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 have had a few people reach out to us concerned, with border closings, that we were still in Mexico. We are happy to report we crossed over and are in Texas.
During this bat shit crazy time, it is heart warming to have people concerned and reaching out. Thank you!!
The blog is lagging behind a bit, as usual. We will continue to blog on a reduced schedule as we ‘social distance’ our way slowly home to Vermont.
Stay well.
Take care of each other.
And don’t forget to buy 5 years worth of toilet paper😃
Inside the Petrified Forest National Park is the Blue Mesa, an area of blue and lavender rocks that are mind blowingly beautiful. If you ever come this way, take the time to wander the steep one-mile trail down amongst the rocks and chunks of petrified wood, or at least visit the overlook (not recommended during the hot summer months!)
A quick blog to talk about food storage…I know boring! But, traveling long term in a small vehicle that isn’t air tight, or water tight for that matter, food storage is actually really important. We have sealed the Wee Rover up as much as we can, but little critters are amazing infiltrators, if encouraged.
So, to discourage the critters wee and large (think Grizzles up north) we keep all food sealed tight with storage bags, plastic and glass containers, plastic storage bins and our amazingly wonderful ARB refrigerator. We also keep all food prep areas clean (fragrance free baby wipes are a must when traveling), and occasionally give everything a wipe down with a mild bleach solution. Knock on wood, so far we have been critter free! Fingers crossed we stay that way!
And, this isn’t just a problem because we are driving an old vehicle. We have met people in newer rigs who have been mouse or bug infested (one friend had to throw away a whole bag of dog food and another had regular mouse infestations). So, a boring topic, but if you are thinking about traveling, add this to your list of things to do…proper food storage.
Plastic bags inside plastic tubs.Plastic and glass containers that seal tight. The yellow containers originally had cornstarch in them. They were cheap, we recycled the cornstarch and now store rice, oatmeal and such in them.More ziploc bags inside of plastic containers in our ‘basement’. A pack of reserve baby wipes ther in the way back. I can’t stress enough how important they are for cleaning the Wee Rover, and for weeks when showers are not available.Even our midnight snacks are kept in a ziploc bag.Technically not food storage, but anyone who has ever used humidity soaked tp knows this is a must😜
Imagine trees, that look like rocks, that grew and died millions of years ago while North America was still attached to Africa…that is the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
Hot, humid, lush, green, dinosaurs…not words you associate with Arizona, but 225 million years ago, this was the environment today’s petrified trees lived in, right here in present day Arizona (except for the tiny fact that Arizona, and the rest of our continent, was actually over near Africa, you know Pangea and all that).
Picture of park brochure summarizing the process.Park security
