Departure Day!

We had just a few last minutes things to do before hitting the road. I installed the side door bug screen, we loaded up the fridge, and were ready to roll right on time at 2pm…

Our first stop was to visit Marisa in Kingston, NY. We went out for sushi and had her delicious olive oil cake for dessert. Thanks for having us 👋

For our first full day, we decided to swing by Ithaca for a little reminiscing. Collegetown Bagels may have moved across the street from where I remember it, but we had lunch there outside and the spirit of the place hasn’t changed at all.

Dinner at Wiked Warren’s brewpub in Jamestown, NY. Spent the night in a Walmart parking lot for the first time. It was super easy to “make camp” by just putting up our blackout shades and crawling into bed.

Mid day we stopped at Edgewater Park in Cleveland to stretch our legs a bit. Walked around, saw a cool sculpture, made sandwiches and ate a meal in the van for \240the first time

Another night, another brewpub, and another Walmart. This time in Joliet, IL.

Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all get very poor marks for road quality.

Guess what? More driving! Lunch and stretching our legs around downtown DesMoines. We ate at a themed restaurant called Zombie Burger! I had “The Walking Ched” which was a burger on a bun made of deep fried Mac and cheese, topped with more Mac and cheese and bacon.

So, here’s the thing about sleeping at Walmart. You’re supposed to ask permission at the Customer Service counter and this time we got denied! Went next door to Sam’s Club, which was already closed, and figured we’d ask forgiveness since we couldn’t ask permission 😆. Worked out fine, we just parked near a big rig that was clearly spending the night too and nobody bothered us.

We walked around Univ of Nebraska campus a little before hitting the road. Lovely campus.

Disco and Rue

Beautiful day at Coors Field! Reds v Rockies

Still snowing at Copper Mountain

Leadville, CO is the highest incorporated city in North America at 10,200 feet. Melanzana is an beloved outdoor clothing company and you can only get their stuff at this one location.

What a babe 😍 in her obligatory (soon to be) Smelly Melly! I got one too (not dress length).

Last night was our first boondock camping! We crashed at the trailhead of the Dominguez Canyon Trail just outside Grand Junction, CO. Saw some amazing petroglyphs!

Boondocking tonight just outside Moab and Arches National Park. It was a beautiful day hiking, but light rain and heavy wind now.

Boondocking again, this time in The Valley of the Gods in southern Utah, part of Bears Ears National Monument. We camped with a view of \240Setting Hen Butte and Rooster Butte. I took a series of photos through sunset, after dark, and another first thing in the morning.

We left Utah behind, drove theough Monument Valley and Navajo country, and are now in northern AZ just a bit outside Flagstaff. We hiked in terrain that is refreshingly green! Not New England green, but it’s something after all the red and brown of Utah

Last night was some pretty remote boondocking. Nobody around for miles is a great way to wake up:

We caught Arizona in an unseasonable cold snap. Another day and of course another hike, but what’s this picture even of?

We hit 3000 miles for the trip today!

We expected to have to beat the heat in AZ, not the cold. We intended to hang around Flagstaff longer and then mosey on down to Sedona and/or Prescott, but the high temp forecasts are in the 40s and 50s. The beauty of being van people is that we can pivot and take advantage. If flagstaff is 25 degrees colder than it should be, then so is Phoenix! So while it wasn’t really on our wish list of places to visit (because it’s supposed to be 90-100F there already this time of year) we’re going because it’s going to be 75F tomorrow and everywhere else within a comfortable drive is colder and rainier.

Tonight we boondock with saguaro and Julie hand writes some postcards with the van wide open for a change

We started our day with a short nature walk from the trailhead where we slept.

The temperature shifted back to whatever passes for “normal” in Phoenix so we headed back up north (and significantly uphill). We drove the scenic route through Tonto and Coconino National Forests.

We gained some elevation and the desert changed from saguaro and tiny shrubs to tiny trees and bigger shrubs. We stopped for a hike along the Sycamore creek trail. The pictures don’t do it justice. Tall trees and dense vegetation in this linear oasis was a refreshing contrast to the desert all around.

Morning run

Just a great way to wake up

Julie hiked down from Edge of the World to skip the most bone-rattling parts of the dirt road. I picked her up in Petunia about halfway down. 22 miles took over an hour!

Today was all about driving. There is a lot of open desert >100F \240between Phoenix and LA and we didn’t want to stop to see any of it.

Route 89 leaving Prescott was … uncomfortable … to say the least:

Rear View

Morning hike on Cactus Springs Trail. We only made it about a mile before a bit of wildlife startled us so badly we turned back.

We had to find different high elevation to keep cool, so we drove up to Big Bear Lake. What a gem! The trees have gotten bigger.

Hiking around Big Bear Lake, up Bertha Mountain, with great water views and a peek at the ski slopes.

We made it to the Pacific with the trip odometer at 3999 miles!

Tonight we have our first campfire of the trip! And where better to do it that on the beach in Malibu! (Ok, we aren’t parked on the beach per se, but we’re in a campground right on the PCH in Malibu)

We had intended to go to Santa Monica and Venice Beach today, but a section of the PCH between Malibu and Santa Monica is still closed from the recent fires. What should have been a calm 30 min drive on the coast would have been yet another harrowing trip through a mountain pass for nearly 2 hours.

No biggie, we just hung a U-ey and went the other direction up to Ventura. It’s a great little city I’ve never heard of! Great beach, a pier dating back to the 1800s, walkable downtown with several blocks of car-free zone, and many tasty breweries (priorities!)