Oops…It’s Been a Year Since I’ve Written Here :(

Posted on September 8, 2021 by alyssa

So, it seems that I blinked or blacked out or something and all the sudden it’s been almost a whole year since I’ve written anything on here. Oops!

There’s a lot of reasons for that. I’d itemize a list for you, but I’d prefer to blather on endlessly because after all, that’s what blogs are for.

The magic of blogs under a double rainbow

For a long time, this blog was all about my “homes on the road,” which was a fun way to share cool places we camped all over the continent while full-time RVing. When that shindig ended, my blog (and I) felt a bit lost. I optimistically mused about blogging on topics like DIY house renovations, gardening, mom-hood, etc. But even now, 2+ years after being out of the full-time RV life, still none of that stuff makes that sense to me. At least not enough to pretend to be enough of an expert on to write about.

Full-time travel? Of course, that was never as easy or glamorous as it probably appeared in small snippets every few weeks on your screen. But it made sense in my head, at least most of the time. House life? Mom life? None of that comes as naturally, and I sometimes feel like I’m going through the motions of someone else’s life while barely treading water.

Over the years, I’ve taken this blog to some semi-personal places but it’s all been pretty travel-related, and that’s my safe place. Owning a legit housing structure on a remote piece of property where the desert meets the forest and the mountains is its own adventure. So is keeping a small human alive, day in and day out. Yet writing about those things for all the world to see (correction: probably three friends and two stalkers) makes me want to squeeze myself under the bed and hide even though I don’t fit down there.

Meanwhile, more and more people I know aren’t cool publicly sharing things online anymore, that whole concept is iffy with a baby, and talking about travel during COVID sometimes feels sketchy too. Other excuses I make for neglecting this blog are being too burnt out from writing for work to ever feel like writing for “fun,” being too generally exhausted from baby life to do anything creative, and being distracted by shiny things.

Quick! Everybody hide your nose and mouth!

But alas, I feel crappy about letting my miniature corner of the world go to waste. It’s a place I carved out to chitter-chatter about cool places without selling out or turning a passion project into yet another chore to weigh me down. In the meanwhile, I’ve actually been traveling quite a bit since full-time camper life ended and exploring lots of awesome places around my home base in New Mexico. I’ve also finally started to bust out of my comfort zone and meet some cool local people who are into some of the same stuff I am. Some of this deserves writing about, which is why I’m here again to fill the void.

Enough blather for you? Okay then. Moving on!

Besides the blather, my actual goal with this post was to give a quick recap of cool places I’ve been hanging out so far in 2021. Yet again, I considered venturing out to other topics for this blog but that didn’t go so well. So, why not stick with the tried and true?

Sure, travel hasn’t always been without its controversy his year, but I’m not a dumb traveler….I’m vaccinated, a responsible masker, a relentless planner, and an informed reader of reliable things. I’ll always have a restless spirit and a wandering soul. But the Southwest still feels like home to me on most days, and I want to share that with you, dear world.

So, without further ado (and I think you’d agree that there’s been plenty of ado), here are some cool spots I’ve been lately with one representative photo per place to keep it simple and moving along. Oh, and a few anecdotes because that’s just what I do.

Tucson/Wilcox, Arizona – January 2021

Saguaros always win the “who’s taller?” game

What better place to escape for the winter in the Southwest than Tucson? This camper trip was filled with wonderfully wearing tank tops in January, cool rock formations, iconic cacti, and buying some random pottery. So far, my baby hasn’t fallen into a cactus, and I’m trying to keep it that way.

Taos/Angel Fire, New Mexico – February 2021

Despite the adorable look on little Chikoo’s face, snow isn’t exactly his cup of tea. Regardless, we headed up to the Northern New Mexico ski resorts to get in some runs and playtime out in that white stuff.

Las Cruces, New Mexico / El Paso, Texas – March 2021

One of Monkey’s favorite places on the planet is White Sands National Park. The gypsum sand stays cool on even the hottest of days and is oh-so-soft on doggie paws. Yet the winds here are absolutely nuts, and this visit was no exception. We met our good Chicago friends, Bryina, here and following a winery/lunch stop nearby on a particularly awesome day. Other highlights from this camping trip were walking through the pueblo ruins, bike trails, and roadside antique shops selling super weird stuff.

Grandparents Visit NM – April 2021

Countless trips around the yard riding in this red beauty

April was one of the rare months when we didn’t leave the area for a camping excursion. My little man turned one year old in April, so Grandma and Grandpa drove out to New Mexico to celebrate. The local staycation involved the small man’s first trip to the zoo, a sugary birthday cake, and a crazy number of new things to play with.

Southeast Utah – May 2021

Impossible to take a bad pic with a Utah arch in the background

May is always a big travel month for us…it’s the husband’s birthday, our marriage anniversary, and a perfect time to be outdoors in the Southwest. Those red rock landscapes in Utah are my favorite places to be, and it’d been too long since we’ve been back among them. This trip included a first-time visit to Capitol Reef National Park, a revisit to Canyonlands National Park and Moab, and some random finds like Leprechaun Canyon and the Factory Buttle OHV area. Bonus points for an overnight in one of our favorite Colorado spots, Cortez, on the way back home. It was pretty much all hiking all the time, so definitely thanking the universe that the Chikoo rides awesomely in a baby hiking backpack.

Ladies’ Weekend in ABQ & Jemez Springs – June 2021

This girl is my ride-or die. We text and video chat every day, but that’s not always enough. She was awesome enough to fly out to see me in June so we could party it up downtown, go hiking, wine tasting, and get into random shenanigans along the way.

Arizona Pitstop – July 2021

It was 112 degrees outside, but that doesn’t stop us from seeing awesome people. Arizona transplants, Chancy, met up with us for a delicious lunch and boat cruise on Saguaro Lake. There were good drinks, great views, and even better times hanging out. I give this day a solid two fist bumps, even when we spent a stupid amount of time loitering in a CVS just because it had air conditioning.

SoCal/NorCal – July 2021

Playing in sand: 5 stars. Scary ocean waves: 2 stars.

Now this was a fun camper excursion. We set up camp just outside of San Diego and took the Chikoo to his very first beach, Imperial Beach. There were also splash pads, breweries, in-laws, more breweries, fun Cali friend meetups, and lovely weather. Bonus points for a fun rendezvous in Downtown Flagstaff on the way back.

Northwest New Mexico Birthday – August 2021

The time came to turn 38, so I may as well get on a boat about it, eh? Birthday celebrations took me to Northwest New Mexico with stops in Farmington, the Bisti Badlands, and Navajo Lake. Getting old isn’t so bad when you’re surrounded by scenery like this.

Local Adventures Close to Home – 2021

Yet within a 30-minute or less from my house, I’ve found plenty of other good stuff to do too. There have been a scattering public pools, cat cafes, brew spots, music festivals, playgrounds, trails, group hikes, and mom meetups…not to mention monsoon season with its epic sunsets filled with lightning and double rainbows.

You know you’re a local when you take sunset pics in your backyard every evening

Dunno when I’ll be back here…maybe sooner, maybe later. But for now, my blog neglect guilt is absolved! And there’s still plenty of 2021 left to go exploring. Toot-a-loo!

That day I hiked into a canyon in a dress and tried to look professional

One Last Road Trip Before Pandemic Panic Shut Down the World

Posted on March 13, 2020 by alyssa

Are you stuck at home on a Friday night worrying that the world is ending or just bummed that your plans got cancelled as a “social distancing” measure? I’m in the latter category since the Banff Film Festival screening in Albuquerque got called off, just like everything else it seems. So, to fill this unexpected spare time I’m having at home and provide you with a little hysteria-free reading material, here’s a new blog post about a 2+ week road trip to California and Nevada that we got back from last weekend…just in time to hunker down and embrace hermit life.

Far before the words “Coronavirus” and “COVID-19” began bombarding our lives, the husband, dog, and I began planning a trip to the Bay Area of California to visit his family and check out a few fun places along the way. We opted against taking the RV since that would have added significantly to our drive time and also because Bay Area camping is notoriously expensive, unavailable, or inconveniently located. Instead, we stayed at a local Airbnb in Point Richmond, California which was wonderfully cozy and really felt like a home away from home.

At seven months pregnant and with a dog in tow, flying never really crossed our minds for something as easy as this 17-hour drive. The main purpose of the trip was to visit my in-laws before my due date in case it takes a little while for us to get back out there again. Fortunately, I’ve been feeling healthy, and Baby Boy is already a great traveler.

My favorite things about visiting the Cali side of the family is doing art projects with my super-crafty sister-in-law and pigging out on my mother-in-law’s home-cooked meals. Plenty of that happened, but we also made time to hike in a few really cool places and check out some live performances too before cancellations started being the norm. Here are a couple of the craft projects we made together: the creepiest dolls ever and hand-painted rocks!

The road trip had a little bit of everything weather-wise: rain in New Mexico, snow in Arizona, and warm sunshine in California. Our new Jeep Grand Cherokee proved to be an awesome road-trip-mobile on this trip, the longest we’ve driven with it, with a smooth ride and plenty of space to work in the passenger seat and store stuff (and a dog) in the back. How we’ll fit a baby and all his stuff back there though in a couple months is still a baffling mystery.

While in the Bay Area of California, I also got to check out Muir Woods for the first time. We’ve been in that area lots of times before but were always turned off by the high crowds, mandatory shuttles, and no-dogs-allowed policy. But with Monkey stowed safely back at the Airbnb, we went on a non-shuttle-required weekday and surprisingly had the whole place to ourselves for a little while.

The husband has one of those little national park passport books that he gets stamps in and I collect national park patches, so we always make a point to stop by any NPS site along the way during our travels. For a lunch stop, we tried to visit the César E. Chávez National Monument around Bakersfield. However, there was some utility issue that closed down the visitor’s center that particular day, meaning that we could do no more than walk outside the grounds. At least the flowers were pretty and the sun was shining.

In fact, the blooming flowers all over California really wowed us after being in the desert during winter for so long.Another random roadside attraction we stopped by was Seven Magic Mountains, a bizarre art installation in the Nevada desert just outside of Las Vegas. This is a series of colorful boulders stacked into towers over 25 feet high, made by a Swiss artist named Ugo Rondinone. It isn’t far off of I-15 south of Vegas and a sweet place to get out and stretch your legs…especially while wearing pregnancy compression socks because some blog told you to.

On the way back to New Mexico, we stayed in Vegas for a few days to party it up…well, as much as one can party it up at 32 weeks. With a taro-flavored boba tea in hand, I made my way down Fremont Street, reminiscing about the last time I was here a year ago ziplining high above the crowds with my gal pals.

Since Vegas resorts are notoriously un-dog-friendly or charge exorbitant pet fees, we stayed in a LaQuinta in the suburb of Summerlin, which worked out well for our low-key vibe in Sin City. The trend of pretty spring flowers continued as well.

Since the weather was absolutely fabulous during our time in Nevada, we planned a few hikes to get outside and active. One hiking spot was the Desert Wildlife National Refuge, which had a dog-friendly trail that was pretty chill and well-marked for almost two miles.

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument is one of the newest additions to the NPS system and doesn’t have really anything in the way of designated trails or signage. While I’m not totally sure what I was looking at or there were really any fossils where we were, it was super peaceful to blaze our own path and wander through the low-lying rock formations and wide open desert. Our last outdoors stop on the trip was the Lake Mead Recreation Area, which was a first for me. The rock formations were more impressive than I was expecting, and the crowds much lower than I expected too. We only got a taste of what’s in this huge park, so I’m looking forward to exploring more of it again later – hopefully in a camper next time.

Before every concert and event started getting cancelled due to virus panic, we were able to squeeze in two really fun shows. The first one was a Korean band called Black String, which played at Freight & Storage in Berkley, California. This was a unique show featuring a geomungo (6-stringed zither), bamboo flute, electric guitar, and traditional drums with instrumental music that was jazzy, catchy, and improvisational. Apparently, the little guy inside my belly was a big fan because I’ve never felt him move as much as I did that evening.

The next show we caught was Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine at the Red Rock Casino in Vegas, which was also fun in it’s own weird way. Mr. Cheese is a parody-style lounge singer that we’ve gotten a kick out of listening to for many years and finally got to see live in concert at our last night in the city. After the show, we played video roulette and walked out with a $4 profit, making $24 on a $20 initial bet. Big gamblers over here…watch out!

So, as I sit here click-clacking away on a Friday evening, I’m feeling super happy that we made this trip work because virus-pending and baby-pending, who knows when our next little getaway will be. This two-week California/Nevada trip tided over my wanderlust for a little while so I can enjoy the first days of springtime in New Mexico with no regrets. Fortunately, it’s a beautiful time to be here and get outside, which seems to be the safest and healthiest place to be right now anyway.

Stay safe and sane, my friends!

Our Last Full Month of Full-Time RVing: Winding Down Life on the Road (Month 37)

Posted on August 14, 2019 by alyssa

Did you just do a double-take when you read “our last full month in the title? Well, it’s not a click-bait gimmick or an April fool’s joke. That would be weird and totally unnecessary. But it is totally true because…

WE’RE BUYING A HOUSE IN NEW MEXICO!!!

My days of full-time RV life are numbered (literally 12 left), and I’m a messy mix of emotions over it. We’re beyond ready for a next phase, a new adventure, and something totally different to throw ourselves into. At the same time, it’s pretty terrifying for a lifelong renter and RVer to make as big of a commitment as her first real adult house and transition away from something that has come to define her for over three years now.

More on the house situation in a bit, but before I get ahead of myself, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Bernalillo, New Mexico: Home on the Road #124

After the Great Summer Midwest Road Trip, we made a plan to stay in Bernalillo for really one reason: to house shop in Placitas nearby. We stayed at a historic site campground 10 minutes away from where we had focused our real estate search so that we could really start diving into our post-RV life phase. Ironically, we actually put a bid on our house the very day we rolled into town, which was our three-year anniversary of RV life. So, with that out of the way, we used the next two weeks to pretend like we were locals and scope out the things we’d do regularly in our future home region.

Highlights: Swimming laps at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, Climbing at Stone Age Climbing Gym (which we learned is opening up a second location even closer to our house!), beautiful storms for monsoon season, painted kiva at the Coronado Historic Site, Bosque Trail for biking in ABQ, Indian vegan food at Annapurna, finding dog-friendly indoor things to do (antique store, book store), mountain biking and hiking in the forest that’s practically in our new backyard, comedy shows and bowling at the nearby Santa Ana Casino, frequenting our new local brewery (Bosque Brewing)
Lowlights: Multiple trips to the laundromat (but I’ll have my own washer & dryer soon!), super hot and steamy days, public showers, second-guessing the whole house commitment thing and being all wishy-washy

Winslow, Arizona: Home on the Road #125

*Well I’m standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona*

Yep, I did that. And I also learned to crappily play the song on guitar and even more crappily sing along to get into the local vibe. We camped nearby at Homolovi State Park, which was all 100-degree days but had peaceful desert scenery that made up for it, for me at least.

Highlights: Walking around ancient Hopi structures, local history museum in Winslow, playing guitar outside where no one could hear/judge me, checking out the famous Meteor Crater landmark
Lowlights: Over 100 degrees every day, public bathrooms full of crickets, only safe time of day to go running was insanely early in the morning

California Summer Road Trip: Home on the Road #126

As one last big hoorah, we’re in the midst of our second summer road trip to see family and friends – this time to the Bay Area of California. From Winslow, we embarked upon three days of grueling RV driving in the hottest temperatures I’ve ever experience in my life, with overnight stays in Needles and Bakersfield.

Highlights: Bragging rights of being in one of the three hottest places in the world at that time (others were Saudi Arabia and Algeria), oddly feeling like I was on another planet when it was pitch dark and still 107 degrees for Monkey’s bedtime walk, having 2 working air conditioners in the RV, takeout pizza in Needles, Temblor Brewing and sushi night out in Bakersfield
Lowlights: 117 degrees actual temperature – enough said (went down a degree before I could capture the pic below), Camper rattles and shakes so much that I’m pretty sure it’s going to collapse in on itself before we close on this house, not being able to really work in the RV because of how insane it drives, Jeep air conditioning that still doesn’t work well, how shaking and miserable Monkey is while riding in the RV so long

Bay Area Days (so far)

The Bay Area is a pretty terrible place to try to go camping; there’s really no way around it. You’re either paying insanely high prices, packed in like sardines into a parking lot, or sitting through traffic no matter what. In the past while visiting the husband’s family, we’ve stayed at two different campgrounds in Napa and a state park near Oakland. To try something different this time just for the heck of it, we’re giving the Alameda County Fairgrounds a try in Pleasanton. It’s cheap for the area but little more than a parking lot with sewer hookups and about 10 inches between you and your neighbor. It’s the kind of place that makes me ready to be done with camper life, which I guess is a good thing since it is almost done. No complaints about the food or friendly company though 🙂

Highlights: Golf driving range nearby, temperatures in the 60s that feel downright cold in the evenings, fast and free Wi-Fi, meeting up with a few local friends, learning the art of acrylic paint pouring with the sis-in-law, easy routes so I could rock 5.10ds at the Diablo Rock Climbing Gym, biking across the Bay Bridge
Lowlights: How dumbly sore my right bicep and left rib get after hitting just a couple golf balls, back into the 100s again, lots of not dog-friendly activities to work around, always traffic

Paintings, not food

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Okay, so back to the house.

Where in New Mexico, you ask? Well, I’m glad you did, hypothetical question-asker.

Our soon-to-be home is in a magical land called Placitas, an incorporated village of less than 5,000 people between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It’s in the mountains and where the desert meets the forest, with a couple acres of our very own land and plenty of wide-open spaces all around. It feels rugged and remote, while still being within 30 minutes of the ABQ airport and 45 minutes from all the quirky artsy stuff in Santa Fe.

Sneak peek at my soon-to-be, very own backyard

The house itself is in great condition but a bit older, so we’ve already started a long list of YouTube-fueled DIY upgrades to make it our own and help fill the void of not traveling full-time. I’ve gotten mixed reactions from people I’ve told so far about the house news, but mostly positive and encouraging.

Folks who know me well aren’t surprised by my choice to try living in New Mexico out of all the places we’ve temporarily lived in over the last few years. Yet others are disappointed that I didn’t pick a place closer to them or that I’ll be giving up a lifestyle I’ve been so “lucky” to pursue for something more ordinary. First of all, luck has nothing to do with it since I’ve busted my ass to build a profitable career from the ground up that I can do anywhere. While I wouldn’t trade my full-time RV experiences for anything, the RV lifestyle is over-rated and over-romanticized by sexy Instagrammers and delusional types with their heads in the clouds. I’ve tried to provide balanced coverage of what it’s really like out here on the road, but honestly, it’s mostly just working at a makeshift desk in the passenger seat of the RV while staring at the back of other campers, with a few fun things squeezed in between that are photo-worthy. I’m sure that shifting to a lifestyle with a stable home base will be a shock to my system, but it’s not the end of adventure – it’s the start of a new one – one of getting to know the Southwest like a local, traveling internationally, and having a more well-balanced life with hobbies and learning new skills.

My post next month will be all about this transition since about half of it will be on the road and the other part moving into a non-wheeled home. So, Month #38 will be my last “home on the road” series post, a monthly tradition of sorts I’ve managed to keep up with since July 2016 for some reason. But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll come up with something else to endlessly blabber on about to fill the void!

Have a wonderful month, my dear blog-reader, wherever you are.

Catch up with the journey:

Picking Up the Pace of Southwest Adventure: Month 29 of Nomadic Life

Posted on December 14, 2018 by alyssa

It’s holiday season, which means chaos and cold, even for your favorite nomad out on the road. Since traveling full-time, the Southwest has carved out a soft spot in my heart. But over the past month, we’ve been moving through it at record speed.

We’ve been in search of warmth and off-the-beaten-path places that we might not make it back to anytime soon. We’ve also been in search of change and something to drive us towards decisiveness to start a post-camper-life phase of life next year. On top of all that, this time of year is always insanely stressful for me with work thanks to everybody and his brother having last-minute projects and year-end deadlines.

But first, it’s a race towards Christmas, which will once again take us “a long way away from home” to Georgia, Illinois, and everywhere in between. I’m exhausted and burnt out at the moment, so hopefully the change of scenery and schedule will help rather than hurt.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road. Oh yeah, the husband recently pointed out that apparently, I don’t know how to count. So, I’ve adjusted the “home on the road” numbers and just reached the big #100 in Gallup!

Lee Vining, California: Home on the Road #95

When I think back upon our extended weekend in Lee Vining, one word comes to mind: freezing. We’d driven through this tiny town of approximately 222 people once before while spending three weeks in nearby June Lake. However, this time, we dry-camped in a forest service campground with no hookups to revisit the area while passing through.

This part of the Eastern Sierras is a favorite place of the husband, who’s a big fan of snow-capped mountains, green forests, and skiing nearby. There’s no denying it’s stunning, but we’ll get to my all-time favorite landscape a little further down.

Highlights: Making it through Tioga Pass before it closed for the winter, the most peaceful campground nestled among the trees, walking again among the tufas of Mono Lake, revisiting our favorite June Lake Brewing and its Hawaiian food truck
Lowlights: Further realizing how miserable I am when I don’t have a warm place to escape to

Tonopah, Nevada: Home on the Road #96

For Thanksgiving, many people have traditions of traveling to see family, going shopping, and eating turkey. Our Thanksgiving tradition involves none of those things. Instead, we aim to find remote destinations that no one goes to in order to escape crowds, traffic, and consumerism. This year’s Thanksgiving destination was Tonopah, Nevada, a place where we hoped to learn a bit more about this mysterious state outside of the usual trappings of Vegas and Reno.

The town itself is a bit run-down and dusty, but it has a quirky charm to it that really can’t be beat. I mean, seriously, where else can you find a creepy Clown Motel, haunted cemetery, and spray-painted cars upturned in the dirt all within a few miles of each other?

Highlights: Exploring mining history areas that were dog-friendly, discovering that casino campgrounds really can be alright, getting spooked by haunted attractions in town, walking through a car graveyard not unlike Amarillo’s famous Cadillac Ranch, delicious pesto tortellini for Thanksgiving dinner and craft time with clay and construction paper in the RV
Lowlights: More freezing cold days (a big theme of this month), the only brewery in town had not-so-great service and no vegetarian options (but the beer was pretty good)

Mesquite, Nevada: Home on the Road # 97

In search of a little more warmth and to check out another random Nevada town we’d never been to, we booked a spot at another casino campground in Mesquite. Casino campgrounds seem to be the norm in Nevada, go figure. However, the route for getting here was a big part of the intrigue. You see, we took a drive down the Extraterrestrial Highway (Nevada State Route 395) in search of aliens, UFOs, and anything else on the paranormal spectrum.

But upon reaching Mesquite, an entirely different type of invasion actually occurred. Much to my surprise, my best friend conspired with my husband to book a spontaneous flight to Vegas and then drive to Mesquite just to see me. I had literally just taken my last bite of Saturday morning pancakes and was two seconds away from hopping in the shower when I stuttered, “Um…what is Michelle doing outside the camper right now?” It was baffling and amazing at the same time.

Highlights: Stocking up on alien souvenirs and a grilled cheese sandwich at the Extraterrestrial Highway pit-stop of Little A’Le’Inn, getting a surprise visit from my best friend and spending the day in the desert and later on the Vegas Strip with her, biking around Mesquite to check out the town, ending our stay at the hot tub at the Casablanca Casino & Resort
Lowlights: Only having a weekend to check out this new part of Nevada, having to say goodbye to my favorite lady and send her back to a blizzard in Illinois

Kanab, Utah: Home on the Road #98

If I had to pick a place to live based upon landscape alone, I’d pick Southern Utah. Ever since my previous visits to Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, and Kodachrome, there’s been something magical that draws me to the impressive red rock formations of this area. We stayed in the nearby town of Cedar City for a couple weeks last year and made Kanab our destination this time. Aside from having our first snow of the season, Kanab welcomed me with views I never got tired of, uncrowded trails, and non-annoying people.

Highlights: Best landscape views ever, awesome BLM hiking that’s dog-friendly and uncrowded at this time of year, seeing snow on the red rocks, touring the dog and potbellied pig areas of the Best Friends animal shelter facilities, getting into the Christmas spirit with a local musical production, slot canyons you can walk right into, going to my first-ever real estate open house (maybe SoUT will be in the future plans?)
Lowlights: Trying to work while wrapped in a sleeping bag/countless layers/hand warmers/etc. when our propane heater broke once again, almost getting stuck in the sandy backroads

Monument Valley, Arizona: Home on the Road #99

Our stay in Monument Valley was short – just an extended weekend. But we packed a lot into it and saw Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley National Tribal Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Sites, and the Chaco Culture National Historic Park. This circuit encompassed Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico and was a bit of a three-day whirlwind.

Highlights: Seeing incredible rock formations with hardly anyone else around, epic photos of light snow on the formations, learning about Navajo history, receiving a beautiful turquoise and silver Kokopelli necklace as an early Christmas gift
Lowlights: Having the Jeep’s battery die and failing to successfully charge it with our solar system battery or push it to the front of the RV for a jump (had to ask a neighbor for help…ugh), lots of time driving and passengering in the RV, stray dogs everywhere and lots of dead dogs on the sides of roads

Gallup, New Mexico: Home on the Road #100

Our last pre-Christmas journey on this road-trip-called-life was Gallup, New Mexico. We’d been to Gallup before and honestly weren’t all that in love with it. But it was the next logical place to stop before starting to head east. Plus, we wanted to check out the Red Rock Park and see a different side of town.

Highlights: Scenic hike up the Pyramid Trail and hike to Church rock, quiet campground and no neighbors for few work distractions, surprisingly decent Wi-Fi, the best public laundromat experience I’ve had in a long time
Lowlights: More stray dogs everywhere, work stress galore, immune system shutting down, all the prickly thorns that get in Monkey’s feet from the desert shrubs (she got carried for almost a whole minute before squirming her way down), no time or inspiration to do anything in town

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

You always have to pay attention to tunnels when you’re driving a home on wheels. Our RV is about 12 feet tall. This tunnel was 13 feet and three inches. The one after this was only 10+ feet on the sides but taller in the middle. Spoiler alert: we made it through.

Maybe it’s a sign of getting old, but my body is having serious trouble adjusting to the cold. However, I’m sure it would be more manageable if I had a comfortable place to wake up and come home to instead of an un-insulated tin box with a chronically broken propane heater. The circuit board gets flooded, no matter what, every time it rains, which kills it and only a $100 replacement gets the back heat on again. This is a shot I took on a morning when I woke up to 31 degrees inside the RV. Warming measures we’ve taken include 1 space heater (2 blow a fuse), covers for the roof vents, carpeted floor mats, and complaining a lot.

Then there are days like this…pretty, but no thanks.

I’m not a fan of snow, but if I have to see it, I prefer it to be lightly coating some glorious red rocks in Utah.

These are Thanksgiving crafts we made to celebrate the holiday out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada over copious amounts of wine. Because we’re like five.

Picking up non-space-consuming souvenirs from super-random places is a favorite pastime of mine. This license plate now lives on the front of the Jeep (that’s legal, right?), I can never have enough fun tank-tops, who wouldn’t want to drink out of an alien shot glass, and my insanely large souvenir patch collection continues to grow.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

From here, we embark upon our big Christmas journey back east and sans RV. It never makes sense to schlep this gas-guzzler across the country for just a short amount of time, so we’re sticking it in storage and heading eastbound in just the Jeep.

We shifted over to Albuquerque to make the transition because we found a campground with onsite monthly storage, which makes everything easier. The RV sofa is already piled with crap to pack, yet my packing list has a confusing number items yet to be checked off. Well, you know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day. Until next month, signing off and happy holidays to all!

Catch up with the journey:

A Nomadic Sweep Through Familiar Lands: Month #28 in NorCal

Posted on November 14, 2018 by alyssa

While last month was all about getting off the grid and exploring new places, we’ve spent this month getting back onto the grid in familiar lands. The shift wasn’t because we couldn’t bare life outside of developed campgrounds no hookups. Quite the opposite! However, it was just that time of year to put in a trip to the Bay Area to visit family and friends for Halloween and Diwali.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Grass Valley, California: Home on the Road #90

Figures. Just when we start trying to narrow down our list of potential plop-down places, we end up adding one more. This was our second stay in Grass Valley, but it resonated with us more this time than last. It’s halfway between the mountains/ski resorts of Tahoe and big city offerings of Sacramento, yet chill and un-trafficy. There’s ample and affordable land here and mutually agreeable weather for much of the year too.

Highlights: Alpaca show to welcome us to our fairground campground, getting to know the downtown areas of both Grass Valley and Nevada City better, meeting up with my gnome friend Liz at a brewery/pumpkin patch, perfect fall weather with colorful leaves, biking around Tahoe and the ski resorts
Lowlights: Not much coming to mind, which is why this place became post-it-note-worthy

Napa, California: Home on the Road #91

While most people go to Napa for the wine, we go for the closest reasonable campground to visit my husband’s family. This is actually the third time we’ve stayed in Napa during full-time camper life, but we stayed at a different park this time that was almost half the price of our previous spot. This home on the road involved a lot of annoying driving and some crazy smoke due to the latest NorCal wildfire, Camp Fire, in Butte County. We were fortunately at a safe distance from the closest fires, but I still had nightmares of flames coming toward the RV in the middle of the night and trying to decide what to grab before running out the door.

Highlights: Dog-friendly Halloween winery party at Trefethen Family Vineyards where we did a trio costume of “s’mores,” our familiar bike routes along vineyard roads, celebrating Diwali with the in-laws, stuffing face with good friends, being a tourist on a fun day in San Francisco, being a safe 2.5 hours from the latest NorCal wildfire, letting Monkey play on a San Francisco beach
Lowlights: The usual traffic/crowds/costs that you expect from Napa/Bay Area, crowded campground with annoying neighbors, more devastating California wildfires and the smoke and haze they sent our way

Yosemite National Park, California: Home on the Road #92

This was our second trip together to Yosemite, but our first visit to this oh-so-popular national park was over six years ago. As you’ve likely gathered from following my camper life journey, we detest crowds…especially while spending time in nature. So, we planned our Yosemite trip for (1) the week before Thanksgiving to beat the holiday rush and (2) only on weekdays to avoid the weekend crowds.

Highlights: Impressive mountain views from the campground, 12 miles of dog-friendly paved paths for exploring the park with Monkey, biking around the park, low crowds due to the time of year, seeing a mama bear and two cubs cross the road in front of us hiking at a safe distance
Lowlights: Being cold 24/7 due to no electric hookups and limited propane for occasional heat, public showers, sub-par photo ops due to cloudy days and wildfire haze

With our remaining time in Yosemite, the husband and I are going our separate ways to do some epic solo hikes. I’ll pick up with that in next month’s report.

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

‘Tis the season for everything pumpkin! My favorite, although the West is notoriously awful for having pumpkin beer. Of all the breweries I go to, not once did I find pumpkin craft beer on draft this fall. Sad times we’re living in.

For Diwali this year, I experimented with henna for the first time. I’ve always been curious to try it but too intimidated to go to a salon. My sister-in-law showed me the basics and created a design on my left palm. So, I picked up where she left off and did some feet designs.

We finally went “all out for Halloween this year with costumes and festive plans. It’s my favorite holiday, but we’ve skimped on it the past two Halloweens due to being over-consumed with everything camper life entails. It felt awesome to put some gore on my face again.

Thanks to living in civilization for a while, we’ve been able to get in some good indoor climbing. In fact, we were able to hit up gyms in Grass Valley, Berkeley, and Napa. Feeling pretty strong, despite the fact that I didn’t actually complete this upside-down bouldering route (womp womp).

It’s articles like this that make me want to move on from camper life. Over a million “modern nomads” are now living out of their RVs? I’m glad I got into it back when I did because clearly this lifestyle has become too common and this niche too saturated! I’m half kidding and half not kidding 🙂

However, the decision of what to do post-camper-life has been hanging over my head in a big way. I’m so comfortable in my current routines with working from the road and moving every couple weeks that anything else scares the crap out of me. I know that sounds silly and that if anything, this lifestyle should make me more adaptable for whatever comes next. But I’m still feeling resistant, non-committal, and dragging my feet.

Shopping for our next home…where does Monkey want to live?

Yet change is healthy, and we never intended for this little lifestyle experiment to last forever. So, I mustered up some courage to narrow down (and share) my personal “maybe” list to these seven regions (in no particular order):

Santa Fe, New Mexico
San Luis Obispo, California
Boise, Idaho
Cedar City, Utah
Wenatchee, Washington
Bend, Oregon
Grass Valley, California

Looking Ahead to Next Month

We actually didn’t have a plan for this upcoming month until just about a day or two ago. We were waiting to see if Tioga Pass would be closed by this time of the year, but with no snow in the forecast, it seems good to go. I always enjoy getting to be more spontaneous with trip planning at this time of year (versus the summer) because campgrounds are now so rarely booked up in advance.

The current plan is to cross over into Nevada because it’s a state that we honestly haven’t explored much beyond Reno and Vegas. There’s something called the Extraterrestrial Highway in remote Nevada that’s been calling our names for a while now. Also, I’m looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in the middle-of-nowhere and hopefully staying warm with some electric hookups because well, these fingers and toes aren’t gonna warm themselves.

My new Diwali outfits put my usual hiking clothes to damn shame.

Catch up with the journey:

Adventures Off the Grid: Month #27 of Camper Life

Posted on October 14, 2018 by alyssa

As my last post hinted at, month #27 was a bit of a unique one. Somewhat suddenly, it seems that we have entered a new phase of full-time camper life – a phase that’s more off-the-grid, more self-sufficient, and a whole lot eco-friendlier.

It all started with a solar panel system investment while we were staying in Bend, Oregon for a couple weeks. The research, ordering, and setup got off to a rocky start thanks to components that didn’t work together as expected. After some irritating returns and Plan Bs, we emerged with a battery and inverter that look like this and are connected to cables running out the RV window to connect to the solar panel.

Initial Off-the-Grid Observations from week #1:

We are moving the solar panel for a more optimal sun position more than once an hour
To save energy, I’m wearing a headlamp to do dishes, brush teeth, eat dinner
Usable electronics with solar power: laptops, phones, watches, essential oil diffuser, electric toothbrush
Non usable electronics with solar power: electric blanket, space heater, dog heating pad, hair dryer, TV
Sleeping in hats, sweatshirts, gloves
Allowable generator use hours are exciting! Charge everything all at once!
Filling up water with an outside spigot in a jug to save tank usage
Watching TV shows on laptops/iPhones instead of RV television
My new laptop has a really long-lasting battery – yay!
No distractions out here = crazy work productive
It’s pretty hilarious to watch my husband use his dental Waterpik over the kitchen sink and plugged into an extension cord connected to the inverter after warming up water in the tea kettle
1 solar panel is enough to keep our devices for the week charged but our RV batteries are running low…something we didn’t anticipate
Using public showers again just like in the old pop-up camper days
Don’t flush just for pee
Made it 7 days without dumping tanks – success!
ABC: Always Be Charging
ABS: Always Be Strategizing (about how to keep this going for as many days as possible)
Only enough propane to heat up the RV for less than an hour each morning to get out of bed in the cold….oops rain touched the circuit board and now the heater is broken
Man, this is cheap living
Washing dishes with cold water
Using decorative Halloween pumpkins as lights – ’tis the season
How is there internet out here?! Hooray!

But backing up a few steps, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Bend, Oregon: Home on the Road #84

I’m torn about Bend because yes, it’s a bit crowded, trafficy, and becoming overdeveloped, but it’s also still an outdoor lover’s dream with every type of recreation you could ever want. This is also where I checked off a long-time bucket list item: riding in a hot air balloon!

Highlights: Super peaceful hot air balloon ride over beautiful landscapes, hiking Smith Rock State Park, best indoor climbing gym I’ve been to in a while, breweries galore, decent campground laundry facility, got a yearly doctor checkup taken care of, nearby visit to Newberry National Volcanic Monument, seeing a local play at 2nd Street Theater
Lowlights: Not having time to climb at Smith Rock State Park or go mountain biking in the area, traffic, more (un-monitored, dog-groping) kids at breweries than adults, catching up on shopping and spending way too much money, crowded shantytown-like campground

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon: Home on the Road #85

I’d never been to Crater Lake before, and now seemed like the perfect time to check it out: late enough in the year to avoid the worst crowds but not yet too cold and snowy to close campgrounds.

Highlights: The stunning blue color of this crazy lake, surprisingly few crowds on hiking trails, hiking a new section of the PCT with Monkey, playing our current favorite board game (Ticket to Ride) outside at the campground with the new India expansion location
Lowlights: Having to move to 3 different campsites to escape partying teenagers and lack of shade to leave Monkey behind in this dog-unfriendly park, nightly lows in the 30s

Keno, Oregon: Home on the Road #86

Staying in southern Oregon was our first foray into what I like to call goondocking. Boondocking has more of a connotation of free and pulled off the side of the road in a random place. We can’t necessarily do that because we work full-time. So goondocking is our compromise between that and crowded RV parks, inclusive of a good internet connection but not really anything else. Also, “Goon” is one of the many nicknames we call Monkey. This random spot we goondocked in a couple miles outside Keno, Oregon felt more like a magical piece of property than any campsite we’ve been to.

Highlights: So much room to spread out, playing guitar and working outside, trails for running and dog walks, no distractions and great work productivity, surprisingly awesome public showers nearby, nice Monkey trailer-friendly bike trail in nearby Klamath Falls, decent beers at the one brewery in Klamath Falls, sunrises and moonrises over the Klamath River from our campsite, super peaceful afternoon of kayaking and SUPing on the river
Lowlights: Failing at our first goondocking attempt at the Topsy Campground because of crappy internet, the craziest dust that permeated everything

Lava Beds National Monument, California: Home on the Road #87

About four years ago, we did a quick visit to Lava Beds on a late-summer vacation. It’s one of the coolest national monuments I’ve been to because you can explore lots of caves on your own without a guide and without lots of tourists everywhere.

We originally didn’t intend to camp overnight at all here, but then we discovered that the area had surprisingly good AT&T and Verizon internet. Yes, I realize that this post makes me sound like I’m obsessed with internet, but oddly it’s really the driving force of where we go these days. With national monument campsites at $10/night, we first booked two nights, then a third, and finally a fourth. This extra time allowed us to check out nearly every cave in the park after work days!

Highlights: Taking headlamps and bike helmets into caves to explore the underworld on our own, reasonable generator use hours to get all our stuff charged, good but not great internet, peaceful, lots of space, making up our own “cave loop 5K race” even though I came in last place out of the three of us, getting better at conserving water/electric
Lowlights: Painfully bumping heads and backs on sharp cave roofs, some rain and cold but not too bad, no public showers equals more days of grossness

Lassen Volcanic National Park: Home on the Road #88

Although national parks and monuments certainly aren’t off-the-grid, they are places we never used to be able to camp due to lack of hookups and our 24/7 reliance upon campground amenities. We originally planned to spend three nights at Lassen, but cut that short to just two. The campground walk-in reservation system was confusing, and the temperatures were downright frigid up in the mountains. Regardless, I’m glad we finally made it here to check out the sights.

Highlights: Interesting geological features from the eruptions 100+ years ago, waterfall hike, bubbling mud, campfire
Lowlights: Confusing campground check-in situation with no staff onsite to help, morning temperatures in the 30s with no heat, trying to shower in a freezing RV, nothing is dog-friendly

Oroville, California: Home on the Road #89

We’d never been in the Oroville area of California, and honestly it was a bit of a disappointment throughout the week. The state park we stayed at had some crazy rules, most of the trails were closed and all are dog-unfriendly, the area was filled with shady characters, the park conducted a series of controlled fires leaving us smoky and worried what might happen if they got out of hand. Things got even more interesting when another camper set a car on fire and was threatening suicide while being pursued by rangers with big guns. At least it was warm, and my oh my how life is better when I’m warm.

Highlights: Amazing weather in the 70s and 80s, sitting outside to work, going bowling by the casino, making do with our solar energy and generator with no hookups once again, decorating for Halloween, surprisingly great casino buffet and brewery, a nice day trip to Chico to check out Bidwell Park and the brewery scene, dog-friendly 8+ mile waterfall hike to Feather Falls
Lowlights: The reminder that much of California hates dogs, smoke and haze, weirdos everywhere, businesses/boat ramps/trails closed unexpectedly, so much laundry to do at a really dirty laundromat, too much work to squeeze in personal time and fun, being on lockdown at the campground while cops investigated a madman on the loose

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

Saturday morning pancakes are my culinary specialty.

I’m trying to draw better landscapes in my sketchbook, starting with trees. This little workbook is helping.

We’ve missed playing tennis since living in our posh old apartment complex in Atlanta. Our old rackets got lost in the move, but we’ve picked up a couple new ones and have played twice at local parks in places we visit. Spoiler alert: I always win 🙂

Holy shopping spree! We pretty much cleared out the clearance section of the Columbia Outlet store in Bend. But when all you pretty much wear is hiking clothes, it’s justifiable!

My favorite new place to work: patch of dirt with a view of the Klamath River and a steady internet connection.

We’ve been coloring pages in our national park coloring book as we visit new ones. Just finished up with Lassen!

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Now back in California for a while, Month #28 will feel oddly familiar. While Month #27 was all about getting off the grid, Month #28 will be all about going to places we’ve already been. We’ll actually be staying in a couple of the same campgrounds as last year and different ones in familiar cities in order to visit the in-laws and celebrate Halloween and Diwali.

The days ahead should be pretty warm, which is good news since our heater still doesn’t work and this aging body of mine is having serious trouble heating itself up. Our needs for solar energy may be a bit less as we get back into the civilization of Northern California life for a little while, but hopefully I can still find some peaceful places (like this one below) to take a deep breath in and think about what lies ahead for this camper journey.

We’re looking to narrow down and reevaluate our wall of post-it notes identifying potential plop-down places to start planning ahead for our next phase. It’s something I’ve been personally procrastinating for a long time because committing always makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach. There are some things that make me feel really excited for whatever our next phase is, and other things that make me nervous as heck because this has been my “normal” for two years and three months now. Change is never easy, even when you change your home every week or two. Right now, I’m only able to narrow down my list of plop-down places to about six or seven. So, it seems I have some soul searching and real estate research ahead of me in the month ahead.

Until next month…

Catch up with the journey:

Redwoods, Rain, and FINALLY in Oregon: 1 Year & 8 Months on the Road

Posted on March 14, 2018 by alyssa

Redwoods, rain, and retching….that’s how month #20 on the road started out. It was a bit of a rough one, but then again, camper life is pretty much just like regular life but on wheels.

After dabbling in snow sports in the Tahoe area, we headed further north and to the coast to the town of Arcata, California. It’s a small town just north of Eureka, and it’s safe to say that it probably won’t be making it on our post-it note list of potential plop-down spots.

It was cold, it rained pretty much every day, both Monkey and I were sick, and my workload became downright insane. But of course, in true camper life fashion, we still managed to squeeze in more than our fair share of fun outings to the gigantic redwood trees and beyond. We also finally made it up to the promised land, Oregon, over a year later than we initially planned.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Arcata, California: Home on the Road #63

We stayed in Arcata for two weeks in a quiet, rainy campground. Interestingly, while staying here, I received a forwarded letter that I was summoned for jury duty…all the way on the other side of the country in DeKalb County, Georgia.

Well THAT’S something I’d never though of before! Long story short – being a full-time RVer actually IS legit grounds to be excused from jury duty. Thank god, because by the time the summons actually reached me via mail forwarding, the court date was literally two days away and I was starting to panic. The nice folks at the court had never gotten the excuse of full-time RVing before, but they were totally cool with letting me off the hook after I emailed over a letter and a few campground receipts as proof.

WHEW!

Jumping for joy about my one-year exception from Georgia jury duty.

Highlights: Hiking among the redwood trees, a few sweet breweries, driving through a tree, riding a gondola through the redwoods, views from the nearby beach, watching a roller derby match, finding some tasty Indian food, getting in some climbing at the local bouldering gym
Lowlights: Way too much damn rain, nasty muddy camper floors, many homeless people around and high theft risk, me being sick Monkey puking 4 times in one day (and subsequent gross laundry – not sure what was wrong, but I’m happy to report that she’s back to being healthy and her usual nutball self again), a nearby beach that was too cold and windy to hang out on

Paid $1 to walk through this “One Log House” that is almost exactly the same size as our RV!

Coos Bay, Oregon: Home on the Road #64

After two weeks in a cold, rainy place where there wasn’t even any snow to “do anything” with the winter weather, I was feeling a bit hesitant about proceeding further north to the magical promised land of the Pacific Northwest. But we had already booked a campsite in Coos Bay, and were determined to finally cross over into Oregon.

Highlights: Having a campsite with a deck overlooking the river, swimming a mile at the community pool, checking out a couple local free museums, my work finally feeling back under control, breaking out the bikes after a long while for a hilly ride around town, working outside once, some sunshine, reliable campground Wi-Fi for working
Lowlights: That day when 30+mph winds and sideways rain lasted all day, the never-ending saga of trying to get Amazon packages delivered to a campground, missing dry weather and frequent hikes

Salem, Oregon: Home on the Road # 65

We’ve only been here in Salem a couple days and have another week and a half to go, so I’ll pick back up with my Salem report next month. In the meantime, here’s the gist so far…

Highlights: Nice (Monkey trailer-friendly) paved bike paths behind Riverfront Park, spacious campsites and no next-door neighbors, drive-through coffee huts, reliable campground Wi-Fi for working, little campground fitness center for rainy days
Lowlights: Confusing bike paths blocked by homeless people and that require constant map checking to navigate, continued rain, failing at crocheting four times in a row

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

Remember paper fortune tellers from like 4th grade? For some reason I did, which prompted me to make a couple and start playing psychic. I’ve been slacking on crafting since Christmas, so this is about it for homemade creations this month.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t attempted to create something. I failed three separate times at crocheting a pair of socks, went out and bought a loom to try that route, failed at the loom too, and finally accepted that the universe doesn’t want me to ever touch yarn again.

I signed up for a race! I’ll be doing a trail run at a tulip farm in about a week and a half with moderate preparation and Monkey in tow. I’ll be my first-ever race with a dog, so this should be interesting. I don’t typically like to pay somebody to go for run, but I’m in need of a few positive (and attainable) goals right now.
I recently got so overwhelmed with the fact that I could work 15 hours every day and still not get ahead that I pulled out my journal to make four lists and get my head straight: things that are making me miserable, things that are holding me back from making a change, ideas to make things better, and what I would do with magical free time. I haven’t done anything with these lists, but there they are.

I like coloring. It feels kind of creative without really putting much effort into it. My favorite coloring book is one with national park posters, and I only allow myself to color the pages of the parks that I’ve been too. I colored this page the day after we went to Redwoods National Park to hike in the cold rain.

Isn’t it ironic that not long after you stop dying your hair because of all the scary chemicals in hair dye that you start noticing grays?
Also, doing hair is hard when you’re trying to put on a dress and look less like a scumbag on a rare occasion out. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to follow British bimbos’ up-do tutorials on YouTube last Friday. Mad props to ladies with hair skills.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

We’ll kick off month #21 here in Salem by celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with some good ole’ fashioned debauchery and perhaps a cherry blossom festival at the capitol if the rain holds out. I’m also planning to meet up with a long-lost friend nearby who I used to work with in Chicago and then head up to the Mt. Hood area for the last round of snow sports for the season.

Got any questions about what nomadic life is like, for real? Fire away. Thanks for reading!

Catch up with the journey:

Making Our Way Up California (yes, again): Month 19 on the Road

Posted on February 14, 2018 by alyssa

Last month, I left off with our nomad journey in Yuma, Arizona, a familiar place where we bought this RV we’ve been living in for the past year. Month #19 of this journey was spent in California and mostly in places that we already visited within the past year.

After having different scenery every two weeks, it’s weird being back in the same places. But the simple fact that everything isn’t new and needs to be figured out is kind of relaxing and helping us with our goals to slow down and not stressing out over constant trip planning.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

San Luis Obispo, California: Home on the Road #60

Unlike most places within the last year and a half, we visited SLO with a mission. We stayed in nearby Oceano, California last May and began to fall in love with the area. So, we make plans to spend another couple weeks here, this time in El Chorro Regional Park, which was about halfway between SLO and Morro Bay.

Highlights: Great downtown area with weekly farmers’ market festival, rock climbing gym and film documentary, breweries galore, super easy traffic, bike lanes everywhere, running along the beach at Morro Bay, free live performances, Oceano sand dunes nearby, finally touring the famous Hearst Castle
Lowlights: Disappointing news from a real estate agent about how hard it is to find land to plop a camper onto (without a house) around these parts

Napa, California: Home on the Road #61

Unlike SLO, I have zero desire to live long-term in Napa or in the Bay Area of California. We stayed in Napa at the Expo Fairgrounds in town last summer and found ourselves back here again….not only in the same campground but in the very same campsite too. The main reason for staying in Napa this time around wasn’t a wine vacation but rather to spend some time with my in-laws.

Highlights: Great bike lanes along vineyard roads, perfect weather, seeing Reefer Madness the Musical in Vallejo, visits with the in-laws that went well, making origami boats, old-school rock climbing gym, new breweries opened up in town, catching an Olympic curling match at a dive bar since our RV cable sucks, celebrating Monkey’s 4th birthday / 2-year adoption day
Lowlights: Awful traffic at all times, the insane price of wine tastings, expensive everything, still way too many wineries to choose from (that one’s for you, Lara, if you’re reading this)

Grass Valley, California: Home on the Road #62

We made a point to stay in Grass Valley for a few days for one reason and one reason only: snow sports. It’s been a couple years since I’ve dusted off my old snowboard, but I broke it out again to hit up the resorts nearby. Fortunately, this didn’t include breaking any bones and only being very mildly sore. We’re also celebrating Valentine’s Day here by going out to a Hawaiian poke & BBQ restaurant for dinner in nearby Nevada City. For the rest of the week, there are possibilities of more snowboarding or perhaps snowshoeing with Monkey instead for some variety and dog inclusion.

Highlights: Spacious and quiet campground among tall trees and few neighbors, a fun ski resort day, getting NBC on the RV antenna to watch the Olympics
Lowlights: Cold nights close in the 30s, still being a pretty crappy snowboarder

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

While staying in SLO and going for a run, we passed by a developing botanical garden and stopped by. The place was clearly in need of some volunteers, and volunteering is something we’ve been interested in doing but never seem to make time for. So, one morning, we ditched computer work and opted for manual labor instead, clearing away branches and debris and loading everything onto carts. There’s something very satisfying about working outside that typing eight hours per day just doesn’t provide. I’d love to find a way to work outdoors (and get paid for it somehow) for half my time and write for the other half.

Collecting souvenirs is a fun part of travel, but finding space for a bunch of crap in a tiny house is not. I’ve been collecting (space conscious) iron/sew-on patches for a few years from places I’ve enjoyed and shoving them in drawers, thinking someday I’d come up with a really cool craft project to display them. But for now, they’re new fridge decorations! I taped up as many as would fit for a little camper decor ‘til a better idea comes along.

Sometimes my work feels like a lost cause…like I’ll never catch up and get ahead. I’m working too much and feeling burnt out, but I’m often not sure how or where to scale back or whether that would be a totally regrettable decision. But today, I actually turned down some work and it felt oddly satisfying and like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Last month, I introduced you to my lifelong Cabbage Patch companion, Isabelle. While in storage, she was wearing a dress way too short for any 33-year-old. So, I sewed her some pants! Now she matches our bedroom curtains because I made the pants with leftover curtain fabric.

We bought new dishes for the camper! Goodbye old scratched-up plastic crap. We fancy now.

Yes, our camper is nice and only a year old. But that doesn’t mean that things aren’t falling apart already. We’re slowly realizing why some campers are so much more expensive than other: craftsmanship and quality materials. It seems ours wasn’t really made for full-time living, so things keep breaking. Are any campers made for full-time living? The kitchen sink leaks, the floor squeaks, the propane alarm keeps going off, and I’m pretty sure that the shower floor is going to collapse any day now (which is going to be incredibly awkward).

Looking Ahead to Next Month

I’m really looking forward to Month #20 for a couple reasons. One, we’ll finally make it as far north as Eureka, California, an area we’ve never been to and failed to get to last year. Two, we’ll finally make it into Oregon! Goodbye Cali, it’s been fun, but it’s time to move on and take this camper journey to the Pacific Northwest.

Catch up with the journey:

Greetings from Utah! A Look Back at Month 16 of Camper Life.

Posted on November 14, 2017 by alyssa

Ahhh Utah…it feels good to be back.

Ironically, we spent last November in Utah as well, but further up north around Salt Lake City and Moab. This November, we’re exploring Southern Utah and soaking in all these red rock views. There’s always been something that appeals to me about this state – perhaps its ruggedness, dramatic landscapes, wide open spaces, or uncrowded places. Whatever it is, it just feels right.

Month #16 has been a month of moving a lot, and we’ve actually lived in three states over the past 30 days. It’s also been a month of big adventure and taking care of all the practical crap that piles up with nomad life. After wrapping up our longest stay ever in June Lake, we moved on to Lone Pine, Death Valley, Las Vegas, and now Cedar City.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s homes on the road!

June Lake, California: Home on the Road #49 (the final week)

Highlights: Going to the MountainFilm festival in Mammoth Lakes with awesome outdoor adventure films & winning the raffle, hiking my longest and highest elevation hike ever (White Mountain, 16ish miles, 14,252 feet), seeing ancient bristlecone pine trees that are thousands of years old, decorating a pumpkin for Halloween, more kayak/SUP time on Gull Lake, scenic bike ride along the highway, revisiting our favorite outdoor natural hot springs
Lowlights: The hangover that resulted from the abundance of free beer provided at the MountainFilm festival, continued freezing temperatures, puking from the Mexican food I gorged on after hiking my longest hike ever, nearly falling on every step on the snowy/icy hike in the Lakes Basin area

Lone Pine, California: Home on the Road #50

Highlights: FINALLY warm weather again, free coffee and muffins in our campground clubhouse, lower elevations that made it easier on my lungs to go on runs, campground pool & hot tub, mini arches and lots of wide open space in the Alabama Hills, checking out the Museum of Western Film, kayaking and SUPing on the totally empty Diaz Lake
Lowlights: Some regret of not joining the husband on his epic Mount Whitney climb (but it was his solo outing and I’ll do my own soon), disappointing restaurant scene in town

Death Valley, California: Home on the Road #51

Highlights: Coming back to one of my all-time favorite places 5+ years later, giving boondocking a try in this camper, surviving 104-degree temperatures with no A/C, exploring the backcountry roads on foot, chill tech-free time playing board games and spending lots of time outside, nighttime photo shoot under the stars at Badwater Basin, solo outing along Artist’s Drive, successfully using an RV dump station for the first time
Lowlights: Discovering that our generator leaks gasoline and can’t be used (it’s under a safety recall UGH), all the non-dog friendly places in the national park

Las Vegas, Nevada: Home on the Road #52

Highlights: Actually getting all of our practical matters and appointments taken care of in one week (dentists, RV oil change, all new Jeep tires, haircuts, bike repair, iPhone and Garmin watch upgrades, etc.), fro-yo, an amazing all-you-can-eat sushi experience at Sushi Hero, squeezing in one hike, revisiting Lovelady Brewery, Penn & Teller magic show (eh, really more of a midlight than a highlight or a lowlight)
Lowlights: The stress of cramming month’s worth of practical crap into one week, taking a free craps lesson at a casino and still not understanding how to play, not winning any money gambling (womp womp), not having time to make Halloween costumes or do much to celebrate my favorite holiday, crappy campground Wi-Fi, crowded campground spaces (but we knew that because this was the same Vegas campground we stayed at in January)

Cedar City, Utah: Home on the Road #53 (in progress)

Highlights: Awesomely sized town (28,000ish) with lots of stuff to do but non-stressful, paved Coal Creek Trail for running, picture-perfect views at Cedar Breaks National Monument, finally feeling like I have a good handle on my workload, not as cold at night as expected (usually only in the low 30s), swimming laps at the local aquatic center (been so long, feels so good!), buying a new cowgirl shirt at a western wear shop (maybe boots next?), watching a Mozart orchestra performance, delicious Indian food that hit the spot at Bombay Cafe (palak paneer and naan, please), attending a local parade, canyoneering at Red Caves, exploring a new area of Zion National Park
Lowlights: Crappy campground Wi-Fi once again, this place is centrally located but all the cool stuff is still over an hour away, National Parks have become way too crowded (even on cold Monday mornings in November)

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

Going back to my “age blindness” thing, the husband thinks he’s older than everyone in the bar when I think they’re the same age as me. Ironically, he’s younger than I am.

Sporting some new western wear

I love chill days at home in the camper. I always feel guilty staying at home and not being out and about because we’re only in each new place a couple weeks. But that starts to feel like just checking things off a list after a while. I think I’d be happier scheduling more chill time into my days.

Ticket to Ride board game

I have a bad habit of looking at my phone first thing in the morning. So, I’m trying this thing where I get up a bit earlier and before I check my email, scroll through Facebook, or read the news, I meditate for 5-10 minutes. I’m doing the guided meditations on an app simply called Meditation and on the Yoga Studio app too. I’ve stuck with this new routine for the last four days!
Things I’ve been watching/reading/listening to: Lore podcast and show, Thru Hiking Will Break Your Heart book, Stuff You Should Know podcast, Spooked podcast, Bates Motel show, Mozart in the Jungle show, This American Life podcast, Snap Judgement podcast, the Moth podcast, Orphan Black show, Boardwalk Empire show
SUPing really takes my mind to another place because all my energy is focused on not falling down and into the water. When I’m on a SUP, I don’t have the capacity to stress about work or how to cram all the stuff to do in our schedule. I actually look around me and notice things.

Things I WON’T miss about camper life when it’s over:
1. Short showers with cold water
2. Sharing a work desk with the husband, especially when he’s gabbing on the phone with his business partner
3. Being around people all the time in close quarters
4. Using and paying quarters for public laundry facilities
5. Inconsistent internet connection for work
I’ve really been wanting to start writing creative fiction short stories again in addition to journaling and my day job’s writing work. It’s so hard to have the mental capacity and squeeze in the time, but I started (but haven’t yet finished) my first story in a very long time.

I absolutely hate going to salons for haircuts. Must be something to do with the awkward chit chat with no escape, guilt trips about how long it’s been since my last haircut, and being made to feel like crap about how I look by some degenerate “stylist.” How hard is it to cut your own hair? Or invest in wigs?

Looking Ahead to Next Month

We’ve extended our stay here in Cedar City already two times because there are so many awesome things to do in this area. From here, we’re headed to a couple state parks in Utah for brief boondocking stays: Kodachrome Basin and Coral Pink Sand Dunes. From here we’ll also be checking out Bryce Canyon National Park and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This is also where we’ll be spending Thanksgiving! I’m definitely thankful for getting to spend the holiday in all these fun places and finishing off the year with lots of new adventures.

Cheers!

Catch up with the journey:

A Month Split Between the West & the Midwest (#15)

Posted on October 13, 2017 by alyssa

Howdy! Month #15 on the road has been a bit of a weird one. That’s because right in the middle of it, we booked a flight to Chicago to attend a friend’s wedding, celebrate my belated birthday with family, and drink beer with our favorite friends.

After getting back into Reno, we relocated to the Eastern Sierras near the ski slopes of Mammoth Lakes, California. It’s not ski season yet (which is absolutely killing my other half), but this place is seriously an outdoor lover’s paradise for all seasons.

New inflatable kayak! Our old one got a puncture that couldn’t be repaired. Monkey’s in there too, lying down like a good boat dog.

Fortunately, we’re nowhere near the wildfires in California right now…separated by about six hours and a huge mountain range. However, it has made me think more about the possibility of evacuation in case of an emergency. If it ever came to that, I think we’d be better off than most people because with just a little notice, we could drive our home and all our possessions as far away as possible. Hopefully we never have to put that to the test though.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road:

Reno, Nevada: Home on the Road #48 (continued)

Highlights: Winning $11 in a slot machine, bike routes are improving in town, a positive dog boarding and RV storage experience while we flew out, easy airport, switching things up with a short hotel stay after flying back
Lowlights: Losing at all other casino games, Limited hiking nearby due to over-development and suburban sprawl, the red lights here take forever to turn green when you’re driving

And now…a few scenes from our last few days in Reno!

Side Trip to the Midwest: Chicago, Lake Geneva, Arthur

Highlights: So many of our favorite friends managed to come out to see us during just 36 hours in Chicago and even let us crash overnight, hiking and playing games with my retired parents on weekdays made all that working ahead worth it, visiting the pumpkin patch in my hometown, eating Mexican food with my nearly-94-year-old grandma, actually taking a couple days off work, birthday cake
Lowlights: The pitfalls of air travel in general, renting a car from Budget, driving in Chicago – definitely don’t miss that!

Here’s what the side trip looked like in photo form…

June Lake, California: Home on the Road #49

Highlights: Epic views absolutely everywhere, surviving my longest summit day hike in life (15 miles), first snow of the season, natural and free outdoor hot springs, mountain town festivals, lakes everywhere to break in the new inflatable kayak – even around tufas, colorful fall leaves, ridiculous rock formations
Lowlights: Temperatures in the teens at night with limited propane and only being able to run one space heater at a time, RV pipes freezing, fat swollen toes from hiking so much

It’s hard to choose my favorite June Lake photos because they’re all so beautiful and I’ve taken so damn many of them. Here’s a sampling…

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

My biggest professional setback this month has been a broken laptop keyboard. On a rainy night in Reno, our RV had a single leak that strategically fell onto my keyboard and destroyed the “k” and “w” keys. Ironically, I couldn’t even type the word “work,” let alone get any of it done. Here’s a pic of me pissed off and trying to dry it out with a hair dryer in vain. Rather than hastily invest in a new laptop without doing enough research, I opted for a wireless external keyboard to place over the broken one. Surprisingly, I’m making it work with our very small shared desk in here, and it’s more ergonomic too, which I’m hoping will help reduce my thumb and pinky pain from typing insane amounts of words every day.

I’ve stopped closely following the full-time RV-related Facebook groups that I initially joined when starting this lifestyle. The focus of some of these groups involve trying to figure out how to make money as a nomad and get more work (I’ve got that figured out and I actually want to work LESS!) or being retired and a know-it-all about everything (bring on the trolls!). I thought I’d be able to relate to people in a similar living situation, but the truth is I’ll always relate better to people from my past who actually know me, regardless of how different our lives are. Aside from the occasional question about RV maintenance or a campground reservation, I’m way more connected with my best friend who’s a stay-at-home mom and my old Chicago friends that are so easy to talk to about more than just catch-up chatter.
It’s almost my favorite holiday of the year…Halloween! I decked the campsite out with zombie gnomes and got Monkey a pumpkin costume to get in the festive spirit.

The logistics of keeping up with annual doctors appointments while moving so frequently and having to transfer records is a huge pain that I forgot about. Thank goodness I don’t have lots of health issues or this lifestyle totally wouldn’t work.
After 8 months in this RV, the newness/perfection has worn off and we’ve been getting more into personalizing it. For example, we printed out a fun photo of Monkey and some rocks along the Mendocino shore as a metal print and hung it by our work desk. Another idea is to print out landscape photos of our trip so far to display on the front of interior storage cupboards…more to come on that soon.

Typical priorities when looking for a next campground: internet access, cool things to do nearby, spacious sites, reasonable cost, dog-friendly, full hookups.
I’m obsessed with Hawaiian poke bowls…anyone else? Found a pretty good one at this food truck next to June Lake Brewing Company, which is right by our current campground and we’ve already been to 3 times!

Right now we’re having the coldest temperatures so far in the RV. There aren’t readily accessible propane fill spots nearby, so we’re making the best of it with tiny electric space heaters, an electric blanket, and hand warmers. We’re learning a lot though about keeping the water regulator and awning from freezing and how we can’t run two appliances at once. One space heater + an iron or hair dryer = bad. Two space heaters = super bad. I do miss the days of just sliding on flip flops to go walk the dog. Now it’s a 10-minute process of gearing up for the cold, not to mention an hour-long process just to get out of bed in the morning.
You know how I was whining last month about how I can never find time for creative projects and how that side of my brain is slowly dying? Well…I started a new sewing endeavor! It took longer than it should have, but I’m happy with how it turned out and going to give this handbag to my mom as a Christmas gift. Shhhh! Next up, I want to get back to the camper curtain project and replace the 3 bedroom blinds with something more functional and fun.

Before…

After!

I’m the only blogger I know who doesn’t try to make money off their blog. This old WordPress site I started in 2012 has no ads, I don’t do affiliate marketing, I’m not trying to get more readers, and I steer clear of guest posts most of the time. Monetizing my day-to-day life on the road would ruin the experience for me, make it less authentic. I’m slammed with work projects that are all about SEO and keywords, so I get enough of that in my full-time job. This is my personal space to share things with people who care about me as a person without all that bullshit in the way.
Off-leash dogs in on-leash places continues to be my #1 pet peeve. It’s simply not responsible or safe for anyone. Locals in the June Lake area seem to be notoriously bad about this.

Mountain people seriously love their plaid flannel shirts. I only have one, and I’m feeling totally left out.
It took a lot of years, but I really like hanging out with my parents these days. I’m so happy they’re taking more little trips and spending more time out in nature in their retirement. Just a couple months and we’ll be back for Christmas, but this time driving and not flying.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Planning the logistics of Month #16 has been a bit of a pain, but we finally have it sorted out. From here at June Lake, we’ll be heading to Lone Pine to climb Mount Whitney, then to boondock in Death Valley, and then on to Vegas to take care of a bunch of things that cities are good for. If all goes as planned, we’ll be spending Halloween in Vegas and looking for something fun to do. Maybe wearing something like this???

Catch up with the journey:

Alyssa v. Nature

Where the nature outside collides with the nature inside

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