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3 Months in Baja: Border Crossing to San Felipe

Since we first moved into the Turtle, an extended tour of Baja had been at the top of our travel list, though it continuously got delayed due to too much fun in the border states! We’d prepared for the trip as much as we could manage amidst other adventures—which is to say we bought the book everyone recommends for travelers driving through Mexico. It’s called the Traveler’s Guide to Mexican Camping by Mike and Terri Church, and we found it a useful resource for planning the trip. We’d recommend it for anyone planning a van or RV trip to Baja and/or mainland Mexico.

It gave us enough information to choose a border crossing that worked best for us, informed us of the crossing process and procedure, what cards we’d need to obtain after arriving, and helped us make our lists of things to do before crossing, such as buy Mexican insurance, ensure we were up to date on the required pet vaccinations, and get some pesos to have on hand, as credit cards are scarcely accepted. It has a fairly up to date list of all the campgrounds in Mexico, which is quite useful since cell service is unreliable on the peninsula, making it difficult to look up places to stay while you’re on the move.

It also recommended we stay overnight somewhere near the border so we could cross earlier in the day when there is less traffic, which was something we’d planned on doing anyway as we still had some research to do now that our Baja trip was actually on the horizon. We found a great spot in El Centro—not far from our chosen border at Calexico—that was so fabulous that we decided to stay an extra day!

The Rio Bend RV Resort was the perfect place to relax, swim, and get all the necessary pre-Baja jobs done, such as laundry, flushing tanks, using WiFi to buy insurance and get it printed at the office, dying hair, etc. (Dying hair is on the to-do list for all travelers, right?)

They have a great dog park, a golf course, a pool and hot tub, an outdoor bar by the pool with great happy hour food and drink specials, special events like the Murder Mystery dinner we attended, and a staff that was so nice we felt like regulars the first hour we were there!

We were fully refreshed and super excited the morning we drove to the border. It was about 10 a.m. when we got there, and we only had a handful of cars in line in front of us! Of course since we’re in a van—and a bizarre one at that— we expected that every time a search was possible, for us it was inevitable. Over the next few months that assumption proved true, though every search was an easy and pleasant experience, including our first one going into Mexicali. They just asked us to get out of the van so they could look around in the back, and as I held onto Scout outside, Andy gave the tour and did his best with a language barrier to tell the young guy what our plans were in Baja. It took all of five minutes and we were on the way!

It was overwhelming driving our big van into Mexicali, where we didn’t yet know what all the signs meant and traffic laws seem optional. I recommend getting the signage basics under your belt before going to Mexico, since knowing that a sign with a big “E” means “Parking” is helpful when trying to navigate through a wildly busy city trying to find an invisible Banjercito. We somehow found a place to park, found the Banjercito, got our tourist cards, and got out of town!

We drove across miles and miles of desert on our way south, laughing about the funny thing that had happened the day before.

While we were staying at the RV park, we had casually been reviewing our plan to drive straight to San Felipe as we got ready to go for a swim. Andy sat on the couch and looked at his email, and after a few minutes smiling at his phone he let me know that he’d gotten an email from our friends Gary and Kiki, who we’d met at Mesa Verde National park last year and who have also been traveling full time in their charming van named Birdie. He related that they just wanted to say hello and let us know that they had decided to spend the winter in Baja, and presently they were enjoying a lovely spot on the beach just outside of San Felipe! Holy moly! Andy wrote back to let them know that we would see them tomorrow.

And now we were on our way, knowing we’d have a place to stay next door to friends!

We got to Gary and Kiki’s spot later in the evening, and sat outside for a few hours talking about where we’d all been and where we planned to go in Baja. It was totally surreal accidentally seeing friends in Mexico, and just so much fun.

We thought we’d spend at least a few days at that spot as we acclimated to the new environment and enjoyed some time with our friends. Birdie and the Turtle looked so cute on the beach together. Animal vans unite!

On our first day there we could hardly wait to go grab a few tacos, so we drove into San Felipe and picked a spot on the malecon for some carne asada and tacos adobadas. We sat outside with a view of the ocean and devoured those tasty cheap tacos. As we’re both big-time taco lovers, we made it our personal mission to find the best tacos in Baja, a job we exuberantly embraced.

We checked out a few nearby shops and then stopped at a cute spot for a beer while we tried to memorize the pesos to dollars conversion. I got all the coins out of my wallet to look at the pesos, and we laughed at the combination of change I had on me. It was a fun reminder of all the places we’ve been.

On our way back to the campsite, we stopped at the Calimax grocery store, and as we started the Turtle to leave we had our first Mexico breakdown! I took a photo for our records as Andy successfully fixed it. (It’s funny that these events are just a quick line item any more, as opposed to a tragic tale of how our day was ruined. Andy knows his stuff!)

On our second morning in Baja I woke up wondering where I was, as is part of my normal morning routine these days. I climbed down from bed and looked out the back window to this happy view:

What a spot for a morning frisbee session!

Until we learned more about the area and the potential wildlife that could be nearby, Gracie stayed inside or came out only on a leash. Luckily there were lots of birds around for her to chatter at through the window.

She also really enjoyed the warm weather and powerful sunbeams.

We also were very pleased with the warm weather, despite the first few days of wind. I spent a lot of time on the beach with Scout, who may have been the most pleased of all of us to have the endless beach at his disposal.

We also really enjoyed catching up with Gary and Kiki, who were the most fun neighbors during our first week in Baja!

We went for beach walks, talked vans and travel (of course), enjoyed morning coffee together, and sat out overlooking the water watching the sun set.

One evening as Andy and I walked along the beach with Scout, we came across this interesting fellow:

We also ran into another interesting fellow, our friend Jordan who we’d recently met at RTR, the van meetup in Quartzite earlier that month!

He was traveling south to the mainland, and swung by San Felipe to say hello and get Andy’s assistance with some new solar panels. The more we travel, the smaller the world seems to be, and having a friend just “stop by” our campsite in Baja is now a thing.

The boys got to work wiring and affixing the panel, which was not always easy, but entertaining to watch.

We went for dinner and drinks after the job was done. Jordan introduced us to quesatacos, which are a perfect blend of carne asada and melted Mexican cheese, and became a favorite of ours throughout the trip.

We had a campfire that night while we watched Jordan’s first few YouTube videos documenting his travels. They’re hilarious and really well made, and if you want to follow his journey you can do that here:

We thought it was funny that, while we watched a part about a wood piece he’d had in the back of his truck but just removed, we were at that moment using it as fuel for the fire! So I took a picture of them side by side.

A day or two after Jordan took off for the mainland, we were still at our awesome beach overlook site when my birthday showed up! It was a most incredible day. For breakfast we had coffee and fresh Mexican pastries.

Then as I got ready for the day, there was a knock at the door and standing outside were Andy, Gary, Kiki and our other sweet neighbors Stashik and Dorota. They sang Happy Birthday to me and Stashik played a second verse on his harmonica. What a wonderful start to a special day!

I played on the beach with Scout for a while and collected sea shells.

Then Andy and I went into town for lunch. . .

Walked along the malecon. . .

And then on the way home we picked up some fireworks! We had a campfire with all four neighbors, and lit sparklers.

Then we went down to the beach and lit off some mortars, the first time my birthday was celebrated with fireworks! After the show, we went back up to the campfire and had birthday cake. Gary played some songs on his guitar, and we all told stories of our lives up north.

Then if all the festivities weren’t enough, that night was a full lunar eclipse! We all went to bed after the fire and set our alarms for 4 a.m. so we could wake up and watch the show. We had coffee and thin slices of birthday cake as we watched the moon disappear. What a day! It was all very special.

After a week at our lovely spot, we thought it was time to hit the road. There was still so much more to see! Stashik and Dorota were headed home to Canada, and Gary and Kiki had planned to stay a bit longer and then drive to their destination outside of Mulege. We all said goodbye-for-now, and Andy and I continued down the road.

We stopped for the night at a dispersed camping spot on the beach just south of Puertecitos. We got there right in time for a beautiful pastel sunset and a quick frisbee session before dark.

After the sun went down, we put our head lamps on and explored the rocky beach. We saw more sea life than some aquariums have to offer! It was super neat.

We’d also been tipped off by some locals that the beach had rock oysters, and after extensive searching in the dark we found about five of them, which Andy ate raw right on the spot. I tried one and did not enjoy it, but I do like the searching part.

The next day was another sunny morning in Baja. After coffee on the beach and some pelican watching, we hopped in the Turtle and drove further down the crazy Mex 5, bumping and lurching our way along the dirt road they call a highway that rivaled any we’ve braved before!

But that’s a whole other story.

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.

Mojave National Preserve: Kelso Dunes

Everyone has heard me say it over and over—whether in defense of my inability to supply Turtle arrival dates and destinations or even just to tell stories involving unexpected delights and trials—and just in case you haven’t heard me say it lately, I’m here today to say it again! When you travel full time and are regularly on the move, there’s not a lot of time to make future plans. We’re always in the middle of an experience, so not only do we not have time to sit and research, we also could change course at a moment’s notice and then all the time we spent planning would be for nothing. So we just wing it, and more often than not we’re pleasantly surprised!

There was a whole lot more to Mojave National Preserve than we’d imagined, and the next stop was the Kelso Dunes on the south side of the preserve.

Just a little ways past the Kelso Dunes Trail parking is a free dispersed camping area, where we found a nice spot against the dunes, had some lunch, and let the animals out to play in the sand.

While Andy sat outside the Turtle, basking in the sun and sanding a car part to artistic perfection, Scout and I embarked on a hike up the dunes.

The dunes give the landscape no sense of perspective, but if you can see the line where the light sand meets the darker shade, just to the right of the green swath in the middle is the lighter dirt of the parking area, where a teeny tiny turtle sits almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

After a few hot hours of slow and steady climbing, we got nearly to the top when we were faced with a nearly vertical wall of sand. I tried scrambling up at top speed, but the moment my hand dug into the sand, this happened:

My hands and feet would get buried in the sand avalanche and I’d slide right back down! After some serious top speed climbing and a ton of grunting and a few requests to Scout to stop making it look so easy, we made it to the top.

Totally worth it!

A wonderfully long hike is not its own reward in Scout’s opinion, so I had to make the journey worth his while by playing a little frisbee with him on top of the world.

When the day began, I couldn’t have anticipated that this would be my backyard vista. Another pleasant surprise for the books.

A Sun Story: Canyonlands National Park

Both Andy and I grew up in Montana, and later lived in Seattle and Portland for the better part of our adult lives. This was mostly a coincidence, as we didn’t meet until we were both living in Portland, though early on we discovered that our paths had crossed many times over the years. We joke that our first concert together was The Pixies at Bumbershoot years ago, despite the fact that we didn’t know each other at that point.

We love Montana and the Pacific Northwest dearly, or we wouldn’t have stayed so long! But I think we can all agree that none of these places are known for an abundance of warmth and sunshine. Which is why, as we get farther and farther south, we’ve been amazed at the effect the sunshine has had on us. We’ve been infused with energy and feel so ready to take on the day each morning, and it only occurred to us after a few weeks in Utah that the sunshine may have something to do with it. We’re not used to all this vitamin D and the great feeling of sunshine warming our toes in their flip flops.

Luckily, we made it out to some seriously wide open spaces that can accommodate our ebullient sunshine-infused energy. After exploring Arches, we stayed one last night at our great BLM site north of Moab, then drove the short distance to Canyonlands National Park.

It’s big.

The park is divided into four sections, with no continuous road connecting them due to the paths of the Green and Colorado rivers.

The districts are:

Island in the Sky
The Needles
The Maze
The Rivers

They each have separate entrance points and every area offers a unique park experience. We were closest to the Island in the Sky, which is one of the more developed portions of the park, with hiking trails and a designated campground.

Right away we decided to drive straight through to the end of the road, at Grand View Point.

There’s an overlook with an incredible view, and an easy walking trail that follows the rim of the Island in the Sky for about a mile out one way.

The viewpoint at the end of the trail is 360 breathtaking degrees of, well, canyonlands! It’s hard to grasp the scale of it.

On the walk back we wandered off the main trail to check out the landscape a little farther from the rim. It’s a great playground, and we ran and climbed around the smooth rock formations under the sunshine.

When we got back to the Turtle, the sun was beginning to go down. We drove out to the Green River Overlook to watch it slide like melting butter across the rolling hills below.

The view in the other direction wasn’t bad either! The saturated evening sun lit the rocks and bushes, painting everything in rich golds.

Near the Green River Overlook is the Willow Flat Campground, where we decided to stay for the night. There’s a lot of room to walk around there too, so we took Scout out to explore while we watched the rocks change colors. (As we walked he was on his leash per park rules, but I liked the backdrop so I took it off for the photo. He’s getting a lot better at having his picture taken and didn’t move an inch the whole time. Good boy!)

The sunset was as grand and spectacular as the canyon views.

The next morning we got up before the sun rose to walk up to Mesa Arch, which the ranger recommended we see at sunrise. Apparently it’s the most photographed spot in the park, as the rising sun illuminates the underside of the arch beautifully.

He was right!

We drove around the park afterwards as we drank our coffee and looked at the map to find one more hike before leaving. We decided on Whale Rock, which was a moderate hike with a cool name. I loved this hike.

The views were expansive from way up on the huge smooth rock dome that actually did feel like walking on a whale’s back. We played with shadows in the crisp morning light and tried not to blow off the edge as the wind picked up.

We left the park glowing with happiness and moved west until we reached a dispersed camp area outside St. George. Scout and Gracie were ready to get out and play too, and this spot was perfect for us all to hop out and run around.

I looked out the back window after the animals had been out for a bit and caught them in a sweet moment.

I guess all this sunshine is really working wonders for everyone! I think we’ll stay down here a while.

Disc Golf, Hot Springs, Board Games, & Animal Photos: The Nelsons Come to Missoula!

Guess who came to visit us in Montana last month:

Kona!

And she brought our good friends and long-time-ago neighbors, Lisa and Rhema!

We were super excited when we heard that they would be coming out to Montana around the same time we were dropping in from Canada, so we made plans to meet up for a week in my beloved old stomping grounds—Missoula.

Fall was in full swing when they arrived, and despite the fact that the forecast said we’d have mostly rainy and cold weather, it was crisp and sunny for almost the entire trip. Since we’d anticipated the October-in-Montana weather, though, Rhema and Lisa had planned on staying in the Jeep, and they made a super-cool bed platform and suction cup curtains so that they could sleep inside. They did an awesome job, and had lots of room for storage under the platform and so much overhead clearance that Andy and I commented numerous times about how luxurious it was! Lisa even strung up tiny lights across the inside making it incredibly cozy.

(I forgot to get a picture of that, probably because we’re all animal people and mostly took photos of the pets having fun. So brace yourself for copious animal photos!)

Since both parties were mobile, we’d planned on visiting a few camp sites around the Missoula and Lolo areas. It’s the winter season so we had only a few options for open campgrounds, but the ones available were some of my old favorites, so it worked out brilliantly.

The first site we visited was Chief Looking Glass, just south of Lolo. We like this spot because there is a great site on the edge of a huge field, so Gracie can roam and the dogs (and their people) can run around and play frisbee.

Both Rhema and Lisa are incredible disc golfers, so we told them before they came to bring their discs because Missoula is a big “folf” town and has two great courses nearby. (For Rhema’s sake, that’s the last time I’ll use the term, but for accuracy I have to acknowledge that it’s what Missoulians call the sport.)

On our first full day of the trip, we went up to the Blue Mountain course and Andy and I got a lesson in disc golf from the pros. They were so professional in fact that they didn’t once complain about having to walk slowly beside me as I threw 5 times before my disc reached where their first throw landed.

We all agreed that this was a great way to get a taste of the Montana scenery while catching up and playing a game. And aside from a few minutes of rain and later a few minutes of hail, the weather held up quite nicely.

Kona also tagged along and sniffed her way through the course, though Scout did not, for obvious reasons. For a frisbee-obsessed dog, it would have been pure torture watching us throw discs and making him leave them alone.

Toward the end of the course, Kona’s sniffing led her to a very wild and wonderful smell which she loved so much she couldn’t resist rubbing her face and body all over it. It turned out to be some wild animal scat, which was so potent and foul that she required a soapy shower when we got back to the parking lot!

She was pretty sheepish about it, but a good sport.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to walk down to the river to rinse her soap off, we wouldn’t have seen the tiny fuzzy bear cub that walked across our path on the way back! We waited a bit to make sure his mom wasn’t right behind, then quickly got back to the cars and drove back to Chief Looking Glass.

The next morning was another sunny one, and we had our coffee by the river near our site.

Then we took advantage of the sunshine and drove out to Pattee Canyon to try out the disc golf course there. It’s a very densely wooded course, so the soundtrack to this outing was the constant cracking of plastic against trees.

We kept score this time, and it will surprise no one that Rhema and Lisa did very very well, Andy did well, and everyone acknowledged that I participated.

Whether or not you’re a first-rate disc golfer, it’s a beautiful walk through the woods and we had a great time. Afterwards we took our sore arms (it truly is a work-out on the old triceps) to Tamarack Brewing to try lifting some beers, and also ordered their Keg Of Nachos that is as delicious as it is enormous. Between the four of us we couldn’t finish the thing!

We decided to switch things up and go to another site for the night, a favorite of mine when I lived in Missoula—Thibodeau Campground. It’s open all year, right on the Blackfoot River and far away from civilization, so you can hear the river while you watch the myriad stars at night. It’s a great spot.

Rhema and Lisa have a great camera and when paired with Rhema’s equally great camera skills, we got a bunch of gorgeous photos of the animals!

Just a few minutes from the campground is a local-favorite day-use spot called Red Rocks. It’s just a short walk from the parking area. . .

And then you’re right on the river with a stunning backdrop across the water!

It was another beautiful day, and Scout wasted no time getting in the water to swim, fetch sticks, and watch us skip stones. Rhema caught his tail in mid-swish as Andy skipped a stone.

We spent a few hours at Red Rocks, enjoying the weather and making some sweet cairns.

The water was so lovely and appealing that after some time considering it, Rhema finally couldn’t help himself and had to jump in!

As he dried off, he and Andy built a very charming stone man.

Scout just pretty much tried to get us to throw sticks the whole time.

And Kona practiced her camouflage skills.

On the way back into Missoula, Kona rode along with us in the Turtle. She loved it and sat up front the entire time like it was her usual spot!

Scout sat in the front-middle for the first part of the trip, and then in the back for the last bit.

When we got back to town, we stoped for a beer and a few games of shuffleboard at Kettle House Brewery.

Scout and Kona watched us from the Turtle when we came out to the patio to play a game of Rummikub.

The next day we drove into Lolo National Forest to stay a night at Lolo Hot Springs. We got a nice spot at their campground and paid entry to the hot springs so we could soak before dinner, after dinner, and then before bed. We got our money’s worth for sure!

The next morning we had coffee at the restaurant and discussed plans for the day. Should we drive farther into the forest and find a dispersed camping spot, stay another night, or camp somewhere else on the other side of Missoula? As we thought it over, we noticed that since we’d been at the restaurant the night before they’d added a bunch of balloons hanging over the bar. We asked what they were, and the bartender said they were full of coupons and cost $2 each to pop one and see what’s inside. Well of course we had to!

We each popped one, and the bartender bought us two additional balloons, so we ended up with six coupons, one for a free tent site and one for a free cabin site! Plus free soaks and free drinks. . . and the decision was made. We stayed another night!

The cabin was tiny and adorable, and made for a great spot to dry our swim suits in between soaks.

That night we spent a few hours in the restaurant eating dinner, playing Catan, having some drinks, and laughing about how we basically got a free day of fun at Lolo Hot Springs!

When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit.

But as we drove back toward Missoula, the snow eventually melted and we had beautiful views of the bright yellow larches covering the mountains.

When we got back to town, we stopped at Rockin’ Rudy’s to browse for souveniers, Andy got a fancy new pair of sunglasses, and then we took the dogs down to Bark Park, a great dog park right on the river near the university.

As the day neared its end, so did our visit with Rhema and Lisa. We went back to Chief Looking Glass for one last night of fun and games and animal friend snuggles. Gracie adopted Rhema early on in the trip, and every game session in the Turtle looked much like this:

Also this:

We realized after the sun had gone down that we hadn’t taken a group shot yet! So Rhema set up the camera and we gave it our best attempt.

Perfect.

We were very sad when it was time to say goodbye the next day, as we always are after a visit from Lisa, Rhema and Kona.

We miss you guys! But especially now that you have that sweet setup in the back of the Jeep, we know we’ll see you down the road. Thanks so much for coming our way and spending your week off with us! We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward Baja, so you can start driving that way too. . .

Wildlife Safari on the Alaska Highway

Remember that time I said we loved spotting wildlife? Well we really loved the drive down through British Columbia into Alberta.

As we pulled away from Liard Hot Springs, we made it about 100 feet before spotting this darling lineup of wood bison.

We read in one of our travel pamphlets that while wood bison are a subspecies of the American bison, they differ slightly from the plains bison that are more common in the States. The most obvious difference is in size: these guys are much larger than the bison we’d seen before, and when we looked it up we learned that they are the largest land mammal in North America. Large males can weigh over 2,000 lbs!

I found this handy visual online which compares the two:

As I read this information aloud to Andy as we drove, he tapped my arm and pointed up ahead.

There, on both sides of the road, were about 60 or more wood bison! They ranged in size from hulking males to darling little fuzzy babies.

We pulled over to watch them graze and nap in the tall grass, while others crossed the road right in front of us to meet their group on the other side.

It was very, very exciting—for us, not the wood bison. They seemed pretty nonplussed by the whole encounter.

After a while we decided to move along, and the landscape along the Alaska Highway was just as incredible to watch as the wildlife.

It wasn’t long before we came across another neat animal: a female rock sheep. She was the only one we saw during that portion of the drive, despite the signs all along the road telling us to watch out for rock sheep.

After we passed rock sheep country, we stopped to take a picture of the beautiful rainbow of fall colors on the hill, and this time I was the wildlife being observed from someone inside the Turtle.

The drive took us up into the mountains and then back down again as we approached Fort St. John, B.C.

Once we’d left the mountains we thought the wildlife spotting was over, but just outside of town we came across this handsome couple:

We hadn’t seen as many caribou as Andy had hoped, so this close-up view was just perfect.

There’s a great rocky beach just south of Fort St. John that lots of locals go to launch boats and spend the day, and we saw other boondockers there for the night as well. That night we watched the Northern Lights while Scout and Gracie sniffed around on their leashes, and in the morning we played outside for a while before getting back in the Turtle and driving some more.

Typically we prefer to move really slowly and drive a maximum of two hours a day when we’re not camped out. We’re not in any hurry, it’s cheaper and uses less gas, and we get to see so much more of the world and have more impromptu adventures that way. But since we were trying to stay ahead of the weather, we’d been driving much more frequently than usual, and it was starting to catch up with us. Being in a van all day is not why we’re living in a van!

So when we finally reached Whitecourt, naps were in order. Gracie is the best nap buddy a person could ask for.

Waking people up to interact and play is much more in Scout’s wheelhouse.

We pushed on, and within about 20 minutes of each other we watched a black bear cross the road in front of us, and then a lynx. I speculated that British Columbia wanted to make sure we left satisfied and was quickly sending animals out for us to have one last treat before we crossed over into Alberta.

Alberta felt very metropolitan compared to the rural areas we’d gotten used to, but it was exciting to have cell service and reasonable gas prices again. We decided to take a trip to the West Edmonton Mall to get our wave pool and waterslides on at the World Waterpark. It was a great way to spend a blustery day, and as full-time travelers we always appreciate a fun activity that ends in free showers.

The next day we returned to check out Galaxyland in the mall and went on the “largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster,” the Mindbender, which is very aptly named. Holy moly.

After a few days in town, we escaped back to nature. We had plans to meet up on the road with some friends we met at Diablo Canyon in New Mexico last year, Eric and his PBD (plain black dog), Willow.

We stayed for the weekend at a dispersed campsite outside of Hinton, AB. It was a great spot to catch up on the past year’s travels, have a few beers, enjoy a nice fire in the pit Andy built, and watch some animal playtime.

Now that we were moving away from the land of many predators, we let Gracie have a little supervised off-leash time, and she chose to use her freedom to revisit her favorite sun porch and oversee everyone else’s activities.

While we’re on the subject of wildlife, there are three pets in this picture. Can you spot them all?

Eric is a 5-star animal lover and was a patient and accommodating friend to Scout, throwing toys for him almost every time Scout asked. That meant he was busy from morning to night. Willow loves a cozy chair and a sunbeam, so she didn’t mind watching her human play with another dog.

In case you were wondering, this is what the aftermath of two days of being totally spoiled looks like:

The next day, he was back to his old self and ready to go again!

Of all the wildlife we’ve gotten to see along the way, these two are the strangest and sweetest.

Hmm . . . make that “these three.” Wild beasts, all. I think I’ll keep them.

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.

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!

On Top of the World: North on The Dalton Highway to Deadhorse, AK

Andy loves maps. So when we got our Milepost to plan our trip up to Alaska and it had a big Alaska map included, he was super excited. He unfolded it and we started pointing at places we would visit, and finding new places we didn’t know existed, like Chicken, Alaska. I noticed the Deadhorse dot way at the top of the state and said, “So are we going to the top of Alaska too, then?” Immediately I could see Andy’s wheels turning. We did a little quick research. And thus began our two-month-long back-and-forth decision/indecision about making the drive up the Dalton High to Deadhorse, Alaska.

The reason the decision wasn’t obvious is that the Dalton Highway has a bit of a reputation. It’s been featured on BBC’s World’s Most Dangerous Roads, America’s Toughest Jobs, and was the focus of four seasons of Ice Road Truckers. It’s a beast.

Here’s the rundown:

It’s a 414-mile road between Livengood and Deadhorse.
Nearly the whole route is dirt and gravel and in rough condition, with grades up to 12%.
It is one of the most isolated roads in the US, with only three towns along the route: Coldfoot (pop. 10), Wiseman (pop. 14), and Deadhorse (permanent pop. 25-50 but there are several thousand workers living there at any given time).
As the longest stretch of unserviced road on the North American continent, the Dalton is totally remote and has no cell service along the entire route until Deadhorse.
There is one gas station in Coldfoot and one in Deadhorse.
It gets cold up there. In 1971 it was the location of the coldest temperature ever recorded in North America at -82 degrees.
Atigun Pass through the Brooks Range is at elevation 4,739 feet and is considered quite treacherous, especially in unfavorable conditions.
It was built as a service road during the construction of the Alaska pipeline and is still used primarily by supply trucks—about 160 daily in the summer and 250 daily in winter and they’re all driving at top speed and have the right of way.
Travel tips on various sites include bringing two spare tires, plenty of extra fuel, survival gear, and your own surgical supplies.
The road ends at Deadhorse, which is not a town in the traditional sense but an industrial camp in the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. So there’s not much to do once you get there.

According to a NY Times article, “In addition to these numerous privations, there is also no good reason for a nonprofessional driver to drive the Dalton Highway.” When we asked around, most Alaskans and fellow travelers we talked to about making the drive told us emphatically that it was a bad idea and just don’t do it.

So there was that.

You’d think that would be enough to make the decision quick and easy. Buuuuuut. . . we were also feeling compelled by the other characteristics of that most remote wilderness. For example:

Just south of Coldfoot you pass into the Arctic Circle!
We’d get to see arctic tundra and (hopefully) arctic wildlife.
The Arctic Ocean is just beyond Deadhorse, and though the area is blocked by security, there is a tour company that will take you right to the ocean, after you pass a security check and pay them $70 a person.
Gates of the Arctic National Park sits on the west side of the highway, and though you can’t access the park by car, you can hike in on foot from a few parking areas.
The terminus at Deadhorse is the farthest north you can drive in North America. And we have plans to drive to Chile one day, so it would be pretty freakin’ cool to have driven the continents from top to bottom.
Apparently it’s really, really beautiful up there.
It’s almost completely wild.
Adventure calls!

I think by now you have a pretty good idea of where we landed on this one, especially if you read the title of this post. (We decided to go.) A few final pushes in that direction came from our friend Sam, who is a native Alaskan and knows all the information contained in both above lists and said that he wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone, but he knows the Turtle is capable and so are we, and that we should definitely do it. That’s all Andy needed to hear, so he was locked in. I was at 98% until my friend Lexie sent me a video by a pair of overlanders who had made the trip just a week earlier in their truck camper, and the scenery was more beautiful than I’d even imagined, and also they saw a baby grizzly bear. So I was locked in.

We got to Fairbanks, got all our supplies in order and bought a CB radio so we could communicate with the truckers as an added safety measure. We got up early the next morning and began our northward journey to the top of Alaska.

The first thing we noticed was the Alaska Pipeline, which was to be our one constant over the next few days, as it parallels the Dalton all the way to Deadhorse.

Also notable was how much more it felt like fall! It was much colder and the colors were gorgeous.

The pavement soon ended and we began the brain-rattling portion of the journey across the pitted, wash-boarded and pot-holed dirt road that would continue all the way to Deadhorse. It was a really beautiful drive, and we still felt pretty fresh when we saw the Arctic Circle sign and pulled over to take a few pictures.

The Turtle still looked blue at this point, too! We continued on to Coldfoot, watching the lovely scenery as well as the gas gauge.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we finally reached Coldfoot after 8 long hours, and were pleasantly surprised to discover the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center tucked away on the west side of the highway. The facility is a cozy spot to learn about the Northern Lights and the flora and fauna of the area, and they have maps available and flyers with information about Coldfoot, Wiseman, and Deadhorse since there’s no cell service all along the highway.

They also print out the weather forecast for the towns and the Atigun Pass, which on our visit showed snowflakes in the next day’s box. We’d already made it halfway there, so there was no turning back. We filled up with gas across the road and had a surprisingly top-notch dinner buffet at the restaurant/bar/gift shop/one building in the town that felt kind of like a church basement but really served up a mean meal. Then we drove just a bit north of town to a nice little turnout for the night.

As predicted, the next day was super cold and foggy and the snow loomed on the horizon.

We could barely see the scenery behind all that fog!

There were huge mountains on all sides but after a while we couldn’t see them even a little. It was just a blank white backdrop in every direction.

As we gained elevation approaching the Atigun Pass, the snow set in so suddenly that we were climbing the pass before we realized it and it was too late to chain up. If there were any turnouts we couldn’t see them at all, and there was barely enough room for two cars to pass one another, much less to pull off enough to not get hit by other passing vehicles.

We climbed and climbed, following the guard rails since that’s all we could see, and hoping against hope that the speedy ice road truckers wouldn’t blast by us.

At least we could read the road signs. . . what does that one say? Avalance Area? Oh good.

Andy handled that Turtle brilliantly, and I alternated between nervous picture taking and looking at the sky so I wouldn’t have to look over the dropoff into the white abyss. We finally made it through, and amazingly encountered no trucks. But even after the pass, the roads were so slippery that we pulled over on the road that leads to Galbraith Campground to chain up as a precaution.

On the return drive, we noted this spot was where we’d pulled over and were shocked to discover that there had been mountains surrounding us the whole time, but we had no idea.

Scout loved this stop. He’s a real snow hound, and he bounded through the snow and grazed on it and tried to get me to run with him, but it was too slippery. We did get an arctic frisbee session in though.

Soon the snow lessened, so we asked a driver on the CB if there was any more snow between us and Deadhorse. He said it was nothing but mud, so we removed the chains and bumped lurched down the road the rest of the way through the arctic tundra. It felt like being on another planet. It’s completely flat as far as the eye can see!

From the literature we took from the Visitor Center, I learned that because the ground is all permafrost beneath the top layer, there is a lot of standing water in the tundra because it has nowhere to go. Seeing little puddles and lakes everywhere wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was really interesting and beautiful.

After 10 exhausting, jarring hours, we made it to Deadhorse!

We really felt like we were on top of the world. I put on 10 layers and Andy put on his one extra layer so we could examine the Turtle and let the animals out. Gracie hopped out, felt the cold, and jumped right back in. Scout was unfazed and just wanted to play frisbee again.

We were thrilled and amazed that the only part that had come off the Turtle had been removed intentionally—as we drove with the chains on, they were slapping into the corner of the running board on Andy’s side, so he just took it off. Otherwise, we’d made it in one piece!

We were worn out by the drive, so we hopped back in to cozy up for the evening and admire the view out our living room windows.

We’re all good at getting cozy, but Gracie is the professional. She zonked out so hard that when I jokingly put my hat on her head, she just slept right through it. We all could relate, and the whole gang slept like logs that night, excited to explore the northiest north the next day!

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