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