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A Busy Few Weeks: The VLA, ABQ, Boise, The Bisti Badlands, Four Corners, & Mesa Verde NP

Our current location is generally a mystery to anyone trying to keep track of us—including us—mostly due to the fact that we’re so busy having fun that I forget how long it’s been since I last updated the blog or Instagram! I promise that by the end of the next post both you and I will be completely caught up.

As I type this, I’m sitting at an adorable cafe and sweets shop in a town that, I announced immediately before consulting anyone else in the Turtle, we will one day live, even if just for a season. This place is a dream. But we’ll get to that next time. We have so much to cover right now!

We left our last story outside the Very Large Array near Socorro, NM, having a delicious evening treat of a pie sampler from Pie Town. We found a great pull-out to stay the night just a few minutes from the VLA. That night before bed, we watched Contact with a view of the VLA right outside our window! It was awesome. In the movie, the VLA plays a prominent role in Jodie Foster’s research and makes a really dramatic background. And it’s just as impressive in person.

The VLA is an astronomical radio observatory made up of 27 antennas that are each 82′ in diameter. They’ve helped with the investigation of black holes, quasars, pulsars, planets, and loads more. It’s astonishing to see them up close.

(Not quite sure what I was up to in this photo, but it’s the only one I’ve got, so you’re stuck with my unexplainable dance number.)

After getting our science on, we made our way back to Albuquerque where I had a flight to catch in a few days to Boise to visit my girlfriends Beth and Lexie.

But first, Andy and I had a mission: to get poolside as soon as possible. I’m not sure how we got the idea in our heads, but suddenly we couldn’t live without a swim. So we headed to the only RV park in Albuquerque that had their pool open before Memorial Day—American RV Park.

We came for the pool and stayed for the lovely park, yummy continental breakfast, clean showers and laundromat, and beyond-friendly staff. We really did stay another day. It’s a great park that I can’t recommend highly enough! We realized that it had been over a year since we had stayed in an RV park, which was fun because we’ve really gotten the hang of boondocking and have saved lots of money by not going to parks unless we need to take advantage of their amenities. Turtle power!

We stayed two nights, and the next day I left this guy:

To hang out with these guys:

It was a bunch of fun. We painted the town red, and even got dressed up to go watch the Kentucky Derby.

After a whirlwind few days, I was back in Albuquerque and the four of us were back on the road. Andy and I went to a fantastic mining museum in Grants called the New Mexico Mining Museum, which has a replica uranium mine underground. The man at the front desk had worked in mining for about 35 years, and had worked his way up from the bottom to be the head of his mine and even got an award for safety, with the longest time without a death in the mine or serious injuries. He had lots of information, was adorable, and gave me a goldstone to remember the mine by.

Outside of Grants, we stayed at the Joe Skeen campground near El Malpais.

I was happy to be reunited with this guy:

And this guy:

We drove to the Bisti Badlands wilderness, where you can stay overnight in the parking area for free! It was especially appreciated that we got to stay after we climbed for hours over the crazy hills that changed in appearance every few minutes. It felt like a walking tour of 10 different planets.

It was a hot day, and when we got back to the parking lot, we relaxed in our chairs and read books with Scout and Gracie. Gracie has become a real champ with her harness and leash these days. I think she’s figured out that sometimes it’s her only ticket outside, so she wears it without any problem, and even comes to my feet meowing when she hears me get it out.

The next day we made it to Four Corners with beautiful skies above us.

Then we drove on toward Mesa Verde National Park. The landscape on the way to the park was a destination unto itself. I swear this is not a painting.

In the last year, we’ve been to two other cliff dwellings sites: Bandelier NM and Gila Cliff Dwellings NM. We really enjoyed both, but agreed once we made it to Mesa Verde that this is our favorite site so far.

In the park are 600 beautifully preserved cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people, many of which you can tour or see clearly from various vistas. Depending on the site, the tours are just $5 or $10 each, which gets you 1-2 hours of information and a walk right through the dwellings. You can see petroglyphs and pictographs, the different styles of construction each group used, and the actual tools they used to grind corn and make food. And the views are so vast and unreal that we both said more than once that we’d pay just to hike the trails on the mesa! There are also self-guided tours you can take, so we did all of those too.

Our second day there, as we parked at Balcony House for our tour we noticed another van that could be the Turtle’s long-lost cousin, so we parked by it as we often do when we see a van we like. After traveling around for the last year and a half, we’ve found that we can usually tell by someone’s van if they are kindred spirits, and our track record is pretty good so far. This time was no exception! We ran into Gary and Kiki as we returned from our tour, and found out that they’re just starting out on their full-time vandwelling adventure (though they’ve already been on many, many adventures of other sorts). We’d all already purchased tickets for the same tour the following day, so we got to hang out even more during the Long House tour.

We super enjoyed getting to know you guys, and I’m certain that our paths will cross down the road. (When they do, we’ll let you know what Turtle theme song we came up with; hopefully one as cool as Birdy’s.) You guys were a pleasure to hang out with. Stay in touch! 🙂

After the tour, we did a quick 6-mile loop on top of the mesa to check out the other cliff dwelling overlooks.

We would have loved to stay and visit (both the park and the new friends) longer, but the storm clouds were rolling in and the skies were getting darker. Our first rule of overlanding is “Never Drive at Night”, which is comparable to driving in terrible weather, so we hit the road to make it to Durango, CO to find a spot before the weather hit.

We hung out in Durango for the evening, a town that I already loved and knew Andy would too. The weather was unfortunate, with frigid winds and constant cloud cover, but we had a great time anyway. If you can involve pizza in the plans, Andy is a happy camper.

If you can also include a free trip to the coolest railroad museum ever, Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, he will be even happier.

And if you really want to make his day, cap it all off with a little performance testing at the highest altitudes the Turtle has ever attempted. . .

Which, unbeknownst to us, was the next leg of the trip. And one that would bring us to where I sit now, in my new very favorite town of all time! But that’s up next.

A Quick Photo Catch-Up

Wow, what a busy month it’s been! We’ve been super-duper on the go, so instead of trying to document all the fun in words I’ll do a quick photo-heavy catch-up instead. And actually, we’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been taking many photos! So that helps expedite things, doesn’t it?

We left Seeley Lake in July and drove up to Great Falls, Montana, where Andy grew up. His parents both still live there, so we were looking forward to spending some time with them, and I was excited to be taken on the Hometown Tour. (Don’t quiz me on it though; we were so busy we didn’t even find time to drive by his old house! Next time.)

Northern Montana is as beautiful as you’ve heard it is.

This picture was literally taken from the Home Depot parking lot.

We spent much of the time at Andy’s dad’s place outside of Great Falls, and were treated to one beautiful sunset after another, along with lots of delicious home-cooked meals and great conversations!

A wonderful bonus surprise during this trip was the discovery that Andy’s dad is a fabulous and inspiring artist. I’ve always been taken with Andy’s Renaissance man-ness, and it turns out it’s inherited! From sketches to paintings to carvings, the house is a veritable art gallery.

Though Andy had to work much of our time there, we managed to get outside a fair amount, helping Andy’s dad with some upkeep on the cabin he built some time ago. The location is wonderfully silent and overlooks fields, the Sun River and lines of lush trees.

While I stained the cabin, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I turned around expecting to see Scout pleading for frisbee time, but instead I was startled to see a herd of cows closely watching my every move!

They stood over me and oversaw my work until the sun set. It was hilarious.

Scout and Gracie also enjoyed their time in the Montana outdoors. Gracie was stuck in the Turtle for a number of days while Andy worked, so the moment she got a taste of freedom, that girl was up a tree!

Here they are modeling the new curtain I made while we were in Bozeman, which blocks off the front of the Turtle and keeps the back nice and cool! Andy’s brilliant idea + my love of sewing. You’re welcome, Gracie and Scout.

After lots of swimming with Andy’s mom, lots of pizza dinners in town (a Goodman family tradition), and lots of inspiring sunsets, we left Great Falls on our way to Boise. We only broke down once!

On the way, we stopped at Kimberly, Idaho to visit the Higdems. This time Andy didn’t have to work the whole stay, so we got lots of time with them to visit. They’re a hard-working pair, and it was the height of harvest time, so we got to watch them in action as they took care of the animals and crops. We also were lucky enough to be gifted bunches of fresh veggies to take with us on the road! What a treat.

A quick stop at the Snake River Canyon on our way out of town for a great view and some sweaty palms (guess whose). It’s unbelievably high up!

We didn’t fall off the bridge, and shortly afterward we made it to Boise!

Every year my college girlfriends, Beth and Lexie, and I meet up for our Girls Trip! This year we met in Boise because Lex was moving to town for Grad School. Exciting! So we rallied the troops to help her get moved in, complete some Craig’s List furniture transactions, and tell the same old jokes a hundred times and still find them clever and hilarious.

And of course, we had to help her find the good spots for an after-class brew. It takes research!

Beth left way too soon. But as always it was fun and fulfilling to see each other again and give each other a hard time and just laugh like maniacs together. Andy and I stayed in town for the rest of the week while he worked and spent his evenings at his college buddy Dave’s place. So they got some great friend time too, and caught up in the evenings on his back patio. They had a pretty ok view.

Meanwhile, Lex and I ran more errands. And ate more yummy food at the cute local restaurants. Again, research.

Dave let the three of us tag along to an evening work event at the zoo. We got to feed a giraffe! And we saw a snow leopard chase its tail! And if you’ve never heard of a Maned Wolf, you should really look it up when you get a chance. What a crazy, cool imaginary animal.

The time to move along snuck right up on us. It’s always hard leaving anywhere we go, but especially when the place is home to our best buddies. But when the next destination is where you will meet up with your other buddies, it makes the sting a little easier to bear. 🙂

So on we drove to Missoula, to meet our Portland friends Kelly and Jason for a week of Montana shenanigans! And of course, more Montana sunsets.

Huckleberry Heaven: Seeley Lake, MT

Of all the places we’ve been so far, never have we been so perfectly in the right place at the right time! That’s right, huckleberries are ripe early this year and we’re camped out right in the middle of a huckleberry field!

If you’ve ever eaten fresh huckleberries, you will agree that this is likely the most magical part of our journey yet. If, tragically, you haven’t had the pleasure, do yourself a favor and come to Seeley Lake right away and I will treat you to the yummiest berry you have ever tasted. Of course I can’t tell you where the berries are—when you have a good huckleberry spot, you keep that information locked in a vault! I probably wouldn’t have even told Andy if he hadn’t been with me when we found them.

Ok, I probably would have. We’ll assume I would have. 😉

It all started at our camp site at Big Larch. We were walking Scout down to the water for some swimming, when Andy saw a ripe huckleberry on a bush along the path. We were so excited! Huckleberries usually aren’t ripe until mid-August! After a (quick) swim, we rushed back to the Turtle and got a couple Nalgenes and outfitted them with paracord and duct tape to make hands-free berry pails.

We picked like crazy, but the spot was pretty thin. We worked for about an hour to end up with a few handfuls of berries, but it was worth it!

Now that we knew there were ripe berries to be found, we were on the lookout. In between Berry Bush Searches, we enjoyed our camping spot: riding bikes, fishing, collecting firewood, and late nights stargazing and chatting by the fire. And of course, cooking up our berries into fresh huckleberry pancakes!

Gracie climbed trees pretty much the entire time. Our neighbors all thought she was hilarious. (I often forget how rare it is to see a house cat roaming around a campsite. We think it’s pretty normal these days!) I tried to get a photo of her up a tree, but the only one I was quick enough to capture was this one, and she’s mostly behind it!

I did get a great video of her racing up a tree and bounding off, but I don’t know how to upload videos to the blog yet. And it’s gorgeous outside so I’ll teach myself on a rainy day! You can see it via our Instagram though: #blueturtlecrossing

After a week at Big Larch, we left to meet up with Andy’s family at a cabin in Seeley for the week. We had an awesome time! We fished and swam in the Clearwater River running behind the cabin.

We took a day trip up to Rainy Lake (not rainy this year, woo hoo!). We picnicked, fished, kayaked, and caught crawdads*.

*Andy and his dad caught crawdads. I did my best, but mostly terrified everyone at random intervals by shrieking whenever one raced through my fingers as I tried to scoop him up.

We took a day trip to Lake Elsina where we fished, built fairy houses, floated, caught frogs, and sketched.

And to top it all off, while on a hike to find a fishing spot we stumbled across a huge huckleberry field covered with ripe berries! There are camp sites there, so Andy and I plunked our tent down to save the spot and we got to work collecting berries. The whole family helped, and during our stay at the cabin we had huckleberry pancakes, huckleberry bars, and huckleberry cocktails. It was pretty freakin’ fancy.

I love huckleberries more than any fruit on the planet. They’re small, but pack an incredibly intense sweet flavor. Yes, they’re related to blueberries, but there’s no comparison! They like blueberries’ much more stylish and exotic cousin, who has loads of exciting stories to tell and a great sense of humor. And looks great in hats.

Based on our huckleberry discovery alone, we decided to stay another week! Our site is beautiful, overlooking the lake, and we’d love it even if it weren’t surrounded by ripe berries. . . but they really do put this place over the top.

We’re definitely making the best of it—every day we’re out collecting berries!

Huckleberries look like small blueberries, with the same “bull’s eye” at the base, but their color can range from black to blue to purple to red. And unlike the copycat bushes we’ve been seeing next door to the real bushes, the leaves are staggered—not paired. Don’t forget to push the leaves back to check underneath – that’s where most of the berries are hiding! We’ve found a wide array of colors and sizes here, and they all taste spectacular.

We’ll walk down the road, with Scout leading the way and Gracie following close behind, and settle into a nice spot.

Gracie rolls in the dirt and perches on logs while Scout leaps through the bushes and grazes. Andy taught him to pick berries right off the bush, and now he happily helps himself! (Another funny video of Scout picking berries at #blueturtlecrossing, or if you’d like, you can follow us on Instagram at @amycsummers)

Every day we make a huckleberry dish; the most decadent so far was the huckleberry sangria I made two nights ago. It was divine. A friend of Andy’s caught and delivered four delicious cutthroat trout right to our site the other night, so we cooked that up on the fire with our sangria and felt very spoiled indeed. Thanks Joe!

We’re heading to Great Falls in a few days, so I’ve got to go back to berry picking now! My goal is to fill the freezer before we leave—we’ve got a 1 1/4 gallons so far, so I’ve got work to do!

Wahoo!

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 4: Curtains

Of all the updates one can make to an RV, in my opinion the most drastic change for the least amount of effort is the curtains. It’s a way to infuse color, pattern and texture into the small space, especially in a vehicle like the Turtle, which has zero wall space for art. We almost have zero wall space for walls! Even if you aren’t a world class seamstress, it’s a simple shape to tackle, and honestly nobody even notices if your hemlines wobble a bit. I really encourage you to give it a try!

When we got the Turtle, I knew I wanted to plan all my color choices around the curtains. It’s the best place for statement patterns, and I love-love-love a bright and colorful interior space, so I wanted to see what was available before making further paint or fabric decisions. Actually, it was the first decision I made at all, and I think I had the fabric in hand within the first week of owning the Turtle! I love a whimsical graphic print, and the green shade is so friendly and cheerful.

When picking your curtain fabric, I highly recommend choosing outdoor fabric. This may sound obvious, but the selection of outdoor fabric is often pretty slim, and the allure of an entire store full of pattern and color choices seems like a fine trade-off for less sturdy material. But the outdoor fabric won’t fade as quickly as other fabric. It’s also mold and mildew resistant, which doesn’t seem like a big deal until you’re boondocking on the Oregon coast and the hygrometer reads 93% humidity and the windows are weeping and mold is knocking at the door. The last thing you want is to find your curtains flocked with green fuzz! Ours stood up to the damp like a champ.

Something to keep in mind about outdoor fabrics, though, is that due to their durability, they are slightly more stiff, and don’t bunch or ripple like regular fabrics. But if you take that into consideration, you can work around it by reducing the ripple a bit or giving your curtain rod span a few extra inches to account for the thickness when the curtains are pulled open.

As you can see, I opted for a gentle ripple, and at the top and bottom it’s still pretty thickly bunched. Additionally, since we don’t have a ton of room on either side of the windows in the Turtle to add rod span, that extra fabric to make the ripples does take up a little window space when they’re pulled open. So it’s good to pick the fabric you like, then decide how you’re going to mount the rods and how much the ripple will affect the length of each panel.

With that in mind, it’s time to determine yardage so you can buy that awesome fabric you found! What I needed to consider with our curtains was the fact that the Turtle’s walls are curved, so I’d need rods on the top and bottom to avoid them hanging far from the wall at the bottom. (I’d actually recommend this even for straight walls, as it keeps more light out and doesn’t blow around.) So I hemmed pockets on top and bottom, and made a double-fold hem on all sides. The double-fold isn’t necessary, but it’s a nice detail. Just fold the hem over, press it with an iron, then fold it over again, press it, pin it, sew it down! Do this to all four sides before sewing the pockets so the rods can slide through.

Then fold the top and bottom pockets over, press them, pin them, sew them! This part can be tricky if you’re using two rods, as it needs to be nearly perfect so that the curtains stay taut but don’t pull on the rods or just not fit altogether. Even after explicit measuring, I ended up spending some quality time with my seam-ripper as I tried to get the fit just right.

Oh, did I mention I had a hard time getting the fit right? Yes I did. It was difficult getting them to not balloon out, and when I took them in they strained the rods since they were a little too short. In the end, I had to make another pocket and sew it to the top of the curtains. This made it easier because I could adjust the pocket right on the rods and pin it in place before sewing it. If I did it again, I’d just plan on approaching it that way to save a headache! Luckily I love the way it looks, and if anyone asks, you can tell them I totally did it on purpose.

For the rods, I bought some dowels from Home Depot and some wood end pieces from JoAnne for the finials. Cheap! Andy sanded, stained and varnished them for me, and screwed the finials into the dowels. The benefit of doing it this way was that we could cut them to the exact size we needed inexpensively, and the wood end pieces already had holes through them, so screwing them in was really simple.

Andy’s genius came in handy as we tried to figure out a way to mount the rods. He found some utility tool hangers at Home Depot that fit our rods perfectly and hold onto them tightly enough that they don’t slide back and forth. We painted them white, and done!

For the tie-backs, I just sewed a strap with some navy fabric I found in the remnant bin at Mill End, and attached one end of each to some stainless steel eye screws I’d screwed into the wall.

The other end I attached to stainless steel S-hooks.

They wrap around the panels to hold them back, and then when the curtains are open, we just re-hook it so it stays out of the way (and so Gracie isn’t as tempted to bat it around).

And there you have it! Inexpensive custom curtains that make a statement, liven up your small space, and are a nice splashy backdrop for pictures of your pets.

If you have any questions about the process, let me know! As with any How-To post, I’d be happy to explain any parts in greater detail to help get you started on your own project. 🙂

A Very Montana Summer

Greetings from Montana!

It’s been a while since we checked in here, and today is a great day to update the blog as it’s stormy and raining outside here in Seeley Lake. Andy is busy working, and I’m doing my best to keep Gracie from trying to curl up on top of my keyboard as I type this. If any portion of this blog isn’t up to standards, you can take it up with her.

We’ve traveled a fair distance (by Turtle standards anyway) since our last post in South Dakota! We made it to Billings after a quick overnight in Gillette, and headed to Riverfront Park right when we got into town so Scout could catch some sticks in the Yellowstone River.

Then we went to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel! If you’re ever passing through Billings, be sure to check out this perplexing sporting goods store. It’s a mix of an outdoor store and a carnival, and just hilariously bizarre. We rode the 3-story ferris wheel, saw animatronic presidents, got our pictures taken with some wild animals, and also got our fishing licenses.

Then we spent a few days with our friend Grant, who I went to high school with, and who is staying in Billings for the summer. We went to Alive After 5, rode our bikes all around town, and sat on the patio at Thirsty Street for a beer. Check out this place for sure; not a lot of places in downtown Billings have patios, and their patio gets great sun, plays good music, and the beers are super tasty!

We did a lot of bike riding, even though the temp was in the 90’s the whole time we were there! We had to pull over one day so I could run around in some sprinklers for a while. We took the dogs to Pioneer Park, had nachos on the patio at The Granary, and stayed up late playing games and gabbing outside in the grass. Fun times with Granty!

One night we also came across this extraordinary line of garbage cans, which Andy was so taken with we had to take a photo with them. It really was an impressively long line of pristine garbage cans. (It doesn’t take much to keep the three of us entertained.)

We also spent a few days with Blake and Martha, who always show us a great time! We went to a Mustangs game, and Andy offered to hold little Harper’s mitt for her. . . then wore it the whole game. She was too busy with her ice cream sandwich to mind.

We had lots of great meals, the boys stained the deck, and Martha and I snuck out again for a beer while the boys watched Harper. I secretly think they just wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Harper is a good patsy.

Then we moved on to Bozeman to visit my mom and sister Kari’s family for a few weeks. We even timed it just right (accidentally) so we were able to see my Grandma and Uncle Brian while they were in town visiting! They were only able to stay for a day and a half, but we got to spend lots of time sitting around sipping coffee and sharing stories. What a treat! Plus Grandma finally got to meet Gracie and Scout, who had never made the trip to Newberg with us when we would visit her there. I only realized after they left that I never got a photo of all of us together! Bummer. So instead, here’s a photo of a Bozeman sunset.

We also got to see a new baby Lipizzan pony! My sister and her friend and all their kids were going to see her, and Andy and I jumped right on that bandwagon. She was so sweet and funny, leaping around at top speed on those spindly little legs. Lipizzans are a special breed of horse with a fascinating history that we learned about from their owner while we were there. They are dressage horses who are super nimble and can perform some incredible dance moves cued only by tiny twitches in their rider’s bum and legs. Crazy!

Then we went to the Museum of the Rockies, where there was a Pompeii exhibit that we really enjoyed. And their dinosaur bone collection is simply incredible.

That weekend, David and Kari invited us to an evening fishing trip up Hyalite Canyon. We picnicked, Scout swam, and David kept very busy helping the kids bait the hooks and reel in all the fish they were catching! The beginning of our trip was quiet on the fish front, but after we moved to another spot by the dam we all had better luck.

Scout and Gracie love being at my mom’s the most, as they get lots of attention and total run of the place.

My niece Bella and I went for pedicures one day, and both of us are now sporting some killer sparkles. Bella even has fireworks on hers!

When we got back to their house, the kids had an impromptu clothes-on pool swim.

We ate like kings while we were at Mom’s, as she’d just cleaned her BBQ, and Andy installed a few parts to get it looking and working like new! So there were lots of fancy dinners off the grill, including a feast of salmon, steak, and chicken with ginger asparagus and grilled polenta for just the three of us. We could get used to spoiling ourselves like this.

On our way out of Billings toward Seeley Lake, we stopped for the night in a gorgeous spot in the middle of nowhere, and also made some fishing stops along the way.

We decided to reach Seeley via Garnet, so we could visit the Garnet Ghost Town. The roads there are treacherous, and when we saw the caution sign, we decided to see what the Turtle was made of and just go for it! (Ok, Andy decided. I just said yes and wiped off my sweaty palms.) There were some seriously steep hills that were knuckle-biters. Andy was thrilled.

Neither of us had been to Garnet Ghost Town in over a decade, so we were excited to visit. We got there Saturday evening, and after the first 15 minutes, we were the only ones there! It made it really easy to use your imagination and picture what the town was like during the mining boom, when all the buildings were still standing. But the remaining buildings are well preserved, and they provide lots of information about the town and residents’ lives there.

You can boondock at the ghost town for free, so of course we did that! We returned to the town the next morning to see the inside of the buildings that had been closed by the time we arrived the day before, and then drove on into Seeley Lake in time to celebrate the 4th of July with the other 3,000 people who come yearly for the parade and fireworks! We just happened to be boondocking right on the parade line, so we were able to easily pop our camp chairs up and watch the festivities with zero preparation or stress.

After the holiday visitors took off we had our pick of the camp sites, so here we are now right on Seeley Lake. We hiked around the campground and harvested the abandoned piles of wood the holiday crowd left at their sites, so we’re all set to stay here for the next four days! In the next post, you can look forward to some sweet woodcarving projects, much like this impressive hot dog stick Andy made yesterday! We’ve got the time and plenty of sticks, so we’ll see what we come up with. . .

Everything’s Happy Underground

Ben Folds Five reference, anyone? Anyone?

Ok, well before we get underground, we have a few stops to make.

By the time we left Angostura Reservoir, we’d been there almost two weeks! We really, really enjoyed that spot. We have a freezer full of fish, the animals are in top physical condition, and Andy and I are tan and relaxed.

Additionally, we have an album full of photos of unbelievable views! The summer weather in South Dakota makes for some stunning sunsets and thrilling storms. Unlike the storms we’re used to in Portland, these lasted for hours and hours. We sat outside on multiple evenings, snuggled under the awning in blankets, drinking wine and watching the show.

So cool, right? South Dakota, man. We love it.

Eventually, though, it was time to leave the reservoir. We had other spots on our list to check out, so off we drove to Wind Cave National Park. This park is super neat! Wind Cave is one of the longest caves in the world, and that length counts just the 5% of the cave that has been explored. You get to walk down, down, through winding tunnels that open into big rooms with amazing minerals and rare boxwork formations. A lot of Lord of the Rings references were mentioned by members of our tour group from room to room.

I have very few photos of our cave tours, as they do the experience no justice. Here are two that help you imagine what it’s like, but as with most things, it’s much better in person.

I love spelunking! There’s something so far from normal about climbing deep into the earth and seeing things that were created without any help from humans. If you have any imagination, it will go wild down there! They even have caving tours you can take where you spend four hours crawling on your hands and knees in areas most people don’t get to go, but as a portion of the tour requires you to squeeze under rock with just a 10″ clearance, I passed.

We stayed two nights in the campground at the park, saw fireflies, rode our bikes through the park, listened to rangers tell stories at the amphitheater in the campground, and were gifted some homemade moose dinner by our lovely French neighbors.

As we left the park, we made a number of stops on our way to Jewel Cave. We pulled over in Pringle to see a huge bike sculpture. . .

We stopped to see Flintstones Bedrock City, and discovered it’s being torn down after 50 years for a Western-themed campground. . .

We visited the National Woodcarving Museum, where you can see charming animatronic carvings made by the man whose talents inspired Walt Disney to ask him to help build Disneyland. . .

We toured the Four Mile Ghost Town, a collection of antique buildings and items set up in a little town, with a cassette tape recording to guide your way. . .

And then after a tasty lunch at Pizzaworks and a beer at Sick-N-Twisted Brewery, we stopped for the evening in the Black Hills. Andy picked a lovely wildflower bouquet, I read my book, Scout played frisbee, and Gracie climbed trees.

The next day, we stopped by Jewel Cave for a tour.

Now let me interrupt myself to point out that, while it took us a day to make it from Wind Cave to Jewel Cave, for those of you planning trips, they’re not a day apart. That’s just Turtle Time. For travelers in a regular vehicle, they’re actually about half an hour apart! We move slowly, but you can easily visit both in a day. And it’s worth it; they’re very different caves.

Jewel Cave is the third longest cave in the world, and is chock full of sparkling formations and stalactites and stalagmites. We took a tour a few years ago, and I was excited to be back to see the shining crystals again. Unfortunately, it was a very popular day to visit the cave, and by the time we got there, the standard tours were all sold out for the day! They did, however, have a Lantern Tour a few hours later, so we got our tickets and had a picnic while we waited.

As our tour group assembled to hear the beginning of the tour and get our lanterns, a storm started to blow in. We hiked single file around the hill to the mouth of the cave, and right as we got inside, the clouds broke and it began pouring! We stood inside the dry cave and lit our lanterns, the thunder booming and the wind pushing the rain sideways in sheets outside. It was so exciting! It felt like being another person in another time. We heard some history of the cave’s discovery from our tour guide, and then walked into the cave.

If you ever want to know how it feels to be Indiana Jones, this is the tour for you! If you grew up watching The Goonies and wanted so badly to adventure underground searching for One-Eyed Willie’s treasure, this is also the tour for you. We just laughed out loud with excitement the whole way. The tour took us down incredibly steep and narrow steps that descend endlessly, until finally we reached The Heavenly Room. We all sat on rocks and listened to more stories, and then were instructed to blow out our lanterns. The darkness was absolute. It was thrilling.

We had such a great time on that tour! It was a great way to end our time in South Dakota, and we discussed how much we loved it the whole way to Montana.

And here we are now, fishing licenses in hand and ready to spend the summer playing in Montana’s backyard. Bring it on!

Family Fun in Bozeman, MT

The continuing adventures of the Blue Turtle now bring us from Craters of the Moon into Montana! My sister Kari was having a baby, so all the sisters descended upon Bozeman, and the Summers brand of fun and hilarious chaos commenced.

As anyone from a large family knows, it’s impossible to quantify the specific goings on of family time together. It’s just a continuously-morphing cloud of gabbing, laughing, playing outside, putting out the occasional fires, more gabbing, eating meals, more fires, board games, staying up too late, and—if there’s any remaining time—cleaning up.

With that in mind, this post will simply be a massive photo gallery. Because all I can say for sure is that we parked in Mom’s driveway, we were there for somewhere around three weeks, and in the meantime, this happened:

Thank you, tiny Elora, for being born and giving us all an excuse to get together and play! I missed capturing a lot of the action when the phone wasn’t available—if you can believe it—but there you have the general bullet points.

So with that we say goodbye to Bozeman! We were sad to leave, but adventure calls. . .

Craters of the Moon ROCKS!

Pardon the pun, but seriously. What a cool landscape!

We drove into the park and were disappointed to find that the road was closed to vehicles in the snowy season. Luckily the sun was shining and, even with the impressive wind, the hike down the road was completely comfortable and the dramatic scenery felt all the more magical considering we were the only people in sight.

We came across a nice rocky rise that we thought looked like it would be a fun climb. And yes it was! Although the next time Andy asks me as we leave the Turtle if I think I’ll want my gloves, I’ll likely say that I do. Climbing through snow and icy volcanic rock—brrr! Once we got to the top, the already-vigorous wind really picked up force. I had to press myself against the side of the rock to prevent myself from actually blowing right off the side of the cliff!

After we hiked down, Andy showed us what he’s really made of. Pure muscle.

Ok, it’s volcanic rock. But impressive all the same!

I said as we drove past all the crazy cool rock formations, “Wow, it’s like an alien landscape or something. . .” to which Andy replied, “Yeah, like the moon?” Ahhhh, riiiiight. Aptly named, sirs!

And with that, we drove on down the road toward Bozeman, MT.

Catchin’ Some Crabs on the Oregon Coast

As I mentioned in the last post, while on the coast we’ve been on a mission to catch ourselves a crab dinner! And on the Oregon coast, we have primarily Dungeness, which is a meatier, sweeter crab than all the others. It’s YUMMY.

We’ve learned a bunch since we first dropped our rented crab pot over the 12th Street bridge in Seaside. And as we just attended the Crab Races in Garibaldi today—yes, that’s a real thing—this is an appropriate time to discuss what we learned and if we ever caught anything. So let’s talk crabs!

While we were in Seaside and Wheeler, we talked to loads of locals who were happy to share their knowledge with us. And here’s what we discovered about the best way to catch crab:

Drop your pots at high tide
Crab rings are the very best
Drop your pots at low tide
Crab traps are the very best
Always use only chicken for bait
Always use only fish carcasses for bait
Always use a combination of fish and chicken for bait
Never try for crabs after a storm
It’s best to try for crabs after a storm
. . .You can see where I’m going with this.

It’s likely that there’s a very best way to catch crabs all the time, every time. What we ended up liking best, after numerous trials, was a simple combination of a crab trap, chicken odds and ends and fish carcasses, and dropping our traps in whenever we felt like it—because you really just never know when a crab will be dropping by.

We left Wheeler with no luck, but right as we were leaving we met a guy who mentioned that if we were interested in some delicious crab and fantastic people-watching, that we should look into the Garibaldi Crab Races that were happening the following day. I said “WHAAAAAT? We’re going.”

So we did. But first, we had to stop at Hug Point, which we had passed by on our way north. If you’re driving by, do not miss this! We thought initially that it was a fair hike around the rocks to get there, but it takes all of 4 minutes. And it’s breathtaking!

Fun times were had by all—mostly Scout I think—in the driving rain and unpredictable blasts of wind! The Oregon coast is so wild and dramatic when it’s stormy.

Then we got to Garibaldi, and had to wait until the next day to see crabs race. So we parked near the marina, and dropped our pots off the pier.

We parked overnight in the misty parking lot there, after asking permission from a shop owner on the pier. He said people do it all the time, so we settled in for some coastal boondocking.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast at Fisherman’s Korner, we headed to the Crab Races. They did not disappoint.

Six crab “coaches” volunteer to race a crab. They are allowed to coax the crab down the ramp any way they like, though the preferred method seems to be pounding the ramp, to get the crab to fall into the net at the bottom first. There are prizes, and varying categories for entries. Andy participated, but his crab was a real bum. He barely even moved, despite Andy’s superb coaching job.

They sold whole Dungeness crabs for just $10 each! We shared one, and took one for that night’s dinner too, in case we hadn’t caught anything in the meantime.

The good news is, that we DID catch one! And it just so happened to be a keeper. HOORAY!

The following night, we ate the freshest crab cakes you can ever imagine. A successful crabby weekend, and a happy way to wrap up our time on the coast, as we’re now headed inland on our way to Montana!

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 3: Tires (by Andy)

A Post by Andy

Maybe you noticed the tires. Maybe, like me, you love tires. We have fancy tires, and I would like to tell you all about them. Let’s start with what we had.

Pretty standard look for an 80’s era Class-C RV. The Turtle’s stock tire size was 215/85R16 on 8-bolt Ford rims. Single wheels in front, and dully rear.

We wanted to be able to go most everywhere, up dirt roads, over snowy passes, through water and mud, so we wanted a taller tire for more clearance, with an aggressive mud and snow tread. Also, as a general rule I am a fan of tall, skinny tires. Pizza cutters, some people refer to them as. Lots of trucks these days have big, fat tires, and they look pretty cool, but for most conditions they are less than ideal. I really like the Cooper A/T3 tread and have run it on other vehicles, so that was the choice for sure. As to the size: to get added clearance, a greater load rating, and to keep it nice and narrow, we went with 235/85R16.

Image source

The new tires are almost 32″ tall- a significant improvement over the stock height of about 30″- so we gain almost an inch of clearance with the new tires. Additionally the 235’s have a load rating of 3042 lbs per tire vs. 2680 lbs for a typical 215. The additional load rating does not increase the load we can carry, but it is just a stronger tire so they will live a long and happy life rolling along far below their load limit.

After selecting a tire and size, special consideration was given to the rims. It seemed reasonable to replace the 30 year-old rims, and due to the tire size change, this was actually necessary. You see, dual tires need an air gap between them to stay cool. The gap is a function of how wide the tires are, and the distance between the center of the rim and the plane where the rim bolts to the hub (a measurement called wheel off-set). Because the new tires chosen will be slightly wider, we needed rims with a greater offset, so we ordered 7 new rims with a 5.35″ offset (the old rims had a 5.15″ offset).

The rims actually lived in our house for many months before we were ready to get the tires. Though they did finally get their tires attached.

And they finally made it onto the Turtle.

Some additional touches included new lug nuts all around, and lug nut covers. We could only find the covers in stainless steel, so we ordered them, had the 32 brand new covers powder coated black for $40, and installed them. They add a nice, finished look, and will keep the threads clean too!

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You can see we have a nice narrow tread but a taller traction tire. I did add a 1/4″ wheel spacer for the front tires to cancel out the additional offset of the rims and preserve (within 0.05″) the stock wheel center line for the steering. Luckily, the front hub was just proud enough to accommodate that and still have the hub-centric wheels centered properly.

The spacing between the rear tires actually increased slightly. All in all, it really worked out pretty great. The new tires will keep us safely stuck to the road in all kinds of weather and terrain, and I sure think they look pretty nice too! Maybe someday we’ll get even bigger tires…

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