on the road

The Road to Alaska – Part 5: Yukon! Valdez! Gracie Cleans Her Tail!

Everything you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska is true.

Ok, wait.

I guess I don’t know what you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska. Let’s go with this instead: if you’ve heard that the drive to Alaska is mile after mile of astonishingly beautiful scenery that seems too enormous and perfect to exist in real life, then what you’ve heard is true.

Especially once you hit Yukon. I have so many photos of this drive that I promise you’re hoping I never show up at your house for a slide show. Because it would take longer to show you all the gorgeous scenery and tell the stories than it took to drive through it. But here are a few of my favorites.

Right??

If you make the drive, be sure to multiply your estimated drive time by 2 to account for all the stoping and staring you’ll be doing.

The beauty didn’t stop once we hit Alaska, of course. We went to Valdez, where we’d been told the best fishing awaited us. You’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that I caught a fish on my very first cast, and then caught two more before Andy had even finished attaching his lure! (In all fairness, he’d gallantly put mine on first, which is why I was fishing already. But it just goes to show you how good the fishing is in Valdez!) We estimate that we caught 25 fish—dollys and humpys. We kept two to bring with us and released the rest, not because we didn’t want them, but we just didn’t have any room left in the fridge after all the fish we caught in Haines. A fine problem to have, it’s true.

From Valdez, we took a very early ferry over to Whittier. As we drank our coffee and admired the ocean, the fog made the horizon completely disappear, which was lovely.

As the sun rose, a chubby little porcupine came out of the bushes and delighted everyone in the ferry line.

The Valdez-Whittier trip is about 4.5 hours, and so beautiful that even though it got chilly we stayed posted up on the deck under our blankets for most of the ride.

Once we arrived in Whittier, we drove straight on to Anchorage. We had so much fun visiting friends while we were there that I’ll make a separate post to cover all those adventures.

For now, I’ll make the title of the post accurate with the following pictures of Gracie cleaning her tail.

A Broken Turtle Tale: Reserve, NM

In the last post, Andy itemized all our break-downs, according to the definition of breaking down that we’ve agreed upon. The final line item in that list was a break-down in Reserve, New Mexico which we mentioned we’d discuss further later. It’s not so much a story about what went wrong, though that’s exciting too, but about a lucky break in where we broke down and how wonderful it is to be reminded of how kind people are.

The story begins as we left Silver City from the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It was a stunning drive.

Andy had woken up that morning from delicious dreams of pizza, so we made it the daily goal to find ourselves a slice. As we passed through Reserve, NM we saw The Adobe Cafe had a flying banner advertising pizza, so we took it as a sign and went in. The pizza did not disappoint!

We wrapped up our remaining slices and got back in the Turtle, started it up. . . and that starter just kept starting and turning over and making crazy sounds, and continuing to start even after Andy pulled the keys out. It was probably three minutes we spent panicking and looking at each other with saucer eyes and running around trying to figure out what to do, but both of us agree it felt like twenty before the starter finally died. We got out, and I popped the hood and began investigating. (Yeah, just kidding of course—Andy did that.) My job was to chat with the friendly locals who came over to make sure everything was all right.

Andy here. What I suspected was happening, and what we finally concluded happened was this: When you turn the key to start, a little electrical current is fed to the started solenoid. The solenoid is a switch that then supplies a large current from fat wires from the battery to the starter (an electric motor), that then turns over the engine. The little solenoid switch got stuck in the connected position, so even after turning the key back, it was still making the connection to supply power to the starter. Starters are not designed to run for long, so the starter overheated, something important inside melted, and it died. To fix the problem, we then needed a new solenoid switch, and a new starter. Took less that 30 minutes to fix, once we got the right parts. We actually carry a spare starter and solenoid with us now…

And I’m telling you, the whole town of Reserve rallied together to help us out! People were driving home to see if they had spare starters, directing us to the auto shop down the road, checking back on us after attending the elementary school play their kids/grandkids were in that evening, and generally just offering any assistance they could. It was really encouraging. Because it was Friday, the shop wouldn’t be able to get parts in until Monday, so we thought we might be marooned for a few days. As a last resort, Andy did his best to revive the patient inside out of the rain, but the thing was D.O.A.

In the meantime, Gracie kept us apprised of the goings-on in the neighborhood.

We met a local who coincidentally is from my hometown of Billings, MT. He offered to take Andy to the nearest town the following day to pick up a starter in Springerville, about an hour away. We were saved! We joined him at the local tavern for a beer and had a great time. Everyone there expressed concern for our stranded state and offered whatever help they could provide for us. But luckily, we had Craig. The next day he arrived to pick up Andy, and the two of them got the part, Andy installed it, and we were all set to go. Thanks Craig! You really saved the day!

We’d also like to thank the entire town of Reserve who made us feel welcome and not at all up that proverbial creek. At any given moment we had a handful of people on call, doing whatever they could to help us out. We had a lovely stay, and if we’re ever in the area we’ll definitely be back!

A Postscript Involving Pie:

Due to the delay, we knew we were cutting it close if we were going to make it to the destination I’d pinned on our calendar three months ago and had been talking about ever since: an actual town called Pie Town, NM. Can you believe it? It’s a tiny little town with just a few shops, three of the four of them pie shops. And if you’ve met me you know how much I looooooove pie. I couldn’t wait.

Unfortunately by the time we reached Pie Town, all the shops had just closed. I was pretty bummed out. As we drove through town, we noticed that Pie-O-Neer Pies had cars parked out front, so we pulled in, but the Closed sign was in the door and I was re-bummed. Then just as we began to back out, a petite smiling woman in a stylish hat popped out of the door and shouted to us, “Do you want pie?” We said YES! She said they only had three slices left, but we could come take a look. We said we’d take the lot, and they even threw in an extra slice for us. It was a very glorious day for me. We took them to go, and I waited impatiently for us to reach our evening destination outside of the Very Large Array. We found a perfect spot at a turn-out right by the entrance road.

If you look in this picture, you can barely make out the VLA on the horizon. (It looked much closer in person.)

Then we ate pie!

We ate them sampler-style, and loved all three. We had enough leftovers to enjoy two more dessert occasions as well. We’ll definitely drive out of our way to return to Pie-O-Neer Pies in the future. What a treat!

So although reading the list that Andy put together may seem like a series of unfortunate events, they all make for great stories, and some of those stories even end in pie.

Two Weeks in Diablo Canyon, New Mexico

One of our favorite places to “live” is on BLM land, and if they didn’t have a rule that you can only stay a maximum of 14 days, we would likely still be in Diablo Canyon right now.

We were looking for some sunshine, and we got it! This spot is great. It has four primitive camp sites, which is our favorite since we come equipped with everything we need, and we get far fewer neighbors.

We did see loads of people, though, as it’s a really popular spot for climbers. The edge of the canyon is a really clean vertical, and we saw climbers up there every day.

The weather was warm and sunny, and we all got to do our favorite things outside.

Andy got to work on the Turtle.

Scout got to go for 3-hour walks and hikes almost every day.

Gracie got to roll in the dirt, climb things, and explore outside. She just learned how to climb the ladder to get on top of the Turtle, and now we’ve gotten used to hearing the thumping of paws on the roof!

And I was in rock-collecting heaven. Everywhere we walked there was an endless array of beautiful rocks, and my pockets were constantly full. I couldn’t help it!

Over the course of our time there, we hiked to the top of the canyon, around the opposite edge of it and up and over, and all the way through to the Rio Grande.

We played all day, and earned our naps.

After a day of exploring, we were happy to put our feet up and watch the desert sunsets, around the fire or under the awning wrapped in blankets.

We also met our neighbors, full-time travelers Eric and his darling dog Willow, and spent some time with them swapping travel stories. They’ve been all around, and also blog about their time on the road here. Go say hello! 🙂

They even gifted a squeaky stuffed worm to Scout, which he loves and has been dropped into our lap many, many, many times. Thanks guys!

On our last day there, we woke up to a bizarre surprise:

Snow!

We thought that was pretty well timed, since we’d reached our 14-day limit! So we traveled back into Santa Fe to plan our next desert destination.

Winter in Rocky Mountain National Park

It was mid-January when we left South Dakota and began our journey south in search of sun. We learned a lot over the last few months about winterizing the Turtle, and have systems in place so we can go anywhere we want and live comfortably, even in single-digit temps. But seriously—we’re mobile and get to choose the climate in which we live. Let’s ditch the gloves and base layers and go play somewhere warm!

That was the idea, anyway. This story is not about finding the sun, but about the journey toward the sun that I am basking in as I write this. And that journey includes a National Park and a three trips down memory lane with awesome old friends.

First we stopped in Fort Collins to see my friend Rachel, who I hadn’t seen in 20 years! (There was much discussion about how that number was an impossibility, but the math doesn’t lie.) But even a couple decades couldn’t interfere with us picking right back up where we left off, and having hours of fun getting to know each other again. We were having so much fun gabbing, though, that I took no pictures! Only a few snaps in town as I walked Scout before bed. What’s that about? Having too much fun, of course. So I had to get one from her that we took after having coffee together the next morning. SO good to see you, Rach-o!

The next day we made the short trip to Boulder to check out the town since I’d never been. The highlights of our stay included Taco Tuesday at T-ACO (my favorite day of the week), Andy’s Lego picostomus,

the charming and bendy performer on Pearl St. who wriggled bum-first through a bucket,

Andy coming through on my request for a snow angel in the park,

and an unexpected early visit with our friend Rob, who we were going to see when we made it to Arvada, but happened to be in Boulder that night too!

Rob had to work through the rest of the week, so we took a trip over to Rocky Mountain National Park while we waited for the weekend.

We were lucky enough to get a clear sunny day upon our arrival, and had a beautiful snowshoe hike into the mountains.

As we got higher up, the ice crystals were so sharply defined and sparkling in the sun that I took a hundred pictures trying to capture the magic, and failed. So instead we ate some.

After a parking lot picnic, we drove up to Bear Lake to hike around, but the sun was starting to descend and not only was it getting chilly, the drifts there were so high that there wasn’t much to see aside from snow piles of various sizes.

Andy did find a bench, and we realized that what we thought were trail markers were actually a fence along the path that was nearly buried!

We should have known what we were in for, since the signs on the way up all looked like this:

There is one loop in the campsite that is open year-round, and a few of the spots had even been dug out already, so we picked one and called it a night. The next day we decided to take another snowshoe excursion, and as poor Scout was dying to run through the snow, we decided to walk around the expansive campground where dogs are allowed. It was overcast and cool, and the views even in the campground are stunning.

We left the park after our outing and drove to Arvada, where Rob lives. He’s a good friend who lived in our neighborhood when we lived in Portland, but his job took him to Colorado while we were still living there. We’ve missed him and his sweet fuzzy dog Kokanee very much, so what a treat to get to hang out again after a few years! He showed us the town, the Geology museum at the college in Golden, a great brunch spot, and the nearby park for Scout to catch Frisbees. And somehow, just like our visit with Rachel, I ended up with only a few pictures. And neither of them included us with Rob! We’ll have to go back soon.

Rachel had recommended that we check out Casa Bonita, a bizarre restaurant outside of Arvada with sub-par food and inexplicable ambiance. That girl still knows me well, because I was on Cloud Nine at that place! Yes, the line was staggeringly long, the cafeteria-style food was as shockingly bad, the place was jam packed, and still I loved it. They have divers jumping 30 feet into a small pool in the middle of the restaurant, fire jugglers, a guy in an ape suit, a spooky pirate cave, a mariachi band . . . it was hilarious! Andy agreed it was “pretty crazy” and suggested we go for a beer afterward. He’s a good sport.

After a too-short visit with Rob, we drove to Brighton to visit my friend Bev, who I hadn’t seen in 15 years. Once again, the years between were irrelevant, and we talked and laughed for hours, and only drove Andy and John a little bit crazy with our old jokes. It’s amazing to me how easy it is to pick up where you left off with real friends. If they hadn’t had to work the next day, we’d probably still be there playing games and being ridiculous in our usual way. Aaaaaand, once again, I’m full of great stories and low on photos. Love you Bearly! xoxo

It has been a dream come true to have enough time and flexibility to be able to reconnect with friends. This Turtle life is really making up for lost time, right? It’s also ensuring we’re able to continue checking National Parks off our list, with one more coming right up: Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The warm weather will have to wait! We’ve got some snowy dunes to climb.

Andy Wears Shorts in the Snow: Christmas In South Dakota

Happy New Year, everyone! Woo hoo!

2016 was a super exciting year in the Turtle, and the coming year should be equally full of challenges, victories, and vistas (and frisbee sessions for Scouty).

Before I get into our plans for the upcoming months, let’s catch up with some photos of what we’ve been up to since we left Yellowstone National Park last month! Since that very chilly week living in single-digit temps, we’ve learned a bunch about what we needed to do in order to better winterize the Turtle. So before we left Montana, we headed back to Mom’s house in Bozeman and got busy buttoning everything up with layers of insulation over the windows, extra curtains to divide the colder cab and loft from the warmer living portions of the Turtle, and some modifications under the hood.

Naturally Andy was in charge of the under-the-hood tasks, and he spent the week in Mom’s garage finalizing work on the second alternator. With that new addition we can charge our house batteries while we drive, as the solar panels aren’t getting a lot of sun in these winter months. Not surprisingly, this guy took the opportunity for a wiring project and really brought it to the next level. Give an engineer an electrical mission, and he’ll buy all the toggle switches Home Depot has in stock and create a panel worthy of the dashboard of a UFO. I still need to take a photo of the installed panel, but the process picture gives you a pretty good idea of the extent to which this guy takes on a project!

Meanwhile, in between my winterizing duties, I got an extra week to hang out with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews. We crafted, played video games, and I took on a request for a Photoshop job: Clive wanted to see himself in his “boat” on the water. . . “with a beard!” Turns out that kid could totally pull off a beard.

Even Gracie appreciates how awesome these kids are.

The snow continued during our stay, much to Scout’s delight. This border collie LOVES snow! He leaps through the drifts with abandon, and runs back and forth between us, trying to encourage us to run along with him.

Gracie, on the other hand, finds the warmest covered spot and settles in.

After getting used to living as locals, it was hard to leave all my favorite people. It was such a treat that we were able to spend so much time with them though. In the Pre-Turtle days, we were typically limited to a week each year at most for visiting family. So I can’t get too greedy when I just got to hang around for a whole couple of months!

Once the improvements were complete, and I felt confident that the kids were ready to love The Legend of Zelda without further encouragement from their auntie, we left Bozeman. After a quick stop in Billings to see Blake, Martha, Harper, and Grant, we then made our way toward South Dakota. We drove by Little Bighorn Battlefield right before it closed for the day, and took a brief walk through the grounds as the chilly winter sun set.

Then with the heater on full blast, we moved on to Gillette, WY for the night where I got so unbelievably sick. (I’ll only include this because I promised in a previous post that I wouldn’t overlook the portions of full-time vandwelling that are challenging, and this was just AWFUL.) I’ve gotten sick a few times since we moved into the Turtle, but they were mostly mild illnesses that were inconvenient but tolerable. I’ve never gotten violently ill while living in the Turtle until that night in Gillette, and it definitely was more challenging than getting sick in a house.

I thought I had food poisoning, as I got sick so abruptly, but in retrospect I think it was likely a severe flu. I was vomiting so much all night (essentially into a pit toilet) that I got massively dehydrated, and unfortunately since we were in freezing temperatures our water tank had frozen and cracked and we had been carrying water around in jugs. As luck would have it we were low on water that night, so I was rationing water and sucking on ice cubes and trying not to step on Andy on the pull-out couch as I got up every 20 minutes to vomit. And the next day we had to move along, so I was sleeping fitfully on a bed rocking and bumping at 65 mph on the freeway. Glamorous!

So, there you go. Full-time vandwelling is not all roses. But for the record, I’m not trading it for anything!

At any rate, while I was in my sicky fog Andy got us to Spearfish in time for Christmas with his family. Much to Scout’s delight, the ground was covered in snow, with a whole bunch more in the forecast.

And much to Andy’s delight, there were plans to assemble a Lego train which would travel around the Christmas tree! I’m not sure how many total man hours were spent around the table between Will, Ellie, Andy and myself, but Andy outshone us all with his dedication to the cause, as well as his impressive Lego skills.

Between the four of us we created quite a spectacular Christmas train, if I do say so myself.

Ellie and I worked on Rudolph’s Christmas Car which led the way, and created bunches of Lego presents. Will put together the engine, the middle cars, the flatbeds, and made a magnificent cubist Christmas tree. Andy made a tippable car that he’d originally intended for imaginary molten metal, but that Ellie and I filled with our gifts instead. He also made a caboose equipped with a crane to hoist and deliver the packages, and it really works, and it’s awesome.

Each day we were surprised by the dramatic change in weather. One day: blizzard. (Andy wore shorts all day.)

The next day: sun.

The next day: more snow.

The next day: more sun!

Snow.

Sun.

You get the idea.

Highlights of our time in South Dakota also included:

Testing out the newly-wired Hella lights. . .

Learning about the difficulties of dumping tanks in winter when all the RV sites for miles around are closed for the season. . . (For those interested parties, it includes making friends with the on-site owner of a closed RV site and graciously being given permission to use the facilities if you can find it and not break anything, digging through the snow until you find the port, boiling hot water, filling a container with hot water, pouring it over the frozen cap until you can open it, taking a photo while your significant other waits for your assistance.)

Being co-planner for a stuffed animal beach wedding. . .

Waiting to see how Andy will alter the “LOVE” Valentine’s decorations his sister put on the mantle. . .

Towing stranded passengers out of a snow drift. . .

Finding Gracie tucked into cozy spots on the coldest days. . .

Scout just driving around town. . .

And knowing Christmas is officially over when you see the Christmas tree ablaze.

Coming up: We’re done with snow and are going to Mexico!

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Sleepin’ On The Streets: A Beginner’s Guide To Boondocking

One of my favorite Andy quotes happened outside the Baghdad Theater in Portland a few summers ago, when we still lived in a house.

We were sitting on the patio after a matinee, drinking a beer and talking about how excited we were to begin our upcoming vandwelling life. I said something about wishing we lived in the Turtle already, and how much fun it would be if we could just walk a block down Hawthorne and be “home.” Andy beamed and said, “Isn’t it exciting? By this time next year we’ll be living the dream: sleeping on the street with our half-wild dog and our garbage cat.”

It’s become our motto.

On that note, I recently realized that I’ve neglected to discuss a topic that is super fun and potentially useful to other wanderers, so. . . let’s talk about boondocking!

A place we lived for a night in Corvallis, Oregon

One of our favorite things about full-time vandwelling is the freedom we have to roam around without worrying about where we’ll stop for the night, allowing ourselves to really live in the moment. We have the ability to go where our interests blow us without worrying about planning around a place to sleep. At this point we’re a year into off-grid Turtle Life and feel completely comfortable and confident pulling over and finding places to stay overnight, but when we started out it was pretty daunting and we spent a lot more money staying in RV parks and camp sites when we didn’t need to. I know we still have lots to learn, but I’m here to share what we wish we would have known a year ago!

*An important note here is that the type of boondocking I’m referring to is not a long-term off-grid stay in the woods. I’m talking about the type of boondocking common with full-timers, which is traveling down the road and stopping for the night as we pass through an area, waking up, packing up, and continuing along our travels. Once we get into long-term boondocking, we begin talking about on-board fuel supply, second alternators, etc. and that’s a whole different conversation.

Some BLM Land near Jewel Cave National Monument, in South Dakota

It’s so liberating to realize how easy it is to get around when your house is on your back and you can just stop wherever you want! But you do need to get equipped first.

Let’s start off with the things we’ve determined necessary for comfortable boondocking:

Heat supply: Diesel or propane
- We’ve got a propane heater wired into the Turtle which is wonderful, and effective in heating up our small space quickly. Diesel works great too.
Power supply: Either a generator or solar panels and batteries
- Andy will write a technical post on this one at some point. Lots to say here! We’ve got solar panels and three batteries that, with regular sun, will keep us charged indefinitely. This includes our computers, interior lights, etc.
Water storage
- The Turtle has a water tank plumbed to the sink and bathroom, but when we bought it the water pump wasn’t working, and we lived happily with refillable water jugs for a good long time.
“Some sort of bathroom” is how Andy worded it. . . 🙂
- If you have a bathroom in your vehicle it’s pretty magical! If you don’t, you can get away with boondocking at rest areas, and using the facilities at the big box stores that let you stay overnight, and of course there’s always the great outdoors. (Andy suggests empty jugs, but he also lived way out in the bush in Kenya for a number of years, so. . .) But if you’re deciding between two vehicles and one has a bathroom, I recommend the one with the loo. It just frees up loads more off-grid options.
Food storage and preparation
- This can be a simple plan, but it’s worth adding to the list. Keep some food with you and have a way to prepare it. You know, like life.

Breakfast in Garnet Ghost Town Parking Lot

Now let’s talk about where you can stay:

Wherever you want!
Just kidding; there are restrictions. But fewer than you might think.

As I mentioned, when we started full-timing we weren’t sure how the boondocking was going to work out. Most of the literature we read about full-timing was written by and for an audience who planned on spending most of their time in RV parks. We enjoy when we stay in parks very much, but we’ve primarily got our sights set on simplifying and being independently mobile. Also, there were a few books we read in which the author was paranoid about getting harassed by the police for staying somewhere overnight, and at first we thought it was something to hide and be nervous about. (It’s not.) So it took us a while to find what worked best for us, and what we discovered is that there are loads of legal options!

Public land somewhere between Bozeman and Missoula, Montana

The sunset at that spot, later that evening. . . a pretty nice backyard

Here are the things we’ve learned about where it’s legal to stay overnight:

Most states that we’ve researched allow for overnight parking unless otherwise posted, usually for 10-12 hours max. And where it’s not allowed, it’s very clearly posted. And where it is legal, you can usually find signs stating the rules.
This includes parking in towns, because in the states we’ve visited at least, it’s only illegal to “live” in a vehicle on the road for more than 72 hours. It will likely vary from state to state, but we’ve never had any trouble just staying overnight in an area that didn’t have posted parking restrictions.
Lots of spots that allow overnight parking will post “No Camping,” which we have learned means that you can’t have a camp fire, put chairs outside, extend any slide-outs, or roll down your awnings. Basically you can’t do anything but park, which is all we need! I always thought it meant no overnighting of any kind, but you can stay there as long as you don’t start setting up your living room outside your vehicle.
Rest stops are actually places to stop and rest! We see lots of other RV’s and vans parked overnight at rest stops now that we’re paying attention, and the nice thing is that they’re usually well-lit, have bathrooms and potable water, and often have nice spots to walk the dog (and if you’re us, the cat). It had honestly never occurred to me that you could spend the night at a rest stop, because I’d never needed to. But there you go!
We’ve enjoyed very much the realization that you can stay at scenic viewpoints and historic pull-outs along the interstate. Again, each state determines how long you can stay, but in our experience it’s always a night’s sleep worth—around 10-12 hours or so. We’ve woken up to gorgeous views of towering rocks and rivers in the middle of mountain ranges that we would have just blasted through. A lovely and novel spot to drink coffee while the dog does his morning business.
BLM land is available for dispersed camping, and has been a favorite of ours. According to their website, “camping on public lands away from developed recreation facilities is referred to as ‘dispersed camping.’ These sites are widely dispersed, undeveloped, and are generally not signed as campsites.” You can stay for up to 14 days, have camp fires as long as you monitor them closely, and it’s a great spot for the pets to run and play.
As many of you know, lots of big box stores and travel plazas allow for overnight parking. We haven’t done that as much, because we love grass and so far there has been a lot of grassy spots available to us. But it’s an option, and a nice one if you need to grab supplies too.
At first we thought when parking in town we’d be happiest parking somewhere quiet without night traffic, like by a park or school, but then decided that a van parked overnight by a school could attract negative attention. After a fair number of trials, we’ve found that we’re most comfortable parking on—or on a side street of—the main drag of smaller towns. There’s not much night traffic typically, and it doesn’t look as sketchy to the neighbors if a vehicle is parked overnight on the road under street lights as it would in front of their house. Even though it’s legal to park in neighborhoods, we like to make sure that we’re not imposing on anyone either. Not to mention if we’re near any night life, we can explore town, hang out at the local spots, and then just walk 10 steps home without designating a driver. Safety first, guys.
There are bunches of resources for people like us, to help avoid the sometimes-annoying driving around looking for the ideal spot. The ones we like best are:
- Overnightrvparking.com: Our first favorite, and the one that got our boondocking education started. It shows on a map where there are free places to park for the night so you can plan ahead. It tells you if it’s a rest stop, scenic viewpoint, etc. and what facilities are available at that spot. This site is user-driven, but the administrator evaluates all submissions and posts whether or not the spots are legal and safe. It was just $25 for the year, and right away we got well over our money’s worth for it!
- Allstays.com: We love this one because it lists everything. As their website states, it shows “Over 29,000 Campgrounds: Independent, KOA, National/State Forest, State Parks, Public Lands, Army Corps, National Park, Military, County and City Parks, Casinos.” It tells you if it’s free or has a fee, how much it costs, and what amenities are available. The app also lets you see where there are dump sites, propane, potable water, and other resources. It’s a must-have.
- iOverlander: Much like Allstays it’s got everything, but includes a lot of information about places to stay outside the United States and additionally shows points of customs and immigration.

That time we lived on a lake

The very best part of an off-grid traveling life is that we get to try out being locals in towns all over the states, every day! We’ve really enjoyed the simplicity and flexibility it affords us, not to mention how inexpensive it is to visit new places. We can wake up in a city one day and in the woods the next. I can’t believe I waited this long to figure out that this was possible.

A lot of people are curious to know if we feel anxious about boondocking, especially in towns or populated areas. At first, yes, we were very aware of the fact that we were on a street and in an unfamiliar town. We took a very long time to find a spot, and when we found one we were careful to stay quiet and keep a low profile. After we understood the rules, though, and got a feel for what worked best for us, that completely dissolved. Now what’s remarkable is that we’re so used to it that when we close the door, we’re just home. We watch movies, listen to music, have friends over when we’re in town, and pop right out the back door in the morning to walk to a coffee shop or let the dog out. It’s so exciting to wake up in your own house, cuddled up to your person and your pets in your own warm bed, and in those first few seconds not to remember where you live!

Cooke City, Montana. . . The morning we woke up to the roar of a town full of snowmobiles!

Every day really is a new adventure. And we’re ready to see what tomorrow will bring!

Winter Camping in Yellowstone National Park

Have you ever heard of a Chesapeake Start?

Well I can’t find anything on the internet to support that this is a thing, but here’s what I can tell you. Somewhere along our travels, someone told us about a “Chesapeake Start.” He said that when Lewis and Clark would leave for a long journey, everyone who was going on the trip would pack everything up and travel a mile down the road, then stop and stay the night. Once they had set up camp, they would quickly discover what necessary items they’d left at home, so the next day they could easily return to their home base and get what they needed for the long trek ahead. We love this idea in the context of Turtle travels. . . especially since in the scenario we get to be Lewis and Clark. 🙂

On our exit from Bozeman into our first wild winter weather in the Turtle, we’re especially happy that we opted for the Chesapeake Start. During our stay in Bozeman, Andy did a whole bunch to prepare us to be a Turtle For All Seasons, but there’s so much you can’t know to prepare for until you’re into it. So knowing that all Andy’s tools were only an hour and a half away, we left Bozeman on Sunday and drove to Yellowstone National Park!

We arrived in Yellowstone mid-day, and it didn’t take long for the temperature to drop. Of course this time of year in Yellowstone is cold and icy, and this is the longest amount of time we’ve been completely off-grid in freezing temperatures! We’re still working out the finer points of living entirely from solar, so boondocking proved more challenging than ever before. Especially since we get so few hours of sun in these winter months and the sun we do get is weak, we had to really conserve our light and heat usage, as both are powered with the house batteries charged by the solar panels.

We were happy to have lots of blankets that evening. . .

And to see sunshine in the morning!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been thankful that Andy is an engineer, and a motivated one at that. At the campsite, out in the wind and snow, he wired up a second alternator that he’d been working on and hadn’t yet completed, and got us extra power using wizardry and magic, and I think a little power from the engine.

We knew it would be cold in the park in November, and also that we’d be a little more limited in how much of the park we’d have access to. I’d done some research before we visited Yellowstone about its off-season, and here’s what I found:

The majority of the park is considered “closed” from early November to mid-April. That means that all the roads are closed except for the road from Gardiner to Cooke City. (And during the winter season, all roads out of Cooke City are closed save that same road back to Gardiner.)
In mid-December the park opens up to “oversnow” travel, which means you can only access the park by snowmobile or snowcoach.
In November and the beginning of December, the northern portion of the park is still open to visitors, and since it’s the off-est of the off-season, you have the place pretty much to yourself!

We’ll definitely return to check out the rest of the park when it warms up, but in the meantime, we found November to be an awesome time to visit the park!

Here’s what you can do in the park in November:

Mammoth Campground is open year-round, and much easier to get a spot this time of year. We only had two neighbors the whole time we were there!

Mammoth Hot Springs and the Albright Visitor Center are right next door to one another and both are also open year round.

The animals are out in droves and grazing so close to the main road! We saw hundreds of bison, antelope, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, a few coyotes, and the sweetest little light-footed fox you can imagine. (My favorite, but don’t tell the other wildlife.)

The Boiling River is also open year-round, and in my opinion, it’s best in winter. . . since that’s when I went, and it was awesome. I can’t imagine a more surreal and magical time to be submerged in a river than a snowy November. The Boiling River is a swimming spot at the confluence of the Gardiner River—which is of course frigid this time of year—and the Boiling River, a hot springs which reaches up to 140 degrees. You wade down to where the two begin to mix comfortably, and you’re in an outdoor hot tub in the middle of the snow and mountains! The steam pours and curls off the water, and the Boiling River gushes over the rocks and iced plants in a bubbling hot waterfall tumbling into the cold river. You’re sitting in the middle of it all, in one of the man-made terraces, adjusting your position to accommodate the sometimes burning, sometimes freezing, mostly perfectly-cozy warm water flowing past your body. We splashed and floated, counted the dozens of elk grazing on the mountainside, avoided staring at the high school couple making out near us, watched the shadows the sun cut through the steam, and laughed at how crazy it was to be swimming in a river in the mountains of Wyoming in December. We stayed for hours and hours, the final hour a procrastination knowing how cold we were going to be once we stood up and waded up the river back to our clothes! (I’m not going to lie; the walk back out was brutal. But it was so so worth it!)
- If you’re planning to go, it’s not marked on the main road, so park at the lot just north of the 45th parallel, near the Montana/Wyoming border. It’s a straight, level hike along the Gardiner River, just 1/2 mile to the spot where the Boiling River converges. It’s all well-marked. My main recommendation is to bring water sandals. . . as you get in, you’re so cold and then so hot, trying to figure out where the separate currents are, that the slippery rocks are just another inconvenience that could be avoided with good footwear.

Lots of hiking. While we were there the snow wasn’t deep, so we were able to hike around without our snowshoes to lots of nice spots. If we’d spent more time in the park (a week when Andy wasn’t working so much), there were portions of the park we would have loved to have snowshoed through. Next time!

We spent so long in the Boiling River the day before we left that we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to see the east side of the park. We decided to drive the distance up to Cooke City, stay the night and then make the drive back the next day to see the landscape and animals from the east gate back to the north entrance. We got to Cooke City right at dusk, and at almost 8,000 ft. elevation, the snowy mountain town was a twinkling haven in the middle of the frozen wilderness. We parked on the street, and woke up the next morning to find the streets bustling with people, all preparing to ride their snow machines, or zipping down the street on them! It was so much fun! Apparently when they close all the other roads into town for the winter, the snow machines (I guess they call them”sleds” now) can go nearly anywhere they want, and they do.

Everyone was having such a great time! And super duper nice.

We had coffee and hot breakfast at a friendly bakery that was also half snowmobile shop, and drove back through the park in the snow. We saw almost every animal on our wish list, and even after we left the park we saw a bald eagle and a moose!

The week was packed full of adventure, and that was just on the North road! Lewis and Clark would have approved. And they would have been especially pleased that, since we utilized their Chesapeake Start, we were able to take our frozen tanks and campsite-rigged alternator the short trip back to Bozeman where we can make the necessary updates. And then we’ll be ready for whatever weather we feel like driving into! Woohoo!

Leaving Bozeman Harbor

We’re back on the road! It’s super, super exciting. When you’ve spent a year roaming and adventuring and then suddenly sit still for a while, the call of the road is stroooong. But even though we were looking forward to moving on down the road, we got a lot of valuable things accomplished in Bozeman Harbor, mostly lots of family time, and it was two months very well-spent.

We originally posted up for a bit to do some Turtle work before winter hits, and after a year of being in the Turtle, we finally finished the bathroom! Andy really killed it on the vanity and faux toilet tank. The “tank” is actually storage (our favorite word these days), but he even made a little flusher you can pull, whose only practical function is to be charming. Andy always goes the extra mile!

You could say it’s come a long way from when we first bought the Turtle. . .

I’d like to make it clear here that it didn’t look like the above photo while we’ve been living in it. . . That’s a BEFORE “before” photo. 🙂 We got a good amount of progress done before we hit the road, but as you can see in the photos below, the vanity was still completely inefficient for storage and took up a ton of room in the small space. And we still had that sink in there, which we didn’t find useful since there’s a kitchen sink three steps from this one, and we’d rather have the storage! But with all the work we had to do in the rest of the Turtle before hitting the road, this portion of the renovation was put on the back burner.

But now it’s done! And we loved our extended stay in Bozeman. We parked the Turtle at my Mom’s house, and while Andy reveled in his huge garage/shop space and engineered all kinds of new fancy Turtle improvements, I got to spend lots of quality time with my mom, sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews. I had the best time getting to be a local for a while, and my love tank is filled to the brim. 🙂

We even had a pasta party night, where we made homemade 4-cheese ravioli, sausage ravioli and fettuccini, and three kinds of sauces. If you’re thinking about inviting me to a party, I can promise I’ll come if it’s this kind of party.

We had a fulfilling and productive stay in Bozeman, and I was only able to leave knowing that we’d be back for one more short stint since I have to return on the 8th to ~~walk the green mile~~ go to a dentist appointment. In the meantime, let’s go to Yellowstone National Park!

A Year of Vandwelling!

Guess what?

This Halloween marked our one year anniversary of being full-time vandwellers! It hardly seems possible that 12 whole months ago we were starting off with no idea what we were doing, not to mention where we’d be a year later. (Spoiler: It’s not as far away as we thought we’d be!)

It has been an incredible year—the best of my life so far—and we have loads of lessons to show for it. We get a lot of questions about the less glamorous side of our lives on the road, and sometimes while writing about our days I forget to include both the highs and the lows of the vandwelling lifestyle. I know it’s interesting to read about the difficult aspects, because I love reading about the obstacles other full-timers face too, but it’s never my first instinct to complain about the rough bits when we’re enjoying our dream life! But life is still life, and it’s not always perfect. And the people want to know the dirt!

So in honor of our one-year Turtleversary, here’s a list of both the easy and fun aspects of Turtle Life, and the stuff we didn’t realize was going to be hard.

THE EASY:

Freedom & Adventure
- Let’s be honest; this is the whole reason we hatched this plan in the first place! We were tired of working for an income that just went to pay rent and bills in our house in Portland that we loved but didn’t get to enjoy as much as we’d have liked, since we were always at work! Andy was working days and I was working evenings and nights, and in the slivers of time we did have together, all we wanted to do was get out, go camping, float the river, and explore the outdoors. We had the desire for adventure, but no freedom to truly embrace it. Now we go wherever we want as our whims dictate, and every day is an adventure. It’s delicious.
Seeing Friends and Family
- This has been an incredible side effect to our new life. In the last year, we’ve been around for more birthdays, moving days, celebration days, and regular days in the lives of our families and good friends than in the last 5 years combined!
Getting to Know Each Other
- I don’t care how long you’ve been with someone, when you move into a 100 square foot box with them full-time, you get to know them on a whole new level! And seriously you guys, this has been so much fun. (We’ll get to the “Time Alone” portion on the next list shortly, so you can take this all at face value, knowing I’m not trying to convince you that it’s all roses.)
- But if you like your significant other, then this can be the adult equivalent of your 3rd grade best friend! All your shared experiences are new to both of you, and the world is your playground to explore together. You learn so much about each other as you try new things, learn how to compromise when there are unlimited options, and create new stories and inside jokes that are just yours. These days, our conversations are less about the day-to-day experiences we’ve had, and more about ideas, dreams and plans. Now we craft our days together, and the best-friend-ness that develops is super duper fun.
Getting to Know Ourselves
- I only realized how significant this one was after writing the last paragraph, so I added it in. This lifestyle is so outside the norm that as we learn more about each other and our surroundings, we are also reassessing who we are and discovering more about ourselves. We’ve had more time to try out new ideas and challenge ourselves and to be creative, and being outdoors is a great place to let your mind wander and see where it takes you.
The Stuff We Get To See!
- This one seems obvious, since we’re always moving and seeing new things. And as we anticipated, it’s been awesome! What’s surprised us about this, though, is that so much of what delights us lies in between the highlight reels of our travels. We meet incredible and intriguing people, we stumble across charming small-town spots, we pull off the road to let the dog out and find such a gorgeous chunk of public land that we decide to stay for the night and end up watching a storm roll in as we drink a beer under the awning, cuddled up under blankets in our camp chairs watching the animals run around together. Our happiest memories include both the destinations and the journey. We’ve got stories, you guys. 🙂
Our Time Is Valuable
- What I’ve really appreciated in this last year is the ability to determine how I spend the majority of my time, since we’re no longer going through the motions 40 or more hours a week. Andy’s favorite thing these days is to take on a project and make it absolutely perfect. Instead of just wiring the solar up for functionality, he gets to think it through from start to finish and has the time to make it not only functional but attractive. He adds that it’s also really fun that when you do have projects, it’s a lot easier to do a more detailed and professional job because everything is so much smaller. (Right now he’s building a new vanity in the bathroom, and it’s a much smaller project than a full-size bathroom vanity! So he can put a lot of care into it.) We get to nurture our hobbies while discovering new ones! The funny thing is how we still don’t have time to get everything done. . . some things don’t change no matter where you live.
Learning New Things
- Since we’re only a year into this life, we still have a bunch to learn. Slowly but surely we’re adding to our “life education,” both practical and just for fun. We’re learning more about the Turtle, about the U.S., about sweet hot-dog stick carving techniques, Andy’s learning to make fishing lures, I’m learning about edible wild plants, we’re learning to identify bird calls, I’m brushing up on my Spanish, and we now know all the state nicknames, just to name a few new skills. That last one is mostly worthless, but interesting to know that Arkansas is The Natural State, for example. The more you know, right?
Our Animals Are So Happy
- You’ve seen the pictures. They’re living the life! We’ve fielded some concerns about whether or not the animals are happy in such a small space, especially since we have a curious, active cat and the “Energetic Border Collie” poster-boy. And I agree that if we spent most of our time indoors, they’d go bonkers. Luckily, in Turtle life we spend a tiny fraction of our days indoors and are mostly busy playing outside! Nothing but mountains to climb, fields to race through, trees to climb, friends to meet, things to sniff, and rivers to swim in or sit cautiously by, depending on which animal we’re talking about on that one. When we worked full-time, the animals were home alone for multiple hours, whereas now they’re with us nearly all the time and are enjoying the open door policy giving them access to their enormous back yard.
Amazon Delivers
- We once ordered an inverter for the Turtle at a tent camping site near Wheeler, Oregon, and two days later the UPS truck came bumping down the dirt road with our package. We still crack up about it! We’re generally always able to get what we need, even without a permanent mailing address! Amazon rocks, and makes all our projects possible, even fairly of the grid.
Simplicity
- When we decide that we’ve done all we wanted to do and seen all we wanted to see, eventually we’ll settle down somewhere. (Luckily we’re test driving cities ahead of time, so we’ll know right away where that somewhere will be!) And when we do, I know the biggest take-away for me will be the joy of simplicity that we’ve discovered in this process.
- We didn’t have much of a choice regarding how much “stuff” we could bring with us, and we decided right away that we didn’t want a huge storage unit full of miscellaneous junk waiting for us to deal with after our travels. So we sold and got rid of just about everything that we had stored up in our house. All that stuff we’d been carrying around for years and years and hauled in boxes from one house to the next, finding places to store in the house, and digging through when we were looking for something. The process was intense and looooong, but now that we’ve pared down to the barest of essentials, I can’t imagine going back to the piles of stuff. Right now, we know where everything is, and all our belongings are essential and valuable to us. It’s liberating, and I wish I had done it years ago.

THE HARD:

The Mess
- We didn’t see this one coming. It’s not something many people talk about in blogs, or share in the beautifully-staged Instagram shots of feet poking out the back doors of spotless van interiors. But I’m here to tell you that full-time vandwelling is messy! I just asked Andy what his first line item would be on this list, and after thinking for a minute he said “Well, it is quite a bit messier than we’d anticipated. . . ” Yep. We have to stay on top of clean-up nonstop, or we’d go nuts. Neither of us is fussy about cleanliness, but we certainly appreciate a tidy home. And since our space is so small, even a little clutter can feel oppressive, and a muddy dog can wreak havoc on every square inch of furniture in three happy bounds through the door. I vacuum or sweep at least twice a day, and we’re on constant pet hair duty. Happily, we’ve established systems that work for us to combat the mess over this last year, but for a while it seemed like we’d never stop cleaning. I mean, we never will, but we’re used to it now. 🙂
Laundry, Showers, Dishes
- After the mess comes the clean-up, and this part is a challenge as well. The chores that we used to do at home without a thought must now be thoughtfully planned out well in advance, and they can dictate a whole day. The Turtle had a built-in shower when we bought it, but it was in the tiny bathroom and—aside from moisture damage issues—the awkwardness of showering while hovering over a toilet gave us the heebie-jeebies. Not to mention that since we have limited water on board, both showering and washing dishes can deplete our resources in a flash. And you know we’ve got no laundry room! So this aspect of our lives that used to be so simple is now quite a time consuming ordeal. When the weather is nice, we’re fine to bathe and wash clothes in the lake, but during colder weather we’ve had to coordinate our trips into town with visits to public pools, gyms, and laundromats. We discovered far too long into Turtle-life that many towns have free RV dumps that also supply potable water, so that’s been a lifesaver for washing dishes. Just wash and refill!
Working Remotely
- It definitely has been a challenge to balance the off-grid life with being places we get wi-fi. Of course if we had our way, we’d just stay off grid for months at a time and become the postmodern Swiss Family Robinson. We’re fortunate to work in fields where we can work on the road, and the income is helping prolong our travels, but if we’re talking about unforeseen obstacles this definitely is on the list.
Boondocking
- I’m way overdue for a full blog post on this topic. There is so much to say about boondocking! We feel much more prepared and comfortable living off the grid these days, but this first year has been a real crash course and it was challenging at times to figure it all out. We didn’t find a ton of information on it that applied to our specific situation, so we’ve really just been learning on the job. We originally pictured boondocking by rivers and tucked into trees somewhere, which is definitely part of it, but not always the case! We’ve stayed in parking lots, rest stops, on the side of the road in the middle of town, at scenic overlooks off the freeway, in public parks. . . you name it. This was hard at first because we always want to be parked legally and safely, and it took us a while to figure out how to find those places, especially without having to drive around for an hour or two looking for a place that suited us. This aspect is easy and awesome now, and it’s one of my favorite parts of Turtle life—not knowing where we’re going to sleep from one day to the next! But it definitely falls into the “Hard” list for how long it took us to nail it.
Alone Time
- Remember that time I talked about how much fun it is getting to know each other? Well the other side of the best friend coin is trying to find time for yourself. It can be difficult to admit to your buddy that you need a break from their face! After we moved in, because everything was so new and we were busy learning the ropes together, it took a long time to even get to the point where living in a van was regular life and we started wanting some time to ourselves. But it happens. When the weather is nice, it’s easy to split up and do our own thing outside, walking the dog, collecting firewood, going fishing. But when we’re stuck in the Turtle for long periods of time, we’ve learned to not take it personally when the other person just decides to put in headphones.
Being In Other People’s Space
- We really love that when visiting our friends and family, we’re able to “live next door” to them, as opposed to staying in their home and making them feel obligated to entertain. We love how much time we’re getting to spend with our people! The challenging part with the time we spend in people’s towns is that we’re living our daily life but also in visiting mode, and even though we have our own house and space, we’re still living on someone else’s schedule. And while the time together a treat and loads of fun, sometimes we visit people back to back to back, and it’s hard to explain to the friend at the end of the party train that while I’m excited to spend time together, I’ve been visiting for weeks straight with no personal time and I really just want to watch Project Runway on my couch with my pets for a bit.
- P.S. This must be said. Just because we come out of the Turtle at noon, doesn’t mean we slept until noon! We sometimes get raised eyebrows for our “late start to the day.” Never in my old life would I wake up and race right over to a friend’s house first thing. We’re still in our house, and like to make coffee and hang out together and cuddle the animals and get ready and finish the chapter in the book that we fell asleep reading the night before. Yes, we like to sleep in. No, not until noon. Just to clarify. 😉
Pets’ Limitations
- Despite the fact that Gracie and Scout are living their dream life, there are, of course, complications involved in traveling with your pets. There are some places we go that aren’t as pet friendly, such as the National Parks where they have to stay on their leashes and don’t get as much exercise. When we’re at less pet-friendly spots, such as friend’s houses or areas outdoors where we have safety concerns, they get a little stir crazy because they’ve gotten so used to having the run of the place, and don’t understand why we’re closing the door on them. If anyone speaks cat, please tell me the translation for “Stop yowling and clawing at the door! There are coyotes howling in the distance and I don’t care how high you climbed that tree yesterday, you’re not tougher than a coyote, dummy!” We’d appreciate it.
People’s Expectations
- It never occurred to me how much we’d have to explain our lifestyle until we were living it! Full-time vandwelling is very polarizing. I told Andy while we were building the Turtle that the best part about making such a quirky vehicle is that it will more quickly make apparent the people we have the most in common with. And that’s been 100% true; we make friends on the road just getting out of the Turtle. People who appreciate what we’ve made always turn out to be people we’d love to spend time with, and often they have their own adventure-mobiles that we can check out and be excited about too.
- Our supporters are the strong majority, however there are also a handful of people who can’t wrap their heads around it and have bunches of questions for us. We love answering questions, because we know it’s an uncommon lifestyle choice and hard to comprehend, but we’ve found we have to address many of the same questions from people who aren’t so sure about our decision and who are unwilling to alter their preconceptions about the right way to live. Here’s a short list of answers to these questions.
  - The Turtle is a conversion van, and we live in the Turtle.
  - Yes, we have a house. The Turtle is our house.
  - No, we don’t have a back-up house somewhere. Do you?
  - Yes, it’s a small space. We love living in our simple, cozy little space.
  - No, we don’t wish we lived in a bigger space. We gave up a bigger space for this.
  - Yes, when we’re done with Turtle living we will eventually live in a house again.
  - No, we don’t have plans for where we’ll live after this is all over.
  - No, we don’t know when that will be.
  - No, we’re definitely not ready to come back to regular life yet.
  - No, we don’t want to rent your cousin’s guest house.
  - Yes, I do appreciate your concern. But we have a house. The Turtle is our house.
Finding Time, At Times
- There are a few things that don’t change, no matter what lifestyle you’re working with. They always come as a surprise to me, because it seems like a huge shift in environment would bring a huge shift in lots of other areas of life too.
- One that hasn’t changed is that there’s just never enough time! Between getting improvements on the Turtle done, Andy’s work, my freelancing work, writing blog posts, cleaning, cooking, travel time, planning upcoming travels, cleaning, staying in touch with friends, grooming the animals, exploring the surroundings, and cleaning, it’s hard to establish a routine. Additionally, these things also have to be coordinated with the weather, access to tools, the time between destinations, and availability of stores or facilities from place to place. We’re still working on finding the balance between work and play, just as we always were when we lived in Portland.
Missing Friends
- ACK, this one is tricky! It’s funny because we’re getting to spend so much more time with our friends and family who are all spread out, but we miss our Portland friends SO much! We had a great bunch of strange and awesome people there, and it’s hard to be away from all the fun we had. Two of my sisters live right outside Portland too, so I’m also mourning the loss of sister and auntie time. Every choice comes with some sort of sacrifice, and we are regularly aware of how much we miss everyone.
- It’s also worth noting that the more we see of our long-distance friends and reconnect, the more we miss them as the Turtle pulls away. So there’s that too.

Last but not least, we have an honorable mention! A list item that belonged in both lists:

Breaking Down
- Con: The Turtle was made in 1985, so it’s no spring chicken. It has loads of quirks and issues, and we frequently break down. Sometimes it’s while we’re traveling down a snowy highway and we have to coast across 70 mph traffic to get to the only available pull-off before we roll to a complete stop, white-knuckled on the steering wheel. Sometimes it’s in front of our friends’ house, and we have to impose ourselves upon their lives for extra days (that one was actually a pro for us but you see what I’m getting at). Sometimes we pull off I90 to see why we’re losing power and there are burning flamedrops falling from under the hood, or “little hot spots” as Andy refers to them. All those hypothetical scenarios aside, though it’s annoying, it comes with one awesome. . .
- Pro: If we are ever stranded somewhere, we’re stranded in our house! It’s like being snowed in. We don’t go anywhere for a bit, but we’ve got food and heat, our bed and blankets, and wine and games. So it’s not the panic that usually comes with breaking down. We make a lot of jokes about our house breaking down. 🙂

Well, there you have it! We’re still learning as we go, and finding new positive and negative aspects to Turtle life all the time. I’ll be sure to mention both sides in future blog posts. That is, if I can find the time. . .

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