photography

3 Months in Baja: Guerrero Negro to Mulegé

By the time we left Guerrero Negro, we’d officially made it into Baja Sur and and had been in Baja for 21 memorable days.

That dotted line just above Guerrero Negro is the border of Baja California and Baja Sur. Since we snuck in the back entrance on the remote dirt road, we missed that border inspection and the cost of being sprayed for bugs there. Hopefully we didn’t have any hitchhikers!

Our next stop was Mulegé, which we’d been told by most other travelers was the best town in all of Baja. In fact, many people drive down as far as Mulegé and then just stay the entire winter there, usually just south of town somewhere along the Bahía de Concepción. We were excited to see it!

But first we passed through Santa Rosalía, a darling sleepy little town on the Sea of Cortez, a town unlike any other in Baja.

In the late 1800’s it was occupied by a French mining company who bought the rights to mine El Boleo copper mine there. The French influence can be seen throughout the town, from the remains of the mine, the wood architecture and the French bakery, Panadería El Boleo, that has been in constant operation since 1901 and is famous throughout the peninsula for its baguettes. I forgot to take a picture of it, but here some photos of the mining structures that were super neat.

Santa Rosalía’s other claim to fame is the Iglesia Santa Barbara de Santa Rosalía church, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (who you may know best from another little project he built in Paris). The church is made almost entirely of iron, which was constructed in Europe and then shipped in sections to Santa Rosalía where it was reassembled.

I discreetly took a quick photo of the interior before I saw the sign that asked me not to take any. But the damage had already been done, so the illicit photo remains here for your benefit.

On our way into town we investigated the spot that we’d chosen from iOverlander before arriving, dubbed it “Playa Basura” (Garbage Beach) and decided not to stay there. The historic town is wonderful, but the beaches there are black and trashed, and I didn’t like the idea of the animals running around there. So Santa Rosalía became our first in-town boondocking spot in Baja! We parked next to the town square by the Mahatma Ghandi Library, and chose a single spot instead of the double-length spot that another traveler had reported getting double parked behind the morning after boondocking there.

We walked around town for a while, visited a ferreteria where we learned the Spanish word for hardware store, and looked for a new backup bomba de combustible to replace the old backup that the Turtle was now using as its primary bomba de combustible. No luck there, but we had fun drawing pictures with the helpful guy behind the counter.

For dinner, we had two options: the place that looked like it had incredible tacos but was blaring club music so loud we couldn’t even hear our conversation about why we didn’t want to go there, or the place with the crazy menu. We chose crazy menu and decided to try out a Mexican pizza for the first time. Aside from the confounding addition of candied maraschino cherries on my Hawaiian side, it was pretty good!

We slept great in the middle of town, and in the morning noted that every single long parking spot was double parked, so we were grateful for the tip from the other travelers on iOverlander. Then we went to Coffee Star for some Wifi and the best mango smoothie Andy has ever had.

After trying my very best to catch up on the blog, I had to give up when I realized that uploading a single photo took 12 minutes every time. I tried, guys! The trickle of Wifi throughout Baja is the reason I’m still playing catch-up here. (We’re currently in California, but I promise we’ll get to that soon!)

We abandoned plans to get work done and went next door to a taco stand that advertised “Tacos de Guisado” which was a new term for us. I Googled it and learned that Tacos de Guisado are a stewed meat breakfast and lunch taco, and that the stands open early and close usually by 2 or 3 p.m. It was just before their 2 p.m. closing time, so after the patient woman showed us each pot of mouthwatering meat since my dictionary didn’t know any of the words on the board, we ordered a sampling of them and sat out in the shade to eat.

And holy cow. Remember when I said we were on a search for the best tacos in Baja? We did it! It’s like a pot roast taco, which might sound weird but I assure you it’s scrumptious.

Our other favorite feature of Santa Rosalía was the pink drive-through Six! And when I say drive-through, I don’t mean they have a window. Cars can drive right through the middle! We loved it.

We left Santa Rosalía full and happy, and drove the short distance to Mulegé.

The town is quiet, clean and very friendly. We ran into Ransom and Casey, some friends we’d met on the whale tour in Ojo de Liebre, walked around town some, and then stopped by a well-hidden second-story bar for a beer.

Before the sun set we drove up to El Faro, a public beach at the lighthouse just north of town.

The first night was fairly quiet, and we enjoyed the spot very much. We walked down the beach to a little outdoor restaurant and had dinner and margaritas, then spent a pleasant night by the water.

The next day we walked around Mulegé, met Ransom and Casey for breakfast at a really cute cafe, explored the shops, did some laundry, and generally enjoyed everyone’s favorite town in Baja.

We camped on the beach at El Faro with Ransom and Casey and were adopted by the local beach dogs. When we parted ways we made plans to meet up again somewhere down the road.

We loved Mulegé, but we had a bit of a deadline. . . our friend Jason was flying into Loreto in a few days, so we made it a quick stop and promised to spend more time there on our way up north. We’d been saying that a lot, actually. We were never ready to leave when the time came, but Baja is a big peninsula and there is a lot to see! So far we’d made it about two thirds of the way down, and the best was yet to come.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some of the construction areas were relatively flat and comfortable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh, that’s right, we went!

Andy didn’t stop smiling the entire time.

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

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

Then the race began!

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

The backdrop wasn’t bad, either.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I totally get it.

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

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

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

Another great time was had by all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I mean, what could go wrong?

3 Months in Baja: A Photo Snapshot

Hello everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

(Hopefully more tacos.)

Desert Magic

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can follow them on Instagram here:

@roaming_northamerica

@papapitufo_follow_our_trip

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The desert is magical, and the desert is bizarre.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soon a strong narrow beam emerged.

And it grew wider and brighter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She wouldn’t go for it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We earned our ecstatic victory photo!

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

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

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

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

Gracie got right on the job.

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

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

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

Catching Some Rays at Arches National Park

Living in a van comes with its own set of challenges, which are made increasingly more difficult when the weather is freezing. We’ve spent many months living in icy climates in the Turtle, and while the learning experience was necessary and helpful, we’re ready to put the cold temperatures behind us for a while. Everything is so much simpler in the sunshine. We don’t have to worry about tanks and water lines freezing, running out of propane so quickly, and water and dump facilities closing for the season. We don’t have to insulate the windows, making the interior a cave without a view. Andy doesn’t have to do maintenance under the hood with gloves on. Everything just works better in warm weather.

We discussed this while we were up in Alaska, dreaming up ideas and plans for the winter. Last winter we spent most of our time in the snow, and this winter we decided we’d be crazy not to follow the other snowbirds down south to enjoy a little sunshine!

As we left the snowy weather behind us in Spearfish, we decided to break our self-imposed rule to not travel more than a few hours a day in order to get out of the cold as soon as possible. We made quick time through a few states and finally slowed down once we hit sunshine in Utah. We could hardly believe it was December as we drove out to some BLM land outside of Moab and parked the Turtle in the sunny desert.

Scout and Gracie were pretty pleased too. One of Gracie’s favorite pastimes is rolling in the dirt, and she got right to it. That little beast was so covered in dirt she didn’t even look like the same cat. Scout and I played obstacle course Frisbee between the grasses and shrubs and ran around the flat landscape. Andy got his tools out and turned some wrenches under the Turtle. Everyone was feeling spectacular.

The best part was that we were this joyful and had only made it to our campsite. We still had a bunch of places to explore just down the road from us.

The first was Arches National Park. Yay!

Arches contains more than 2,000 natural arches, many of which are visible by car if you’re making a quick trip, and the rest can be seen along the myriad hiking trails that could easily occupy a few days in the park.

The first day we spent time in Moab before going to the park, resupplying and running errands, so we just popped into Arches as the sun was descending to drive through and see a few things before it got dark. Among other great rock formations, we saw the Three Gossips, Balanced Rock, and walked the short distance to the upper viewpoint where you can see Delicate Arch from afar. (That’s the iconic one you always see in pictures of Arches and on the Utah license plates.)

We went about halfway in, and after the sun went down we drove back north to our wonderful campsite on Willow Springs Road for the night.

The next day we arrived earlier so we could spend the day in the park.

First we took the very short walk back through tall rock walls to see Hidden Arch.

It seemed like the kind of place someone might pose like this, so I did.

Then we drove to the end of the road at Devil’s Garden Trailhead and walked in to see Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. There were a bunch more to see farther down the trail, but that hike can take a full day and we definitely wanted to do the 2-hour hike to Delicate Arch. It’s famous!

The Delicate Arch trail is a lot of fun, and I’d go on that hike even if there wasn’t a gorgeous natural formation to see at the end. At first it’s a just a nice walk on a dirt trail surrounded by neat rocks and a pretty view.

Then midway through the hike, the trail suddenly stops at a huge smooth rock dome that you walk up-up-up and over, with incredible views from the top! Somehow, the only pictures I took faced away from the view. No one knows why.

Once you reach the top, you walk through little areas of desert bushes and juniper trees for a bit.

And suddenly you turn the corner and are walking on a rock path winding around a huge sandstone wall on your right. Andy climbed right up the side of it to peer through the little arch at the top, so I followed.

And what a view!

It wasn’t very busy that day, so by the time we walked over to the arch nobody was photographing it and we got to take our time getting some nice pictures.

On our way back we took a side trail to go see some petroglyphs.

As the sun began to set, we made one last stop at Double Arch. It was our favorite of the day! We climbed up a bit until we were underneath the arches, lay down on the ground and watched the shadows move across the rocks until dusk.

A quick trip to Moab Brewery rounded out the day perfectly, and soon we were back at our Willow Springs site. It was completely dark by then, but still warm enough to spend a little time outside before going back in for the night. Happily tired from a day full of hiking, we could just walk in and put our feet up. No insulating, no buttoning up to be done, no wet clothes to hang, no layers to put away.

It feels like summertime in the desert, and the living is easy.

Even More Parties: Spearfish, SD

As we meet new friends along our journey, most people are curious to know how far we’ve made it in the last two years living in the Turtle. And when they hear the answer, nearly all of them are surprised to discover how few states and provinces we’ve added to the list.

In case you’re wondering, here it is:

Oregon
Washington
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Colorado
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Utah
Arizona
Nevada
Alaska
Texas*
British Columbia
Alberta
Yukon

* I can’t decide if we should count Texas since we just crossed through the panhandle, which—on a side note—we learned is actually referred to as “West Texas”. Hm. Anyway, we were just there for a few days and never really got into the state so it feels like cheating to add it at this point. I’ll get back to you on that one.

Looking at the list, it seems like a lot of places to have spent time in two years, especially considering what my list would have looked like a few years ago living in Portland! But we’ve found that many full-time travelers move much more quickly than we do, and the fact that we haven’t even crossed over into the eastern half of the United States is perplexing to them. We’ve talked to people who drove from one coast to the other in a week! Which is perfectly fine—especially if your vehicle gets good gas mileage—but that’s just not our travel style. The Turtle is aptly named. We move slowly. And we like it that way!

First of all, there are just a staggering number of incredible and beautiful and strange things to discover in every area we go. The more slowly we move, the more things we get to experience. Some of our favorite places have been little surprise spots we’ve stumbled across and loved so much we just stayed. Secret lakes, rivers, overlooks and canyons that we’ve had all to ourselves, and that we could have easily just driven by if we hadn’t taken the time to turn off the beaten path to explore.

Secondly, we don’t get good gas mileage. I think you’re not surprised. So the less we drive, the less money we’re spending. We might as well stop to smell the roses so that we can prolong our trip.

And lastly, we haven’t made it far because we keep getting opportunities to hang out with family! There’s always something going on and now that we have the chance to be more present, we’ve really been enjoying family time as if we were neighbors. So as we’re driving around, if we hear of an upcoming event, we just head that way.

After spending a few weeks of fun visiting Andy’s family in Great Falls and then my family in Bozeman, the last of the family stops (for now) was a visit to Andy’s sister Maggie’s house in Spearfish, South Dakota. His mom Genie was getting knee surgery there, so we stopped by for moral support and to lend a hand where we could, and if a lot of fun was had together in the meantime, so be it.

Genie’s knee surgery was scheduled for birthday, so we celebrated ahead of time with a formal dinner. Andy prepared another fantastic feast, with his scrumptious stuffing and a second turkey.

Andy’s niece Ellie can plan a party like nobody I’ve ever met before, and she’d already picked out the perfect cake to make. (I’d advise saving the date for her to plan your party now; by the time she’s old enough to begin working, she’ll be booked for a lifetime already.) Maggie baked the cake and made the icing, I iced it, and Ellie and I piped the flowers. Her brother Will came home and soon he and Andy were even hard at work piping flowers too.

Maggie set a lovely table, and Andy’s turkey came out perfectly.

It was really shaping up to be a good party! Everyone got dressed up and we got a few photos to show that we do in fact clean up pretty well.

It was a lovely party!

Genie had her surgery, and it went well. As she recovered, we all enjoyed our time together.

Gracie and Scout played outside in the sunshine regularly.

Andy made some turkey noodle soup.

And it was delicious!

He also worked on this car part. Before meeting Andy I didn’t realize that an appropriate adjective for car parts could be “pretty”.

A few days later, it was Andy’s birthday! We surprised him with a Lego-themed party, which I’d been wanting to do for a few years now, but this location was ideal since Will and Ellie have extensive Lego collections and are also nice people who are wiling to share their Legos.

Ellie blew up exactly 70 balloons. And lived to tell the tale.

Since Andy is not fond of sweets, I made him his second-annual mashed potato and gravy birthday cake, which he deemed satisfactory under the authority of his Lego crown.

As everyone else in the group is normal and does like sweets, I also make a proper birthday cake for the rest of us. I planned a little surprise for Will during Andy’s surprise party, which was a challenge to remember which secrets to keep from whom, but somehow we pulled it off. When he came up to visit us in Alaska this last summer, we’d talked about having Baked Alaska at some point, but it never happened. So for the birthday cake, I tried making a Baked Alaska for the first time and was lucky enough that everything went according to plan and it turned out great. And tasted delicious too!

Second Party was a success.

Whose dog is this?

A few days later it was time for the third party of the trip—Thanksgiving dinner. Ellie brilliantly repurposed the sign she’d made for Andy’s birthday, and added the most impressive and charming little Lego turkey! Andy and I both assumed the other had helped her with it and laughed out loud when we learned that she did it completely on her own.

It was our third turkey feast in under a month, so we felt very spoiled and happy about it. Andy’s turkey roasting skills only improved each time, and the holiday dinner was his best showing yet! Once Thanksgiving day had passed, we’d gotten so accustomed to having parties that we kept the good times rolling with other activities, such as:

Face taping.

Bowling.

Hanging Christmas lights.

Festive drinks.

More fancy dinners. (Andy dry aged a steak and cooked it sous vide! Truly the best steak I’ve ever had. He’s something else.)

Recess.

Grocery shopping.

Perfecting more car parts. (Bonus points if you can identify the part.)

Pizza eating.

Christmas train maintenance.

General shenanigans.

We felt lucky to begin December with sunshine, but soon the cold weather did finally set in. It just so happened that our trip was coming to a close anyway, as Genie had recovered enough to return to Great Falls.

So as winter descended on Spearfish, we left in search of sunshine, and to add another state to our slowly growing list: California!

All Kinds of Parties: Billings & Bozeman, MT

As October neared its end, we found ourselves back in Bozeman, MT to visit my family as we continued our journey south. It’s still beautiful there!

The weekend before Halloween, we drove over to Billings to spend the weekend with our good friends Blake and Martha. (Martha is taking this photo, so she is not pictured. Sorry Martha.)

We were excited to have time this year to make Halloween costumes, and while we stayed with Blake and Martha we’d planned to dress up and go out with some friends. Andy was a steampunk mad scientist, and after he put the outfit on I realized that this isn’t too far a cry from his real persona.

I was a steampunk mechanic, and the moment I put on the bustle I’d made (from curtains at Goodwill) I decided it was the one thing that’s always been missing from my daily wardrobe.

Once the group arrived at Blake and Martha’s, Martha unveiled the snacks that she had prepared (with some help from Andy and Blake, they’ll want you to know). Aren’t they adorable?

And isn’t the group adorable?

Off we went to a local pub downtown, where the Halloween party was just beginning. (Wonder Woman did not join us on this portion of the outing.)

We had a blast! It was a fun night, and a super-fun weekend hanging out with good friends. We watched a couple World Series games, ate some Chalet Market sandwiches (my favorite), Blake, Andy and Harper carved pumpkins. . .

And then suddenly Blake had to go back to work. BOOOOO!

He was probably relieved.

It was still sunny in Billings when we pulled away.

And no sooner were we in Bozeman than the snow began to fall.

Though Gracie enjoys snow as much as any adventure cat, she preferred my mom’s warm bed. And when it wasn’t available, she’d wait outside the door for her turn.

The rest of us enjoyed playing outside.

Then we’d come back inside to visit Gracie.

The last time we visited Bozeman, we made good use of my mom’s kitchen and cooked up a number of tasty feasts for the three of us. Andy and I both love to cook, and do quite well with our three small burners, two pots, one small pan, and limited counter space in the Turtle. (We had authentic Pho while cozied up inside our tiny house in Deadhorse! It was pretty fancy.) But a complete kitchen with lots of space and a full sized oven is a treat we can’t resist. Andy had his heart set on cooking a turkey, and if you’re going to cook a turkey, you may as well make stuffing, and if you’re going to make stuffing, you ought to make mashed potatoes and gravy and also bake a pie, right?

It was weeks until Thanksgiving, but it seemed like the plan was shaping up into a real party. We christened it Fall Feastival, and invited my sister’s family and a few friends over, and Andy spent all day carefully preparing the turkey.

Meanwhile, Clive and Scout and I played in the snow. That boy can really throw a frisbee, even with winter gloves on. Scout was very impressed.

My sister and I contributed to the meal a bit, but mainly it was Andy’s show and he was happy to have full reign over the kitchen. He made stuffing and gravy so good we all considered drinking it straight out of mugs.

It was a genuine feast! The turkey was without a doubt the best I’d ever had. Andy really knocked it out of the park! I made a pumpkin pie cheesecake and hot chocolate for dessert, just in case we didn’t feel we’d spoiled ourselves enough already.

Afterwards we played a little Pin the Tail on the Turkey, which Liam, Clive, and Bella all helped put together.

It was a wonderful celebration! Maybe the First Annual? Any excuse for a feast.

The Fall Feastival marked the end of our visit to Bozeman, so on we traveled toward our next stop: Spearfish, South Dakota. It’s always so hard to leave my people, but we’re grateful to see them as often as we do these days.

I mean, if we didn’t live in the Turtle, I may have never seen this work of art:

Liam made The Eye of Sauron’s girlfriend.

Like I said—my people.

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. . .

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