in contact with was actually going to wake up and send us his address. We were on a pretty tight schedule so decided to stop in at Steak-n-Shake (for all the Brits out there that is exactly what it sounds like, a meat and milkshake chain), give him until 9am and then get under way to the second stop. Luckily I called him and he woke up.  The camper is pretty great for the price he is asking, but lots of little bits of damage which we were optimistic but not confident in our ability to repair. A good fix up project.

Next one was a bit too dinged up. Probably good for someone who wants to do weekend camping trips, but not suitable for everything we need (no shower, tiny water tank, no generator etc). The last one was a total wreck, as expected with a $600 pricetag, but laughably so. It was a 1970's era box, missing one of the jacks and clad in this horrible dark wood and bachelor-stripe upholstery, all stained and misshapen. But the guy who showed it to us was nice (and owned cute sheep). One the way back we took the scenic route through some smaller farming towns. Really nice little places with that stereotypical town square and diners, and the faded quality of former wealth subsided.

This is the weekender with the bad roof. The guy was nice but spat a lot. Did have an absolutely enormous dog who was the sweetest that Zora seriously wanted to dognap. No photos of the $600 wonder because it was too cold to get the camera out (as in we shivered with our hands in our pockets and got back in the car as soon as possible).

Then we got back and watched the Superbowl. How good was that match!? It was almost as good as a substandard game in the six nations!!!

So, the end result of all our searching and rolling along the highways of the Midwest, other than getting to see a large number of dead Raccoons (AND SNOW!!!!), is that this morning we were all prepared to put in a bid on the first camper that we saw. We came in low, and the fella gave us a counter. I said I would talk it over with Zora, who decided to have a last look on the computer before we pulled the trigger.... and found another camper. Of course she did! And this one looks fan-freaking-tastic. Ugh.

Anyway this new contender is a huge Lance. It's got more space than our Hawaii home and will need a bloody big truck, but it is at a more than great price, and Zora managed to get in contact with the guy before anyone else, made sure that we would be the first people to see it (on Friday), and generally sweet talked him. So, after all that we have yet another camper to see.

So nothing new to report!

Insert town square for effect. 

Convening and such

Today was the day! The day when we were going to finally find the camper of our dreams. It was the day that we would visit the RV convention in downtown St. Louis. And visit it we did. It was incredible. Acres and acres of shining chrome accented license plate holders and majestically lofted motorized awnings, entire streets and communities of carefully ushered machines to pamper, comfort, and envelope their fragile, pasty white occupants, a mountain of the finest American made aluminum and plastic all engineered so that rich mid-western retirees can sit in air-conditioned luxury and look out of a bloody window. There was not a single truck camper in sight.

However it was a fine day tromping around and looking at the shinies. It was fun to play in the money. And we did find out some interesting things by talking to the staff of some of the dealerships. First off, truck campers are not popular in the midwest! One of the reasons given was that there are more trees here than out west... I know, I didn't really understand that one either, but we have it on good authority that if we want to find a truck camper then we have to go to either Utah, Colorado, or Montana. Hey, it's probably true. Most people were nice enough and seemed to agree that a truck camper was a good option, but also that we are naive to be looking in an RV convention for them (despite them being advertised for the show...). 

This trailer was marked down because there was a strange Canadian in it...

We found one local company that stocked a truck camper, a Camplite model, and would offer us a convention discount. It was in their lot rather than the show room so after 2 hours of wandering around we decided to rescue our car from the looming shadow of a meter maid and make the drive back across town to where they were based. This thing was crap! It was supposedly brand new but bits of trim were coming off it, other bits were splitting. There was needless space taken up with bad design, very little storage, and it was generally awful. The camper we went to see which was made in 1992 was a far better bit of kit. 

This one was marked up because there was a charismatic Welshman on it...

So here we are, back to the old plan I guess. We are going to see a camper on Sunday morning (hopefully before the Superbowl) in Illinois, potentially seeing another in the same area at the same time, but no confirmation yet. Both are super cheap. If we can get something light with a semi-watertight roof then we are going to go to work fixing it up. If not, then perhaps we will be trekking over to Colorado to find something half decent. Goodness this is a challenge.

Other things today; Zora and Michael completed the NYT crossword first thing in the morning, which is extremely impressive and a testament to the benefits of not going to work, we visited Aldi's on the way back home, which is a testament to the value of German based supermarket chains (Hawaii, you don't know what you are missing), and I cooked a lovely bit of Salmon and some damn fine roasties for dinner. A good, frustrating, day!

-T

Swings and Ratabouts

Today we set an alarm to get up "early." Tris woke up in a great mood and I woke up anxious about health insurance and if we're going to find a camper in time and will we actually have enough money to buy the truck we need. This is pretty typical of us I think. My brain is always filled to the brim with lists and worries, Tris' just plays some sort of pleasant hold music until it's actually required for operations... at which point it can be useful...Unfortunately this morning, my brain won. 

It was one of those mornings where everything goes wrong and you start to doubt your sanity of packing up a comfortable life in paradise to move to a state that does not want to give you health insurance and where you can see your breath. We struggled through an ACA application, came up with very few options that were all bad and crazy expensive. The truck camper that seemed perfect and the right price just a few miles away was already sold. Another one has a price that seems too good to be true is a two hour drive away to find out if it actually is. Crickets from everyone else we contacted. Tris spent a long time on hold with his student loan company. He spilled rat medicine all over himself. When I went to hang out with the rats they were all disinterested and grumpy. We descended into one of those funks where no one is actually upset with each other but is also not equipped to make the other feel better. 

Eventually Tris took himself off for a walk. I napped, trimmed rats claws, caught up on laundry. And then we had to face getting ourselves out of the funk and off to dinner at our friends' house. There was amazing food, great company, and board games. Impossible to stay meh for very long. And when we got home there were cuddles with all six of us in an arm chair with the boys on our shoulders taking a bath and the girls fast asleep in my lap (this never happens).

All the issues of the morning remain, but I think we're feeling a bit better equipped to try and tackle them again tomorrow. I'm sure this will be the first of many struggle days of the trip, but as long as they end as well as today did, we'll be just fine.

We have reached base camp!

Hey Questies,

Well after months of planning, weeks of selling, shifting, lifting, pulling our hair out and tying ourselves in knots, days of recuperating after the madness, and now minutes of wolfing down good St. Louis Chinese food, we can finally say that we have officially completed our move! It has been a stress tornado but the storm has passed without too much damage to our mental health and it is almost entirely thanks to the amazing help we received from our fantastic friends. You know who you are, and how much you helped us, and we are eternally grateful!

So, as reluctant as we are to put Hawaii in the rear view mirror, we did move back for a reason and there is, as usual, precious little time to prepare for the road ahead. So far we have been concentrating on the truck camper, and not just what we are going to call it (obviously we have to meet it first, but Tristan has been working on a couple of puns). Today we went to see the second truck camper on our list, out in the county to the west around O'Fallon. It was a beautiful spot nestled in some open farmland, and the people were very nice, but unfortunately the camper itself did not suit us properly. It was a little too small and a little short on bells and whistles. We like the idea of travelling light, but we would at least like an oven and space to take a few steps. There is definitely a compromise to be made between price, age and weight. The camper we saw yesterday was a great old thing, but with 26 years of perishing on the plastic components will our head spring a leak in the middle of the desert? Also it weighs a bloody ton, so we will have to get a bigger truck, and that is going to increase our costs on gas. There is definitely a sweet spot, and it seems to be around the late 90's age wise, the high 1900's lbs wise, and the cheap as we can get it price wise.

We have put out some feelers to sellers in Indiana and Illinois, so hopefully the search can continue in the next week. If any of you guys know of a lead that we can follow please put it in the comments!

Other things that we have been extremely happy about are the weather, which has not been reminiscent of a scene from The Day After Tomorrow much to Zora's relief, and the massive surge in website views! Thanks everyone for checking out our project, following along on Instagram and Facebook, and submitting quests and suggestions! We have had some seriously good quests set in the past couple of days, and we will get around to updating them on the challenges page and map very soon. Also we got our first quest aimed specifically at helping a charity. Thanks to Bromogida for their creativity and for absolutely nailing the spirit of TGQ. If anyone can think of some quests or charities to help in Arkansas or Louisiana then hit us up! We need to get some in for the start of the journey.

As always it seems like life is going too quickly to keep up, but the ride is fun, and there are adventures out there!

The first Quests are rolling in!

Today is a big day! The silly placeholders are down and our first real challenges are up (thanks Ed!!)! We know we haven't put up our tentative route map yet, so you might not have geographic inspiration yet, but feel free to challenge us to go places that aren't on our route yet! Also if you want to task us with quests that aren't location specific, do so! Want a post card from every state that starts with a W? Done! Find a celebrity (that one will probably have to be generic, we aren't going to stalk people) and take a photo with them? We will try our best (Zora is famous person blind)! Want footage of us attempting an eating challenge? That's all Tristan, but he will enjoy it mightily. 

I guess we should get around to posting some rules... We should also introduce our wonderful Game Master (or GM for those nerds in the know) who will be setting the experience and volunteer hour levels for everything you guys challenge us with. He'll get his own blog post and bio soon, he is just that important. 

-Z

You found the website!

Thanks for checking it out! Things are going to be a bit rough around the edges here for the time being while we figure it all out ourselves. This website thing is very new to us, but we'll try to keep things up to date! Stay tuned for some new exciting features!