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3 Months in Baja: San Felipe to Bahía de los Ángeles

This is the story about all Andy’s dreams coming true.

Well, maybe not all of them, but a lot of them. And awesome ones.

We’d spent our first week in Baja enjoying the quiet beach site outside of San Felipe with our friends Gary and Kiki, who were also planning on heading south down the peninsula, and neighbors Stashik and Dorota who were on their way back up to their home in Canada. We’d gotten a lot of great advice from the group, like “get money from the ATM before you’re completely out of pesos, because nobody takes credit cards and the ATM’s regularly run out of cash” and “bring the meat you purchase at Calimax to the lady with the grill outside, who will BBQ it for free and even add potatoes and onions to the mix.” We heeded their advice—useful and delicious.

The other tip we got was “although it looks like a much longer route to Bahía de los Ángeles, go back up north via Mex 3 to Ensenada and then south again on Mex 1. . . definitely do not take the Mex 5.” The Mex 5 is a construction site of a highway—dirt roads, potholes, huge jutting rocks, steep grades, unmarked routes, and completely inappropriate for a 2WD van-house. People regularly pop tires, break axles, and puncture oil pans on that stretch of so-called road that ends at the intersection of Mex 1.

Followers of this blog will be unsurprised that we did not heed that particular piece of advice.

From San Felipe to Puertecitos the road is paved, but still quite torn up and punctuated by deep ruts and potholes. Then after Puertecitos the pavement ends and the 131 km of excitement begins. We jolted back and forth, side to side, our bobble heads bouncing around as we slowly lurched down the dusty road. The Turtle began to protest, making new sounds that prompted a few pull-overs, but resulting in nothing more serious than some photo ops.

Some of the construction areas were relatively flat and comfortable.

I took a video during a smoother part of the drive, when I was able to hold my phone without dropping it, and the quality was such that it wouldn’t make the viewer seasick.

(For the record, we had more than 12 km to go at that point. But tiny hand-painted signs on rocks can be misleading.)

Those of you familiar with this stretch of road will wonder if we stopped at Coco’s Corner, a super-popular tourist stop that even has a “historical place” icon on Google maps. Suffice it to say, that place may have been a great stop in its heyday but was a little depressing when we visited, with dusty undergarments covering the walls and a sullen Coco mumbling about the old days through a tiny window we had to crouch to see through. We didn’t stick around long, but upon our arrival we did meet a fun group of American travelers who were just departing, also on their way to Bahía de los Ángeles, and they invited us to watch the Super Bowl with them that Sunday. We got the location and said we’d be there!

After about six total brain-rattling hours, we finally made it to Mex 1 and cheered when we saw pavement! Andy just loves off-roading and seeing what our little Turtle is capable of, so he was very pleased that we made it without incident. The drive had taken even longer than we’d accounted for, so by the time we rolled into Bahía de los Ángeles, the sun was just beginning to set.

We found a nice little beach spot on iOverlander and parked by the water to watch the show.

Another van was parked there, and as the sun set we met its owner Lirón, a nice young guy from Israel who was also taking a few months to travel around Baja and then beyond. We made a camp fire, and talked about all the available shellfish in the area. Lirón had never tried any at all, so we all walked down to the water and harvested a bucket full of the biggest mussels any of us had ever seen!

We cleaned them, rigged up a little grill, and set them on the fire to cook.

Once they popped open, we took them off the grill, opened them up, and added either garlic butter or a tasty Thai chili paste mixture we whipped up in the Turtle.

The evening was warm, the beers were cold, the mussels were rich and delicious, and it was a really memorable travel experience with a new friend.

The next morning we parted ways with tentative plans to camp in same spot that night, and Andy and I drove back into Bahía to see the sights. The town is a super small coastal town with a population of about 800 and very little in the way of tourism. It’s a popular spot for fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking, and in our opinion was worth the drive out of the way to visit. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch and some wispy WiFi, and as we sat on the patio facing the main drag, Andy was delighted to see a number of “Baja Bugs” driving up and down the road. He chatted with a fellow named Richard, who was admiring the Turtle as Andy admired the bug he’d arrived in, and Andy learned that the very next day was the Bahía 200!

The Bahía 200 is an annual off-road race that runs on a portion of the Baja 1000 track, starting just south of Bahía de los Ángeles and consisting of a 4-lap course. All the drivers come to town the day before the race in order to attend the pre-race inspection and celebration the prior evening, which the entire population attends with much festivity. Andy reported this all to me, gesturing excitedly with wide eyes and a huge grin, hardly able to believe our luck and accidental great timing. We adjusted our plan to park in town in order to join the party and see all the cool off-road vehicles there.

Our travel guide told us a nearby restaurant also offered beachside RV parking, and as we hopped out of the Turtle to investigate, we ran into Lirón, who had just purchased some snorkel gear. As we talked about our new plan Andy noticed the yellow bug he’d been ogling outside the restaurant as he talked to Richard, and when he saw Richard himself we all walked over to say hello.

One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned in our years of travel has been that since most people are awesome, the more we go out of our way to meet new friends, the more our experiences take on new exciting flavors and expand in directions we never could have imagined. We’ve met so many incredible people throughout our travels who are now forever a part of our tales of adventure, and sometimes we wonder how much the experience would have paled in comparison without them.

Even with that lesson in our pockets, when we walked over to say hello to Richard and company, we weren’t prepared for the odyssey of fun we were about to embark upon with this wonderful bunch of wildlings:

Enter Bernadette, (Lirón you know already), Dave, Richard, Kathi and Kathleen.

This exceptional group of friends comes down from the Bay Area to Kathi and Kathleen’s place every year for the Bahía 200, and once we introduced ourselves they adopted all three of us into their circle, invited us to park both vans in their driveway for the evening, and asked if we wanted to accompany them to the race party that evening. Their generosity was overwhelming, and continued throughout the next few days.

They were cooking up a big dinner that evening and insisted we join.

Over dinner we got to know everyone better, enjoying their stories of the Baja races, in which all members of the group had been involved in some capacity or another. Dave, Richard, Kathi, and Kathleen have all actually raced in the Bahía 200 multiple times, and they related their experiences with broken racers, running head-on into cacti, taping parts back together, scorpions, being stranded in the desert, and so on. Andy was (literally at times) on the edge of his seat with joy, being surrounded by people who not only wanted to discuss off-road racing but who totally knew their stuff and were teaching him a bunch about it too!

After the meal we walked over to the town square for the party. Many in our group admired the racers. Others talked and watched the kids run up to Kathi to collect the stickers and sweets she saved up all year to give out at the event.

There was music, food stands, people of all ages, and of course, lots of off-road racers.

If that was all we’d done, we would have left happy. But the next day was the race, and the group invited us to spend the day with them there, too. I can’t remember what we decided.

Oh, that’s right, we went!

Andy didn’t stop smiling the entire time.

Dave and Andy were the cutest buddies you ever saw, and they talked racing and gears and equipment and miles per hour and suspension all day long. Also, beer.

Dave let Andy drool all over his Baja Bug throughout the day, and Andy asked me to make sure to get both angles of the bug so he could continue looking at it later.

Then the race began!

It was such an exciting and carefree day. Those in the group who had raced in previous years enjoyed the art of spectating, and we cheered heartily for every racer as they passed.

The backdrop wasn’t bad, either.

All day long Andy just kept grinning and disbelieving his good fortune in stumbling across this event—the right place, the right time, and the right people to enjoy it with.

After the races ended, Andy picked up a commemorative shirt that even had Kathi and Kathleen’s car from the previous year’s race on the back, and the racer friends signed it for him.

We went back to the girls’ house to cook some food, and it didn’t take Scout too long to make some new friends too. The local beach dogs all loved him and he soon became absorbed in the pack. His natural wild look really helped him fit right in.

We were already on Cloud Nine when Dave offered Andy a ride in his bug. Andy was so excited he immediately abandoned the guacamole he was making in the Turtle and nearly forgot to put his shoes on as he flew out the door.

They got strapped in, put the headsets on, and off they went!

As Andy was off realizing a lifetime dream, Scout was also reaching maximum joy as a beach dog. He loved the freedom, the friends and the water so much I’m surprised he came back with us at all.

Soon Andy and Dave returned, and judging from Andy’s smile and disheveled Muppet hair, I think they had fun.

They drove on the same raceway that is a part of the Bahía 200 and the Baja 1000, cruising at nearly 80 mph! Andy still hasn’t stopped talking about it.

Dave offered to take me on a run as well, so of course I had to see what all the hype was about.

I totally get it.

We blasted down the road at 80 mph but I felt like I was rocking in a hammock. Dave is an impressively super-skilled driver, and also intuitive enough to know I’m no adrenaline junkie so he took me on the smooth dirt road and not down the crazy bumps and curves that he and Andy went on. Thanks Dave!

After we returned, the boys got to talking about our route while the rest of us relaxed and gabbed on the patio and beach.

After another delicious dinner we got ready to head back to the town square for the announcement of the Bahía 200 winner and the closing ceremonies party.

Another great time was had by all.

The next day the group had to head back to the Bay Area to prepare for the upcoming work week. Kathi and Kathleen let us use their shower before we left, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciated that, ladies! From the moment we met you all were incredibly kind and so generously brought us right into your circle without asking for a thing in return. As we tell stories of our time in Baja, you guys always come up and have become a Best Memory of our travels. THANK YOU! We hope to see you all down the road.

After our much-needed showers, we headed over to the restaurant where we’d been told a Super Bowl party would be happening, and met up there with the group we’d run into at Coco’s Corner who had invited us. It was a beautiful spot on the beach with views of the nearby islands that make the Bahía de los Ángeles coastal views so unique.

The small hotel—Raquel and Larry’s—had a cute restaurant overlooking the bay, and a crowd of about 20 had gathered to watch the Super Bowl.

Just as the game started, the power went out and the motivated group came together to get it going again, driving into town for a new generator, running cords from various locations, and ducking into the kitchen to help troubleshoot the outage to the pizza oven. Andy was pleased that he was able to contribute a few extension cords and some electrical advice to the cause, and soon both the TV and the oven were back in action and we all enjoyed the resulting game and homemade pizzas.

The next morning we drove the short distance to a beach just outside of town called La Gringa. We spent a few days there, enjoying the rocky coast, the bird watching, the breezy hikes, and best of all, the clam-digging!

After a few days we decided to get back on the road. We had lunch at Guillermo’s on the patio, where the cat Bernadette had befriended and named Rosemary came by to visit and see if we might share any shrimp.

Andy was still flying high from all the dreams that had just come true, and over lunch we reviewed all the crazy things that had happened in the last few days. We got to test to Turtle’s mettle and drive on the most wicked roads we’d seen since the Dalton Highway, we collected shellfish right from the ocean and ate it fresh on the beach, we made loads of genuinely nice friends, got to watch a Baja off-road race just five steps from the track, and rode top speed in a Baja Bug!

When we got back to the Turtle, Gracie was reviewing the route we’d mapped out that morning. (She was big enough to not mention that we’d just been sharing shrimp with another cat.)

The plan was to continue down the slow and bumpy dirt road along the coastline instead of driving back west to meet up with the Mex 1, because apparently we’re gluttons for punishment. It’s as rugged—if not more—than the Mex 5, and it’s exceedingly washboarded, far less traveled, and has a longer distance between services.

I mean, what could go wrong?

3 Months in Baja: A Photo Snapshot

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since our last blog post, and we’ve been busy since our adventures at RTR in Arizona last January!

We’ve spent the last three months in Baja, making our way slowly to the farthest point at Los Cabos and then back up again, doing exhaustive research on where to find the best tacos on the peninsula. (We have the reports and will be happy to share our findings at your request.)

During our travels I tried a handful times to upload pictures to the blog, but the internet down there was virtually nonexistent so a photo could take around 40 minutes to upload and we’d get impatient and put the computer aside and head to the beach. We quickly fell into the rhythms of an outdoor lifestyle without the trappings of technology, and enjoyed the absence of the distraction.

I have so much I want to share about our adventures in Baja, but for the time being I thought I’d post a whole bunch of photos—in mostly chronological order—to give a general sense of the trip. It was an experience of a lifetime, and I can’t wait to fill you in!

So there you have it! Three months of fun, lots of sunshine, a thousand seaside frisbee sessions and maybe 500 tacos later, we’re back in the U.S. and ready for whatever the road brings our way.

(Hopefully more tacos.)

Desert Magic

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Between the rich January sun, the vivid colors blooming in every direction, and the fruit trees weighted down by citrus, we were feeling energized and enjoying the magical aspects of the region as we walked around Palm Desert. And though we were in no hurry to leave, we did have a lot of jobs to get done while we were in a bigger city to complete our pre-Baja checklist.

The more mundane jobs included getting my contacts prescription filled, shopping for supplies, doing laundry, cleaning sand out of all the corners of the Turtle, picking up our General Delivery mail at the post office, and trying out the Amazon Locker service. Ok, actually that part was pretty exciting. When you order your item, you get a code mailed to you to have scanned at the locker, and when you scan it, a drawer pops open with your package inside! We liked it.

The funny thing is that even those tasks seemed exciting while in the desert, since we were running around in the sunshine wearing flip flops and picking oranges off the trees as we walked around town. It was truly a memorable few days of errands, woven in with the fun things we got to experience in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

We went to a polo match and sat in our chairs on the grass and cheered arbitrarily for various teams. Not only was it exciting to see the athleticism of both horses and riders as well as all the ladies’ fancy hats, but we also now know the word chukker. So it was a big day.

We had the best pupusas ever at Fernanda’s Restaurant, and even went back before leaving town to get more to go, and now that I write this I’m feeling very wistful just thinking of them. Deliciously light and savory, the cabbage slaw on top perfectly zesty, at first bite I knew they were the best I’ve ever had. (Uncles Kevin and Bob, if you are in Palm Desert, you must go try them and weigh in.)

On Jen and Ken’s recommendation, we also went to see Robolights. It’s an indescribable art installation in a local man’s back yard that is open during the holidays and that we just happened to catch while it was still going on. The artist has taken reclaimed materials and created sculptures and vignettes with toilets, telephones, mannequins, gas masks, microwaves and more along paths traversing his property. It’s simultaneously eerie, whimsical, disquieting, and beautiful. (If that makes no sense, then please refer to the part above where I said it’s indescribable and give me a few points for at least trying.)

After a few days combining errands and fun, we returned to our convenient and comfortable dispersed camping spot south of Joshua Tree National Park. That spot served us well during our entire southern California stay, especially where the animals were concerned. They had enough room there to play safely, so they could experience some freedom before we took them to unfamiliar territory where they’d be leashed much more often.

At one point I went up to the attic to take down some summer clothes and saw these darling little paw prints covering the entire roof.

Often when we’re sitting inside we can hear her stomping around on the roof and we pretend to complain about our loud upstairs neighbor. And usually if the vent is open, she shoves her face against the screen and meows at us, and we say we can’t take it anymore; we’re moving.

During our three-day BLM stay, two very awesome things happened.

The first was that we had a chillier day, so we stayed in reading books and when I made chili for dinner I decided to try out stovetop cornbread as well, which turned out great! Our oven is still currently being used for storage until we decide to sacrifice the extra space and get it fixed. So it’s always fun to figure out ways to prepare oven-y food on the stovetop.

The second awesome thing (and actually awesome, not like the last cornbread thing) happened as we prepared to leave on the third day. As we packed up, a guy in a white Toyota 4WD van pulled up to introduce himself. His name was Alex and we’ve been following each other on Instagram ever since he spotted the Turtle up in Yukon last summer, found our Blue Turtle Crossing account and messaged us! He’d just happened to be driving around checking out vans in the BLM spot while he waited for some friends to finish up their tour of Joshua Tree and he saw the Turtle. Small world, right?

He invited us to join them all at their campsite in Painted Canyon that evening, which we happily did. The wonderful spot took second seat next to how much we just loved meeting Alex, Andres and Desiree and getting to know them as we sat around the campfire that evening. It’s so exciting when overlanders come together to share vandwelling stories and travel experiences, since it’s such a unique lifestyle that being able to relate to new friends with a common mindset is refreshing. And they were all just a treat to meet.

You can follow them on Instagram here:

@roaming_northamerica

@papapitufo_follow_our_trip

They were all headed to Slab City, which is where we were headed as well, so we made plans to join them there the next day. You might recall that we travel slowly so we needed an extra day.

On our way, the bizarre parts of the desert began to reveal themselves. First we stopped at Bombay Beach on the edge of the Salton Sea, an enormous inland surface water body that is only about 100 years old and lies 228’ below sea level. Bombay Beach used to be a thriving resort town, but is now almost completely abandoned and looks like a post-apocalyptic movie set.

Equally as strange and fascinating was our final destination for the day, Slab City. This “town” sits on an abandoned military base and is comprised of vans and RV’s scattered in semi-organized clusters of visitors and full time residents, some of whom live there even through the 125-degree summers. Others stay there for just days or months at a time, and all travelers are welcome. Many of the residents have built fences, patios and artwork around their rigs made from reclaimed materials, and the town even has a music venue and café. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

We found our friends parked up above the town, and made our way through and around the streets to meet them up on the bluff just a short walk to Salvation Mountain.

Oh, did you think the bizarre part was over? It is not. Salvation Mountain is a total trip. It’s a 50-foot-high mountain made of adobe and covered in layers of paint that a man named Leonard Knight created to share his deeply felt message of God’s love to the world. It’s bright and beautiful and feels like walking on a cake in a children’s book. We’d seen pictures before we got there, and honestly the experience of walking the “yellow brick road” path of the mountain was much more impactful than I’d imagined it would be.

We got back to our little neighborhood and hung out for a bit before collecting wood for our evening fire. It was another great evening with the caravaners!

They planned to take off for Baja quite early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes that night. The next morning I saw a photo Alex had posted about them getting stuck in the sugar sand as they tried to depart, and I felt sorry that we hadn’t heard them so we could have come out to help. But they’d made it out, so it all worked out.

When we tried to leave later that morning, we weren’t so lucky.

The flour-soft sand swallowed our tires and no amount of digging and laying rocks under the tires would get that Turtle out. We worked for hours and hours, but every attempt ended in us being settled deeper in an ever-growing depression in the sand. A few people came and attempted to help free us, but to no avail. One guy tried to tow us out and got himself stuck in the sugar sand too, so once we’d dug him out he left us to our own devices. Unfortunately we didn’t have many. We weigh nearly 11,000 pounds and that sand really was like powdered sugar and gave us no traction whatsoever.

I called the nearest tow company to price the job, just so we’d know we have an option if nothing else worked. He quoted me $600 so we crossed that option off the list and decided that even if it meant digging the bluff down one shovelful at a time until we hit the firm dirt down below, we’d do that. Andy walked down into Slab City to find someone with a truck, and with a promise from one resident that he’d return the following morning we spent one more night in Slab City, wondering if we were destined to become residents as well.

The next day we began with about 100 fewer bruises than we’d have on our arms and legs by the end of the day. The man who’d promised to come help us did indeed bring his 4WD truck up to tow us out, but there was so much sugar sand between us and the hard dirt path that our tow strap wouldn’t reach. Another resident who had come up to see the action loaned us two lengths of chain and a thick rope. A couple riding bikes stopped to help, and between the husband’s hard work ethic and his wife’s cheerful attitude and no-nonsense management style, we were soon ready to give it a try.

The number of times that it didn’t work should have defeated the group to the point of giving up on us, but they stuck by it, digging and digging alongside us and trying again, until another local brought his truck up to contribute to the effort. One truck pulled the other truck who pulled the long rope which pulled the two lengths of chain which pulled the tow strap pulling the enormous blue Turtle which was being pushed by four of us, and suddenly we were inching our way out of the sand to firm ground.

HOORAY! The Turtle was mobile once again. We are so often humbled by the kindness of strangers; we could not have done it without a single one of them. We profusely thanked the group, and after talking for a bit we all departed the sandy bluff. I took some sugar sand with us as a souvenir, and in high spirits we drove to the other side of Slab City to see East Jesus, the art and sculpture garden created by the residents.

And once again we were back on the road, as if we hadn’t just been in a real pickle and then immediately afterward saw a wall of old TV’s carefully painted in the middle of an art field in the middle of next-to-nowhere.

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

Scout Climbs a Volcano and Gracie Turns Brown: Christmas at Mojave National Preserve

I think the member of our pack who is most pleased that we’re taking our time through the wilds of the desert is Gracie. This girl does not love being stuck inside.

In order to spend more time playing outside, we took I15 one small stretch at a time, enjoying the weather and the dispersed camping along the way. When we arrived in Mojave National Preserve, we hadn’t planned ahead to see what there was to do in the area, as is our usual way. So far it’s worked out brilliantly for us, and we didn’t share the concern we received from others when we told them we had no idea where we’d spend Christmas. We had decided months ago that in order to cover a little more ground this year, we’d skip the usual family gathering and just celebrate outside somewhere.

It was still about a week before Christmas when we found a great dispersed spot on the north side of Mojave National Preserve. The moment I opened the door, Gracie hedgehogged herself into a ball and just started rolling happily in the dirt.

The next loosely-planned stop on our journey was going to be Joshua Tree National Park, so I kind of thought that would be the first time I’d see a “forest” of Joshua trees. Nope. We were surrounded!

I think that’s one of the things I love best about not planning ahead—we get to be surprised on a regular basis. And a back yard forest of desert trees was a really fun surprise!

I continuously had to remind myself that it was almost Christmas. We had our wreath hung on the spare tire on the back of the Turtle and our string of lights hung inside, but in this environment it felt deliciously more like summer vacation.

We’re reminded that it’s winter only by the early hour of the sunsets, which come too soon, but make up for it by being magnificent.

We watched the colors until they fell into darkness, then went inside to make dinner. At one point Andy looked out the windows up front and pointed out a strange light in the sky. At first we had no idea what we were looking at, but I was totally convinced it was a UFO while Andy was sure it was literally anything but that.

Even I had to admit it looked maybe like a (human-made) rocket, but why would one be launching out here? I took a video so we could watch it later, then we went inside to look it up. Sure enough, a rocket had just launched in San Diego. If we had known, we probably would have driven out to go see it up close! But as it was, we were excited about yet another awesome surprise.

The next day we decided to drive right outside the preserve to pick up a few groceries since we loved this spot so much we thought we’d stick around longer than originally planned. We drove up to Baker and stopped first at this unexpected shop.

Then after picking up a few supplies, we headed back into the park, not realizing that the Turtle had relatives out here.

I found a good-looking dispersed camp site on one of our apps farther south than our last overnight stay, near a lava tube that is apparently a big attraction for visitors of the preserve. We decided to stay the night there and visit the lava tube the next day. After slowly driving the washboarded dirt road to the site, we parked next to an inactive volcano, apparently one of many around the area.

Gracie wasted no time leaping outside to try on some of the new local dirt.

I know cats like to take dust baths, but she takes it to another level. She loves it so much that she is turning semi-permanently brown! We just decided to say she’s a calico now.

The next day, we got our bikes out and rode with Scout by our sides down the bumpy road a few miles to the lava tube.

Scout waited outside for us under the shade of a Joshua tree with his water dish surrounded by rocks so he wouldn’t tip it over, and we went down into the lava tube.

There are a few holes in the lava ceiling where the sun shines through, and we’d been given a tip by some friendly passers by the evening prior that light is at its best angle for around noon or 1 p.m. It was around noon when we arrived, so we hung out in the cave watching the light move and change.

Soon a strong narrow beam emerged.

And it grew wider and brighter.

Another beam shot in from a hole in the main dome of the cave as well. It was magical.

After the bumpy ride back to our spot, we were all feeling pretty spectacular about what a nice place this was to live for a bit. Even though cars drove by periodically, it felt like we had the entire desert to ourselves. Which was so exciting for our little adventure cat, who doesn’t get to go for walks when we’re in the city like Scout does. And all she wants in life is fresh outdoor air and a little space to explore.

She’s been loving the desert terrain so much that even when she comes inside she brings some with her.

Every time she comes back in, it looks like this:

We’re not bothered by it, though, as we spend our fair share of time outside getting dirty too. It’s just part of the life. And so are breathtaking sunsets. It’s a give and take, really.

We realized as we watched the sun go down that it was Christmas Eve! I guess we know where we’ll be spending Christmas.

On Christmas morning as we drank our coffee, we discussed how we wanted to spend the day. Scout chose to spend his morning trying to convince Gracie to throw the frisbee for him. He followed her around for some time, waiting for her to sit down and then gently tossing the frisbee to her just as he does with us.

She wouldn’t go for it.

So I did for a little while, as a consolation, even though we knew he’d be coming with us on the outing we decided on for the day: a hike up the volcano!

It was much, much more difficult than we’d anticipated. The entire face of the volcano was loose pebbles of lava rock, and it was so steep it required crawling on hands and feet. It was like being on a stair stepper. Every other step we’d hit a patch of gravel so loose it was a wonder it had stayed where it was in the first place, and we’d slide down a few feet. And because it was lava rock, when we’d grab out to catch ourselves, our hands would get sliced and shredded. It was exhausting, and since we had no intention of giving up, we took breaks every ten minutes or so to keep our energy and morale high enough to continue. I told Andy at one point, “I didn’t come here to climb to the almost-top of a volcano today.”

Here is the view from one of those breaks. See that little speck right off the road? That’s the Turtle! And at this point we were barely a third of the way up.

Even though it was a challenge just perching ourselves on the hill (one that does not look even remotely as steep in the photos as it truly was), Scout tried the entire time to get us to throw sticks for him. The OCD is strong with this one.

Here’s another view from a break. Can you spot the Turtle? We’re a little over two thirds of the way up at this point.

We scrambled and panted our way up this bizarre surface for much longer than we’d guessed we’d take making it up the 500′ climb. And then suddenly, we were at the top!

We earned our ecstatic victory photo!

We got great reception up there, so we called our families to wish them all a Merry Christmas, took some photos and admired the view of the desert far below.

Then we began the descent, which took like three minutes. We basically just walked down, each foot sinking down into the gravel and carrying us a few feet every step. It was like being a giant, which I now believe would be really fun, if it truly was anything like our speedy jaunt down the volcano.

That evening’s sunset was another beautiful one. We’re getting spoiled out here.

We were quickly growing fond of this site, and decided to stick around for a few more days to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Gracie got right on the job.

I spent the time finishing Andy’s belated Christmas gift, a tool holder for the driver’s side door, which took a little longer than expected since I had to hand stitch the whole thing. It turned out pretty nice, I think, and he loves the convenience it.

Andy had his own project going as well, constructing a temporary custom storage box from cardboard, and when Gracie heard the word “project”, she quickly responded by inserting herself in it—literally.

Between the fun day trips and the relaxing time all to ourselves, we weren’t sure how many days longer we’d stick around and where we might be for New Years Eve, but we were in no hurry to ruin the surprise.

Yukon Gold

The first thing I said as we drove back into Yukon was, “Wow, the skies are just as big as when we left!” Yes, it’s the same sky as everywhere else, but somehow in Yukon I was constantly aware of the magnitude above me more than other places. It’s beautiful.

It was an exciting time to be my camera, because I had that thing working full time during our drive through Canada. The fall colors were really beginning to explode, and I filled up the camera to capacity every day. I’m sure if Andy asked you to quote me on the trip it would be a three-way tie for, “That YELLOW!” “That RED!” and “That ORANGE!” And that’s only if gasps don’t count.

After spending a few weeks high up in wintery weather, the temperate fall was a welcome change. Scout and Gracie also got to spend more time outdoors, so everyone was enjoying Yukon to the fullest.

On our original trip through Yukon, Andy had mentioned wanting to pan for gold, and as we drove farther through the province, we realized we still hadn’t tried our hand at fortune-hunting yet. We found a nice spot to pull out by the river, took our pot lids, food scoops and a very excited doggy down to the water, and got to work.

It was a lot of fun and pretty exciting, even though we didn’t see any sparkly signs that we were in a good spot for panning. We wished we’d started sooner in the trip, because I could have panned for hours and hours in any river around.

Scout had other plans for our time outdoors and tried all his best methods to convince us to throw all the sticks he found by the river.

So on the walk back to the Turtle, we threw sticks, played hide and seek behind the trees, and then on the last leg Scout just bounded up and down the path with general Border Collie joy.

Farther down the road Andy wanted to check something under the hood, so we pulled over for a riverside picnic. Though the Yukon is so wide it looks like a lake!

We panned for gold again after lunch, but no luck. We did see a fresh bear paw print in the mud near us, so we decided to make it a quicker stop and get back on the road.

We could see some storms ahead, which made the light moody and surreal.

When the most spectacular rainbow poured out of the sky, we followed it for a full 15 minutes before it evaporated back into the air.

The storm moved all around in the distance, and when we stopped outside Taro for the evening, we could actually see the sheets of rain traveling east along the riverbank.

It never hit us directly, so we basked in the after-storm light and played outside until the sun went down.

Everyone had a successful day, I think.

We had to try one last gold panning session before we left, so we played outside for a bit before packing up.

As I put the panning implements in the Turtle, I laughed at how instantly messy it gets in there, between the toys we keep out to use later, the mud we inevitably and consistently track in, the rocks I can’t stop collecting and have no room for, the boots laying on the floor that we removed to change into “gold-panning shoes”, the travel pamphlets shoved into the front console, among the other regular chaos specific to Turtle life.

I decided to take a picture for posterity, since in 20 years we’ll want to remember the reality of our lives and not just the pretty pictures immediately post-clean-up. Right as I took out my camera, Scout came running to the door to see what I was up to, and the smile on his face and mud on his paws inadvertently made the photo complete: the reason we live this lifestyle, messy as it may be. At the end of the day, we all have that goofy smile on our faces.

There weren’t many gas stations around, so we stopped in Taro for a fill-up and an ogle at this awesome orange beast.

Then back onto beautiful Highway 4 toward Watson Lake, which we’d be passing through one more time on our way into British Columbia and Alberta. But first we had to stop at what was to become our Favorite Campsite Ever, a free pullout on postcard-worthy Finlayson Lake.

Due to the burn ban, we hadn’t been able to have a fire for months, and it seemed like fate that the ban had been lifted right as we came upon this site, complete with cut firewood scattered around for the taking.

We were sitting just a little elevated from the water, overlooking the lake. There was no one around except the two people flying sea planes nearby. It was crisp, cool and clear, and we were on cloud nine that we got to live there for a whole day.

It was such a perfect spot that I took a quick video of the fire so that in future years we can relive the moment.

If we didn’t have the winter weather nipping at our heels, we would have stayed for days. But that chill wasn’t far behind, so we moved on toward Watson Lake.

We thought it would be fun to go visit our signs at the Signpost Village, especially because it’s not too often these days that we’re somewhere familiar. There they were!

Then on we drove into the endless green and gold mountains and valleys of British Columbia.

We had a garbage bag to toss, so we pulled over at a viewpoint to use the waste bins, and accidentally stumbled across this vista.

And this was the view from the other side of the parking lot! Beautiful British Columbia, indeed.

And then to add even more icing to the British Columbia cake, we stopped at Liard Hot Springs and accidentally had the time of our lives. We’d read about it over and over while researching the area, but didn’t think much more of it than “Sure, we could stop at a hot springs; that sounds nice.”

It was wonderful. It’s a provincial park and not privately-run, so for starters it’s really affordable. The day use fee is just $5 per person, but the hot springs fee is waived if you’re camping, which is $26 a night. That’s actually a little on the spendy side for boondockers, but it’s also really nice to have water and garbages at your disposal now and then, in addition to the free hot springs. So we paid for our site, got settled and then went straight to the hot springs.

It’s a beautiful walk down the boardwalk to the springs, over the warm marsh that is very popular with the wildlife, especially during winter.

For a developed hot springs site, this one is surprisingly untouched in all the best ways.

There are bathrooms, changing rooms, and a deck, but other than those few comforts it’s just a lovely pond that’s a piping hot 110-120 degrees at the source and then cools the farther away it travels from there. So the upper pool stays super toasty, and the lower pool is a perfectly warm and slightly deeper swimming pool.

We loved it so much we spent a few hours there on our first trip before going back for dinner and some travel planning.

The Anti-Project always has other plans, but luckily she has a short attention span and was soon on the prowl for buggies while we got a little work done.

As we planned we decided we weren’t ready to leave the hot springs already, so we decided to stay another day, then went back for our night soak. Liard doesn’t have closing hours since it’s a natural springs, so we got to soak until late when we were ready for bed.

The next day was another sunny fall day, perfect for multiple trips to the hot springs.

That night as we splashed around the warm lower pool and visited with some other travelers, the Northern Lights came out in enormous green flickering bands that twisted and arched from one side of the sky to the other over our heads. We laid on our backs and floated in the steaming water, watching the lights and laughing out loud at how perfect it all was.

When we got back to the Turtle, it was late and we were all warm, cozy and ready to snuggle up. While we got ready for bed, Gracie crashed out under her own personal quilt that my niece Ava made for her before we could even make it up to the loft!

With plans to return as soon as possible—especially in the snowy winter months—we got everyone ready to move on.

Gracie’s preferred and self-appointed travel spot is in a clothes bin in the closet, which is kept open for her as we drive. Usually when it’s time to go she hears the engine start and hops into her spot, but if she doesn’t sometimes we have a conversation about it to give her a chance to get in before we start moving. And it’s adorable.

And with the huge skies of the Yukon in our rear view mirror, we set our sights on the road ahead.

Heading South: North Pole and Chicken, AK Are Real Places

After our long journey up to Deadhorse and back, we needed a few days to recover.

We decided to post up in Fairbanks for a day or two to do some laundry, resupply, see the Ice Museum, and just generally knock the dirt off of ourselves.

After a few days, we began the journey back down south which surprisingly brought us to the North Pole! Ok, not THE North Pole. But North Pole, Alaska which is as close as you can get to the real thing.

The whole town is Christmas themed year-round, from candy cane light poles to road names like “Mistletoe Drive” and “St. Nicholas Drive,” and there are resident reindeer who live next door to the Santa Claus house, where we spent some time getting in the spirit of Christmas a few months in advance.

We’d had our hearts set on seeing a huge herd of caribou in the wild while we were up north, but we made do with Santa’s reindeer. (Which we learned on this trip are the same animal—reindeer are just domesticated caribou! The more you know.) But then on our way toward Tok, AK we came across a darling mama moose and her baby, and felt very lucky indeed. They hung around right alongside the road for over ten minutes before meandering back into the trees . . . but not before they posed for this glamour shot.

The sun was setting as we neared Tok, which we’d traveled through on our way up and had stayed overnight with the dirt bike rally racers at an unused airstrip outside of town. We went back to the spot, and had the whole place to ourselves! That night we saw the best Northern Lights of the trip so far, and the next morning we raced around the track at Top Turtle Speed. I’ll let you speculate on what speed that could be, and hopefully you’re generous.

A much-needed Turtle bath afterwards helped us offload many of pounds of dirt, and we wondered if maybe we should have gone back to try the race track again to see if we could shave some time off our record. But we had more stops to go, and with the dirt highway ahead of us, we knew we were pressed for daylight.

Beyond Tok lay Chicken, Alaska: a real place that I did not make up. We got to town shortly before the one store that was still open for the season was closing for the day, so we looked around, admired how wonderful the chicken soup smelled, took some enormous chicken photos, and drove on.

The next portion of the road is a beautiful drive called “The Top of the World Highway” which was where we finally had to say farewell to Alaska as we crossed back over into Yukon once again.

We had an amazing vantage point to watch the sun set over the valleys far below.

The sky was dark as we approached Dawson City, YT, and since we hadn’t had cell service for most of the last few days, I hadn’t noticed the map showed an unexpected break in the highway until we were right on top of it.

The Yukon River divides the road right outside of Dawson City, so we got to take the Turtle on a small ferry that was luckily still operating on summer hours and ran every 15 minutes or so. Had we been two weeks later, I’m not sure what we would have done, but we took our accidental good timing and ran with it.

This actually might have been one of Andy’s favorite parts of the entire trip. He was so excited. He kept pointing ahead and telling me to look! even though I was of course looking already, but he just couldn’t help himself. It was pretty funny to be sitting in our Turtle and watching water flow by on all sides.

We spent a few days in Dawson City, a historic town full of stories of the Gold Rush and prospecting and super-tough men and women. In the interest of time, and because they haven’t made many appearances in this post, I’ll just show you a few adorable pictures of Scout and Gracie at a nice site we found for an overnight stay as we left Dawson City.

The Alaska chapter of our journey was done, but as we mapped out our progress over Tiropitas, it was clear that there was plenty of adventure ahead!

On Top of the World: Deadhorse, AK + The Arctic Ocean + An Arctic Fox

Here is what you need to know about Deadhorse, AK. It’s a small town in northernmost Alaska near the Arctic Ocean with a population that is often listed at 25-50 permanent residents. The town’s primary function is to house the workers at the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which when including the temporary workers brings the population to around 3,000. In order to house the workers, “pre-fabricated modules” (cozy!) were shipped up and put on man-made gravel pads on top of the tundra, where the workers live for the duration of their employment.

Most people work 12-hour shifts daily for two weeks straight, and then have a week off. The town has a very small airport for transporting workers at no charge, so most people fly home and back in that week. Each work camp has its own building, with different amenities from camp to camp. Some have theaters or gyms or basketball courts, but these are all housed right in the work camp building.

It’s not as if anyone would want to pass the time outside their camp anyway; the mean annual temperature is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and even the warmest month—July—sees an average temperature of only 47 degrees! Lows in the winter are generally below -40 degrees. It’s freakin’ cold up there. Almost every parking spot in town comes with a power cord.

What this means for tourists is that after being shaken around in your vehicle like dice in a Yahtzee cup for somewhere around 18 hours, there’s not a lot going on up there to do! Well, that’s not necessarily true, but the accomodations for tourists are limited to a gas station, general store, Napa store, a handful of buffet-style cafeterias for the workers that are open to the public during limited hours, and a hotel with a little snack shop and coffee counter inside. So we did all those things on our first full day there.

The white building up there is the hotel. It didn’t look any different than the housing, General Store, or gas station and the town really doesn’t waste good money on signage.

We also came across one of my favorite wildlife sightings to date: a little arctic fox! He was just the sweetest little thing and stayed close enough for us to watch him scamper around for about 5 minutes.

There is also a tour bus that you can book 24-hours in advance (to run a security check), which will take you past the security checkpoint and up to the Arctic Ocean! They charge $70 per person, but once you get that far, you really have to go all the way, right?

We thought so. So on our third day in Deadhorse, we took the early tour through the oil fields and saw the sights on our way to the beach. There were five others on our tour: a French couple who had flown in, and a couple from upstate New York and their tour guide who had driven them up in a tricked out Ford Escape set up by the tour company specifically for the Dalton Highway drive. Their guide jokingly asked if we’d remembered our swimsuits, to which I replied, “Actually, yes!” He laughed good-naturedly, as it was the first day of September, and said he’d be amazed if we went through with it. Challenge accepted!

The beach access we were able to explore was a nice long stretch that jutted out into the ocean. When we got there, our view was especially lovely under a hazy rainbow.

The guide volunteered to take pictures for us, and got a nice play-by-play of our walk out, and Andy’s sudden and shocking dive below the water.

What a beast! That boy knows how to have an adventure. I take longer than Andy does when it comes to decisions involving plunging my bare skin into frigid arctic water on a 30-degree day. But of course I eventually got the job done.

Ok . . . half done. But I’m telling you; it was so cold that not even my five layers on top could save me from that icy shock, or the subsequent half hour of numb legs and toes! It was awesome. We are very proud new members of the Polar Bear Club, and have a pure white rock from the beach as our memento of the day we took the plunge.

By the time we got back to the Turtle, we’d warmed up under the blanket Andy had brought along and felt ready to take on the Dalton Highway again. We decided to break the drive up into three days this time, because we wanted to check another National Park off our list by hiking into Gates of the Arctic.

We turned southward and said farewell to Deadhorse. We were so glad we made the trip, but are fairly certain we won’t be returning unless Andy will agree with my brilliant idea to build a summer home there. And so far he’s not budging. Oh well . . . goodbye, Deadhorse!

The Road to Alaska – Part 6: Anchorage, AK with Friends

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times (I may have actually said it a thousand times): one of the best things about Turtle Life is the flexibility and freedom to visit our friends and family. And during our time in Anchorage, we were lucky enough to be able to spend quality time with both friends and family!

First we spent a week with Andy’s longtime buddy Sam and his wife Sara. Sam is a professor and has the summer off, so we took full advantage of his schedule by having a full week of fun.

Andy and I had caught some salmon in Valdez and kept two to bring along, which Andy prepared in his famous marinade and Sam grilled up for us.

*A tip if you like delicious things: Sam also BBQ’s up frozen seasoned hashbrowns as a side dish, which were so good I just got jealous of myself when I saw this picture of the hashbrowns I was about to eat when I took the photo.

Sam took us on a field trip to the fish hatchery, where we saw loads of spawning salmon! Pictured are only two, so please just take my word for it that there were a bunch.

Sam, Sara, and their son Oliver took us for a crisp and refreshing rainy-day walk up to Portage Glacier.

We hadn’t seen snow in a while, so we had to take advantage of the wintery playground and make ourselves a slide. I paved the way with the classic bum slide, and Andy immediately took it to the next level, as he is wont to do.

On the way home, all our dreams came true when we spotted a moose grazing right by the road in town!

We were really beginning to believe the area moose were a rumor created by the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.

And luck was really on our side—or else the COC had gotten wind that we were on to them and planted that moose in two spots so we wouldn’t spread the conspiracy theory around—because a day later we saw another one!

This one was on a walk through a beautiful park on the way to the beach. She had been grazing on the trail blocking hikers, and the locals who warned us about her presence smiled curiously when I threw up my hands and cheered about a moose on the trail. Somehow they could tell right away that we weren’t from around there.

We stood up the hill from her to admire her moose-y cuteness, then walked on to the ocean since it’s weird to stare at a moose all day. And what a day for the beach!

Another highlight of the trip was the delivery we had waiting for us at Sam and Sara’s place! After catching so many fish in Haines and Valdez, we decided we should spring for a vacuum sealer so we can pack more of our fresh fish and berry picking surpluses into the freezer and keep them for even longer. I was super happy about our newest purchase, and Andy was even a little more so. (Sam and Sara, I’m aware that I’m grossly underselling Andy’s excitement about this purchase, but if I did his joy any justice everyone would think I was exaggerating.)

Well of course we had to test the thing out. An hour and 50 vacuum bags later, Andy had made it as far as testing out vacuum sealing tortilla chips just to see what would happen, and suddenly it was bedtime.

When we got back to the Turtle for the night, we found that someone had caused a little trouble back at home. The culprit still remains at large as we try to gather more conclusive evidence.

On Monday Sara was back at work, so Sam took Andy and me on a beautifully sunny and very fun walking tour of Anchorage.

I’ll have you know that we had way more than a week’s worth of fun that week. Sam and Andy are two peas in a pod, and it’s awesome to see your sweetheart having fun like the old days with his buddy.

Although we tried our best to convince Sam to blow off another week’s commitments to goof off with us some more, he somehow decided to take the responsible road. Go figure!

Before we moved onto the next leg of the Anchorage Adventure, we needed a little battery-recharge, at which point it became apparent which of our friends are helpful when it comes to naps . . .

And which aren’t so much.

Oh, and in case you’re still wondering what happened to the vacuum-sealed tortilla chips . . . they were all ground to corn crumbles, except for one, which stayed completely intact!

Weird and worth the suspense, right?

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 8: Hood Scoops (By Andy)

A post by Andy

{Modified the title theme some. We think of ourselves much more as a big van than a small RV. I now want to start prefacing this and future posts to be more representative of our self-image.}

So, to the meat of the subject. I just finished our hood scoops! Why did I make hood scoops? Well, for one, they look pretty cool and I needed a prominent place to put my new go-fast emblems that I ordered from Amazon.

Mainly, we are trying to get as much power out of the engine so we can get our heavy old self up the high steep hills. In that vein, I have been playing with the spark timing, carb mixture, and intake airflow. By tweaking and adjusting these parameters we are working to get the most power and efficiency out of our old engine. Specifically, advancing the timing can get the engine to produce more power, but too much spark advance causes engine problems—pinging and preignition. If the engine is cooler, one can run with more advance. Another way to look at it is that with a given timing advance, if the engine and intake air get hotter, then the timing is too far advanced.

Maybe a side note about my “go-fast” emblems. Car companies try to sell cars. Sometime fancy cars come with racing stripes, cool graphics, and badges on the side about engine stuff. A joke among car people is the question “How much horsepower do the stripes add?” The answer is, of course, none. But… they do look cool. Look around, they are everywhere: M3, AMG, Hemi, 440, HiPo. The only thing the badge or stripes could actually do is add an immeasurably small increase in drag, or some unneeded paint weight. They are simply for the people in the car next to you. All the same, they look sporty, so I bought some that state the displacement of our engine and say it is “High Performance”. What I’m saying here is they do nothing, but they truly do look great!

So, I wanted more air to get in and out of the engine compartment to cool the engine, and have the air flowing into the air cleaner be as cool (and dense) as possible. To make sure I had an understanding of the pre-hood-scoop environment, I first taped the probe end of my digital temperature gauge to the air cleaner. Over a few weeks in different driving conditions and different altitudes, we took notes about the temperature measurements of the air cleaner and air filter. You can see the wire to the probe, and the tape holding it in one location.

Overall, we are in the 150º–160ºF range under the hood after the engine gets warmed up and when the ambient temperature is in the 70º–80ºF range. So, to get more outside air in and more inside air out we need some kind of venting. I looked online, and $50+ plastic vents and scoops can be found, but they were not really van-sized, and seem flimsy. Metal ones can also be found, but are more expensive, and again, really don’t fit. Apparently there is an untapped market of people who want to mod 1985 Ford vans! (Investors be wary—the market may be small.) I finally hit on the idea that rectangle cake pans are about the size I wanted, and they are inexpensive, and they are made of metal designed to withstand 500ºF+. Going with this thought, while we were camping in El Malpais National Monument, I made some cake pan-sized cardboard mockups and spray painted them with a blue that I had.

Test fitting…

I thought that looked good, so a few days later when we were in a town, we got some cake pans.

One morning, a few weeks later, when we where camping at the Great Salt Lake, I got out the pans, tin snips, sandpaper, and primer, and got to work remaking our sweet cake pans into even sweeter performance hood scoops (please note the word play).

Here they are.

Test fitting.

We stashed them away for a bit and traveled onward. Another week later we had a free day while visiting our friends the Higdems in Kimberly, ID. I measured, moved, marked, measured, and measured and marked again. Then I started drilling holes in the hood.

Lots of little holes now!

After fitting and drilling the mounting holes, I now knew what piece of the hood (bonnet, for any Brits out there) to cut out. Out with the jig saw.

Another side note here: When putting the Turtle together, we set ourselves up with a few DeWalt cordless tools and the battery charger that plugs into a 12V cigarette lighter. The tool charger is now wired to our solar-charged batteries, so we are using the sun’s energy to drill, cut, and modify our hood. It feels fun to know that when working on projects such as this!

For the final install, I put down a small bead of RTV sealant, aligned the scoops, and screwed in the 6 screws per scoop that I had already pre-drilled. After the RTV cured a bit, I got out our boat paint and went at it.

Included above is, obviously, a photo of what Scout and Gracie were doing at the time. A few days later, at Dave and Ryann’s place, I added more RTV to smooth the transition and put on more paint to finish it all off.

All finished now, after the last painting and with the great go-fast badges installed.

We should call this the conclusions section of the post, for you science people out there. Well, they have been on now for a week, and we don’t move fast, so we have only driven a few hundred miles. We will need to collect more data, but so far the maximum under-hood temperature we have seen in 135ºF, and most of the time it has been in the 100º-120ºF range (and we are actually in hotter weather than when we took our non-hood scoop measurements). We have also driven through crazy heavy rain and, as expected and hoped for, the small amount of water that enters through the scoops has no adverse effects on the engine. Generally, a pretty solid success, and I have since advanced the ignition timing just a bit with no pinging.

Oh, maybe a cost breakdown. The sum total of the cake pans, primer, quantity of screws, RTV, and paint used is less than $20. The go-fast badges were $11 each. Dave suggests I sell it as “The whole project was less than 45 dollars.” I think I shall adopt that tract!

All that for less than 45 dollars!!!

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