You really can’t make this shit up….Today, tornadoes stormed through the southern portion of our route home taking lives and leveling buildings. Fortunately, we were forewarned and were able to postpone our departure a few days. They are now predicting a window of nice weather, so tomorrow we will leave Texas and zip across the lower portion of Tornado Alley. It will take us a couple of days to get north and east into the foothills and woods of the Appalachians. While this is a minor inconvenience for us, our thoughts go out to the people effected by the recent storms, as if COVID-19 wasn’t enough for people to deal with!😖
Over the past few days, reports are emerging that the virus is peaking, the panic is beginning to drop off some, and the issue of “state to state” travel here in the south has calmed down, a bit. After a month plus on lockdown, camping and hoteling, it is time to begin our 1900 mile final push back to Vermont.
We checked all of the Wee Rover’s fluids, filled our fuel tanks, and loaded her with more than 2 weeks of water and food. The last time we prepared like this was when we headed up the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean 2 years ago!
Our plan is to make it to Vermont only having to stop for fuel. We have our face masks, rubber gloves, bleach wash and hand sanitizer prepared for those stops. All campgrounds are closed, and we do not want to go to motels, so our route will hopefully hop from National Forest to Nation Forest where we can wild camp far from others. This plan, we hope, wil not only protect us, but if we happen to be carriers, protect others who are most vulnerable.
Ironically, while working our way north through Mexico we often talked about the final push north through the states. How nice it would be to mosey from state park to state park, camping and relaxing after our 2 year trip. Funny how everything changed for all of us in such a short time. Now we are planning a route, where we will sneak from hidden spot to hidden spot.
Refrigerator filled to the brim.Clothes bin commandeered to hold extra food supplies.Water tamks all topped up. We are all packed and ready to go.Puppy says, ‘Let’s go already!!’
Eating, while sheltering in place at a hotel, has been a bit of a challenge for us. We are the type of people who enjoy cooking most of our own food. We eat fairly healthy and rather simply at home and while traveling, not that we don’t each have our vices, but we won’t go there🙄.
Puppy on the other hand, the little scamp that he is, has totally enjoyed living in the land of microwavable frozen food and takeout.
If this was the game of Clue, and it was The Case of the Disappearing Waistline, we could say Puppy did it, in the hotel, with my credit card😕.
What do you do for exercise when you are sheltering in place in a hotel in suburbia and all the communities nearby are gated? Why you walk around parking lots…and around…and around…and around…
Caution: the following pictures and video are extremely boring, please do not view them while standing, drinking or operating heavy machinery. We are not responsible for any spilled milk or forehead goose eggs that occur because you fall asleep checking them out🙀.
Tidbit: All kidding aside, we are grateful for a roof over our heads, food to eat and the health of family and friends during this challenging time. We wish you and yours the same.
2 years ago today we left Vermont on our ‘unplanned planned’ trip. We had a vague idea of where we wanted to go, but no clear path. We only knew that we wanted to experience something different, perhaps learn something about ourselves, and meet new people. 2 years later, I think we have accomplished all 3. At times it has been a wild ride that has tested our will to continue, others we wondered how we could ever leave the road and go back to life at home.
Well, our trip is coming to a quick end and home is where we are headed. What that means and where the next adventure lays is a mystery, especially given the way the world is spinning a bit sideways right now.
Day 1 – taken in our driveway as we were pulling out into the unknown. Who are these people?One of the highlights…driving to Tuktoyaktuk and dipping our toes in the Arctic Ocean. Christmas dinner in Baja’s Agua Verde with Esmeralda and her family.Feeling humbled as we wandered among the redwoods in The Grove of the Titans.Climbing Teotihuacan’s Temple of the Moon.Denali…a once in a lifetime view.Wandering in San Miguel Allende with Joyce, a good friend from Vermont, who made us feel welcome in Mexico.We have seen amazing places, like Devil’s Tower, but it always comes back to the amazing people we have met along the way. Paul, Virginia and Randy in Wyoming.Dennis and Virginia in Wallowa, Oregon.Jens and Susana who we spent time with in Oregon and Mexico!Bob Roumph, whom we affectionately call Biker Bob, in Ponca, Nebraska. Jono, Sunny, Karen and Ron on the Oregon coast.Michelle, aka Iron Belly, our Irish biker/Spanish interpreter/fellow foodie/wanderer in San Cristóbal. Our new crazy friends from Holland, Katja and Hans.And don’t forget our good friends, the sea lions!While we have seen amazing things and met wonderful people, the end of our trip means conversations over the fence with our neighbors Chris and Steve, who are helping get things ready for our return.The return of ‘Friday night Dinners’ with our good friend Bill, who mowed our fields and acted as a home base for us while on the road.And camping trips with Mike and the boys, that have been missed and scheduled for ‘As Soon as Darrin Gets Home!’
We crossed from Mexico intoTexas, just as the news broke of closing the border, and everything else, because of COVID-19, and just as the virus panic buying was starting. Walmart had one jar of peanut butter left, meat counters were bare and toilet paper was nowhere to be found (something all of us have seen by now).
We have been sheltering in place for about a month now. The first weeks spent camping in open, but deserted campgrounds and the last few weeks holed up in a hotel as the restrictions have become more stringent.
Our days are spent going for walks, reading, doing puzzles, playing cards, and watching sitcom marathons. We are going on 4 weeks holed up in Texas, waiting for things to peak along our route home, and for it to warm up in Vermont! We are grateful for a roof, food and our health…but after living outside, we are starting to go a bit bat shit crazy, or crazier😁
Deserted, hot and stormy camping?I have lost count of how many puzzles we have done.Puppy has developed some really bad eating habits!
When we decided to cross into Mexico for the winter, we researched the border crossing rules and regulations extensively. We knew exactly what we could and couldn’t take into Mexico. Heading back into the states, we didn’t. Our only thought, as they were talking about closing borders, was to get across. And hey, we are US citizens, they have to take us…right?
Surprise, surprise, the trip back into the states is just as strict, if not stricter than leaving. And since we didn’t do any research, we got our hand slapped…because we had 1 rotten potato at the bottom of our bin!
We tried to keep a straight face as he lectured us about the rules and regulations and how hiding 1 potato could mean we were carrying much worse contraband.
Veterans International BridgeThe no mans land between 2 great countries. Hurry up and wait.They say to watch put for illegals crossing the border…this guy is quite brave hitching a ride in plain sight.They let us back in!!!!!
P.S. The fault was ours, we should have done our due diligence. We have nothing but respect and admiration for the men and women who work the border.
The 300 mile run from Tampico, Mexico to the border at Brownsville, Texas on Route 101 was once known as The Highway of Death.
Ten or so years ago the drug cartels pretty much owned the road. Kidnappings, murder, mass graves, and gun fights were common. Buses even stopped travelling the route as they were routinely stopped and robbed, or worse.
The military and police presence have cleared up the route and it is now a pleasant drive through farmlands and small towns, but the evidence is still there in burned out buildings, vehicles, and a general creepy feel.
Our only issue along this stretch of road was when we pulled off to fill our fuel tank from our jerry can. We had been stopped all of 5 minutes when the police pulled up and hopped out. They wanted to make sure we were OK, and when they saw M holding the funnel, they would have none of that! One of the officers grabbed the funnel and held it for me to pour the diesel.
We thanked them and boogied north to the border, not realizing that the world around us was about to change.
The ominous clouds as we started our 300 mile trek added to the creepy feeling.But, they cleared and miles and miles of farmland awaited us. We could have been in Kansas.
We bought 3 extra fuel filters before heading into Mexico; be prepared and all that! The first swap came in Loreto, Baja. The second made it all the way to the Belize border. The third made it a few hundred miles after we picked up some really bad fuel.
On our way to Celestun and the flamingos, the Wee Rover started sputtering and bucking. We opened the bonnet and found the fuel prefilter packed with packing tape! We drained the front tank, replaced the prefilter and crossed our fingers.
A few hundred miles south of the US border, the final fuel filter sputtered to a slow death. Unfortunately, Mexico is not the land of diesel cars so no fuel filters to be found. Luckily, the Napa near my parents had them in stock. My parents made a quick trip there and FedEx’ed a new set of filters to us. Problem solved.
Thanks Mom and Dad!
The remaining bits of what looked like packaging tape after cleaning out the filter as much as we could.The elusive fuel filter. We now have a healthy stash of them, again.
