Renovation

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 7: Our Batteries Phase 1 (By Andy)

A Post by Andy

{Note: The work detailed in this part of the post was completed over the summer of 2015, before we moved into the Turtle. I am just getting to writing the post now.}

So, we like to have our computers run, have lights, have the controls for our fridge work, have a charged Wi-Fi hotspot, and have our furnace fan powered to keep us warm. For all this we need electricity, and since we want to be off-grid, we need batteries. We started with this:

If you are familiar with the Turtle, this compartment is behind the largest access door on the passenger side- the door with the vent in it. In the following photo, I put in a dotted line where the plane of the floor on the inside intersects the compartment.

The walls of the compartment above the floor line are plywood, and bump up under the couch inside. The sides and bottom below the line are made of heavy steel. I have deduced the compartment was originally designed for a generator, as there was old 120V AC wiring running to it, an unconnected fuel line that ran into the back, and the door vent.

I had a hard time figuring out what all the wires were hooked to, as it was a bit haphazard in the compartment. In the above picture, (1) is a port that goes outside, below the floor of the Turtle. The wires there threaded out of the box, ran a short distance under the Turtle’s floor, then threaded up through the floor to the old inverter. There is a second hole (2) that the wires from the old 100W solar panel and the wires between the battery and main 12V distribution panel were run. (3) is the unused electrical box that had 120V AC wires run to the compartment where the shore power cable is housed.

Maybe I should back up a bit and throw out a few concepts and definitions and explanations for the terms we will be using.

Battery: A thing that stores electricity in chemical bonds. Here, we are just referring to 12V lead-acid batteries.
12V/12VDC/DC: 12 Volt Direct Current (DC). This is what cars use for their electricity for headlights, the radio, starting, etc. It is the kind of power all the batteries we talk about will produce.
120v: 120V Alternating Current (AC). This is what is in your house and in businesses you know, the typical wall plug Amy and I look for at restaurants to plug our computers into. It’s generally 120, 121, or whatever it takes.
Current: The flow rate of electricity.
Voltage: The force pushing the electricity through the wires.
Inverter: An electrical box that changes 12VDC to 120VAC. It changes car electricity to house-hold electricity. This is so we can plug our AC computer cords into our DC batteries.
Converter: An electrical box that changes 120VAC to 12VDC. The opposite of the above—pretty much a garage battery charger that you use to get your car started after you leave the lights on.
Charge Controller: An electrical box that changes the output of the solar panels into DC voltage, hopefully charging the house batteries.
House Battery: Now, I probably use this too freely. When I talk about house batteries, and I mean batteries dedicated to our living compartment. If I say house (or household) electricity, I mean 120 V AC. Got to figure this out… but, house batteries are 12V batteries separated from the car system, and dedicated to lights and heat and powering the inverter in the house part of a van. One should be able to run these dead flat, and the car will still start, as they are fully independent circuits.
Starting Battery: The batteries under the hood, used for starting the car, sparking the gas when the engine is running, running a radio (if you had a functional one), and lighting the headlights.
Shore power: Kind of a boat term, but a source of 120V AC electricity you can plug into. When you pull up at a friend’s house, and pull out your extension cord, and plug into their electricity, they are your “shore power”. (Thanks Alex and Julie, Kari and David, Connie, Mag and John, Dave and Ryanne, Mike and Becky, Blake and Martha, Roger and Mary, Chris, Dad…)

Now, back to the good stuff! To start the battery box rebuilt and modification, I first labeled the wires and removed the old battery. I then cleaned the compartment with baking soda and water to neutralize the sulfuric acid and prevent further corrosion. Lucky, the metal compartment is super stout, so it was still in great shape. As usual, after a final thorough cleaning, I caulked the seams and painted the compartment with black Rustoleum. I can’t find a picture of the completely empty, cleaned and freshly painted compartment, but trust me, it looked good!

After getting the compartment beautified, I cut and painted a plywood plate to fit into the bottom, bolted and glued it to the metal base of the box, and mounted battery trays to it. I painted up everything with oil-based paint and used stainless steel hardware to affix everything.

Since we had just gotten the Interlux blue boat paint, I practiced the painting technique on the top surface of the plywood base, so it is the same shiny blue as the Turtle exterior. In the following photos, you can see the two new Fullriver 115Ah 12V DC sealed AGM batteries that we started with in there, but just patched into the cleaned up existing wiring we are reusing at this point.

I decided to go with Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM) batteries. They cost a bit more than flooded batteries, but they do not spill, they will not develop corrosion at the terminals, and can be mounted sideways, if that configuration seems important. Additionally, they do not require venting, so they can be safely installed inside the living compartment, if that is necessary. Here is the site. We have been happy with this choice, and as you will find out in future posts, choosing AGM sealed batteries will allow us to make some future cold-weather modifications.

As to wiring, I was just starting to adopt the boat convention for new circuits and runs I would rewire. The convention is as follows: For 12VDC, yellow is ground, and red is positive. For 120V AC, the wires are white, black, and green for ground. Examples of the wires are here:

The reason behind adopting this convention is that at a glance, you can tell which circuit they are supposed to be wired to. Additionally, the boat 120V cable is stranded, as opposed to the household solid copper wire. Stranded wires should always be used in a vibration environment. Logically, then, a van should have no solid copper wires (though most RV builders do actually use cheaper solid copper for the 120V runs). As you might have observed, we have concluded that one should think of their van as a boat, and look to boat paints, wires, latches, and hardware for the upgrades and work. Though the boat cable is a little more expensive, it is paired and tinned for corrosion resistance, and gives a real nice finished look. Additionally, it can be purchased in any gauge.

So, at the end of our Phase 1 battery configuration we had our two new AGM batteries with a combined storage of 230Ah at 12V installed and secured, with the connections cleaned up. With this battery pack, we simply used the old converter to charge them when we were connected to shore power, and the old inverter to make our 120V for our computers when off-grid. At this point in our journey I also had just finished the install of our 300W of solar to charge the batteries (we will cover the panels and solar charging and solar controller in a different post).

That’s Phase 1 for you!

We Love NPS: Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, White Sands & Gila Cliff Dwellings

It’s no secret that we love the National Parks System. In fact, part of our five-year plan (or as close as full-time wanderers get to a plan) involves taking occasional breaks from the road to work at National Parks and Monuments as we travel around. Not only will it be soooo fun to live at a park, but we can also make a little extra travel money while giving back to the Parks System that has basically been our landlord for a good portion of the last year and a half. We’ve boondocked on NPS land at National Parks, campgrounds, and dispersed camping areas. And not only to we get access to astonishingly beautiful and unique gems around the United States, we’ve also been provided at many sites with potable water, RV dump stations, showers, bathrooms, and garbage services. Oh, and a surprise favorite—ranger talks around campfires under the stars! At Wind Cave the fireflies were flying around us as we walked to the amphitheater to hear a ranger tell us all about the history of bison in South Dakota, and another ranger sang us a song on her ukulele that she wrote about Native American folklore. Pretty fancy, right?

Immediately after hitting the road, we got our NPS annual Interagency Pass and it’s no surprise that we’ve gotten our $80 worth and feel pretty happy about it! The last few weeks have been especially National Parks-y.

We began the streak at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, hiking down to the Big Room from the Natural Entrance.

There were some beautiful intricate formations on the way down, but the real thrill was the 1.25 mile loop around the Big Room at the bottom. We’ve been in a bunch of caves, but never anything like this! The photos do it no justice, but the scale of these stalactites and stalagmites is staggering.

We were thankful for the railings along the path, which made it possible to just stare upward with our mouths hanging open, pinballing our way down the walkway. It’s Andy’s Favorite Cave To Date, and for me it’s Tied For First with all the other caves I’ve explored. (I just really like being in caves.)

We stayed the night somewhere outside the park, and then the following day—Easter Sunday!—we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a holiday hike.

Of course we had to investigate the potable water situation, and they had a nice spigot near the RV camping area, so we made a note of it and hiked on into the hills. This park is home to El Capitan, which is a celebrity rock, and Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest mountain in Texas. We didn’t hike either of them; it was 90 degrees with full sunshine, so neither of us felt bad about choosing a less strenuous trail.

After the hike and a water fill, we proceeded to El Paso for a Costco run and then on to Alamogordo and saw. . . well, look.

That’s right; it’s the World’s Largest Pistachio! It’s a sculpture at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch, which is a really fun stop if you’re in the area. There’s a lot to see and eat there. We sampled dozens of flavored pistachios and pistachio candy, bought some bags to take home, and got some pistachio ice cream to eat under a pistachio tree by the huge pistachio sculpture.

I’ve never written the word “pistachio” so many times in my life combined.

Then another stop in Alamogordo at the Alameda Park Zoo, recommended to me by my buddy Daren who used to live in the area. And I’m so glad he did; we wouldn’t have thought to stop by this tiny zoo in a park in the middle of town, but it was one of the coolest zoos either of us has ever visited! It’s only $2.50 to get in, the grounds are lovely and nicely manicured, and the animals are happy and well-cared for in their clean and green enclosures.

We left the zoo while we still had plenty of light so that we could make the big climb up to Cloudcroft, an adorable town 19 miles outside of and 4,000 feet higher than Alamogordo. And our little Turtle made it! We may have been going 2 mph, but we made it! We stopped at the scenic train trestle outside of Cloudcroft, and then found a cool dispersed campsite nearby to stay for the night.

We stayed two days, and drove back down.

. . .Don’t get me wrong, lots of fun things happened in Cloudcroft, but I promised you a National Parks post so I’m going to try to stay on topic here. 🙂

A lot of National Parks that we go to feel like being on another planet, which is a shared characteristic of all the parks I’ve liked best. So you can probably guess my approval rating for White Sands National Monument! This place was bizarre in the very best way.

It was magical. Hills and hills as far as the eye can see of gypsum sand.

It played tricks on our minds, as hills of white usually mean snow and winter, but it was 85 degrees and we were roasting! I made a sand angel anyway. Also strange was the sensation that we were walking on sand in that heat, but it wasn’t hot on our feet at all.

Before we began walking back to the Turtle, Andy joked that we should fill our bucket with water and make a white sand castle. We both got quiet and looked at each other, and then went to get the bucket.

The next day we went to Hatch, NM to get ourselves the epic green chile cheeseburger at Sparky’s that some hot springs friends had told us about a few months ago.

It was legitimately one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recommendation, guys! On our way out of Hatch, we got some green chiles from a roadside market, Andy hassled one of the locals, and then we hit the road for Spaceport America.

Spaceport America is incredible to see, even though it’s not open to the public right now. We’d read that there was a visitor’s center, but it’s in nearby Truth or Consequences (actual town name) so we just got a long-distance view of “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport” and some really neat info from the hospitable guard at the gate. The sci-fi nerd in me was already picturing the next time I drive out there, this time with my flight ticket in hand. To infinity and beyond!

That night and the next we stayed at Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences. We swam, read by the water, got some sun, and threw Scout’s frisbee into the water a thousand times before continuing onto the next leg of our journey.

Which was Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument! Another new favorite, and another great NPS spot to visit at the top of a very windy road that tops out at about 8,300 ft. The Turtle was wheezing, but we made it up this one too! And the reward was worth it.

There are free campsites all around the monument, as well as an oasis just right outside—a privately-owned hot springs with three pools and camping available. If they hadn’t been booked up, we would have gladly stayed the night too!

But we already had a site we’d found the night before that we loved, so we were happy to return to our little house by the river.

It was a great place to relax and catch our breath before moving on to the next National Park! It was also a great place for catching other things too.

After returning our new friend to his home by the river, we returned to the road—the Turtle’s natural habitat! And on to the next National Park—the Turtle’s second home.

A Good Place to Crash—Outside Roswell, NM

We’re back in New Mexico and we couldn’t be happier about it! We never imagined we’d stay in a single state for multiple months during our travels, but we can’t seem to rush through anything here. We always plan a general outline of our route a few weeks out and estimate how much time we’ll spend in each spot, but it’s always subject to change and sometimes we trip over a great spot and end up staying much longer than anticipated. The reasons for the extension vary each time, but more often than not it’s because we find a great quiet spot where the weather is clear and we can get some work done on the Turtle!

Considering how limited our storage capabilities are, we keep a surprising amount of project materials on hand in case we find a good spot to do a little maintenance and housekeeping. Of course this was Andy’s idea, and the additional paint, brushes, wood, and tools for which he prioritized space has made Turtle life much more comfortable and manageable. It helps that he’s a wizard with problem solving, woodworking, electric jobs, and wordplay. (That last one has less to do with this topic, but it’s worth noting.) Anyway, we’ve got a pretty customized Turtle these days!

We never know when the work space is going to present itself. Thanks to our arsenal of travel apps, we can tell if a spot seems to be a good place to stay the night, but we can never know exactly what we’re going to get when it comes to the view, the size of the site, the crowds, etc. So we left stormy Lake Meredith on our way to sunny Roswell, NM thinking we’d just travel through Roswell on our way to some great National Parks.

First we stopped in Borger, TX and this happened:

Don’t worry; he’s fine.

After we got him back on his feet, we stopped in Portales, NM to catch up on some computer work, journaling, and letter-writing at the Roosevelt Brewery, where we happened upon some new friends who are also really into the vandwelling lifestyle and have some plans of their own on the horizon. It’s so much fun to meet people who understand the impulse to make life simpler and more fulfilling and adventurous by traveling full time in a tiny house on wheels. So we decided to stick around and spend the evening with them, and had a great time. It was so much fun meeting you, David and Robyn! And thanks for the stickers; we really wanted Roosevelt for the brewery sticker book. You guys are the best! Keep in touch! 🙂

The next morning we were ahead of schedule daylight-wise, since we hadn’t anticipated a stop in Portales, and we were super close to our next stop in Roswell. But since I’d bookmarked an interesting OHV site (Off-Highway Vehicle) for the previous night, we thought we’d just swing by as we drove past to see what it was like.

Aaaaaaand, we loved it.

It was like being on a Star Trek set.

And because this spot is made for toy-haulers, each of the sites is huge, and even has a covered picnic table, grill, garbage, and bathrooms. Not to mention a great view.

The weather was perfect, the space was ample, and the nightly fee was minimal, so we decided to settle in for a bit. Because when you live in a Turtle, there’s always a project waiting to be done!

So while the animals enjoyed their enormous new back yard, Andy and I got to work.

Jobs that needed to be done included:

(Andy’s notes)

– Toilet started running continuously. We got a new valve for $45 in Amarillo, TX, and installed it here. Needed to remove the toilet, remove old parts, install the new parts (took the time to thoroughly clean the toilet), and then reinstall it.

– Rotated the tires. Kept them all on the same side, and moved front to inner rear, inner rear to outer rear, and outer rear to front. We had a slow valve stem leak some time ago, and when we did, I rotated the spare into the front at that time.

– With the tires off, took time to clean the rims and brakes, and inspect the brakes with the wheels off.

– Made, painted and installed the Nalgene holder for behind the stove.

– Installed the D-ring recovery points onto the rear bumper where it is welded to the frame.

– Installed an ammo box under the spare tire in the back. They make a nice waterproof container, and inside I have replacement ignition parts and other electrical parts we what to have on hand and keep dry.

Some notes: We travel with all our tools, including a 50-ton bottle jack and two 3-ton jack stands. cordless drill and jigsaw (that charges from the solar). They came in useful here!

Gracie helped.

When the weekend arrived, we decided to leave the spot available for the real OHV riders and see if we could find some aliens in Roswell.

We saw a bunch, but sadly none of them took us with them for a universe tour. Which worked out for us, because a couple of other strange creatures were waiting for us to take them back to our desert landscape for a few more days of work—and even more play—before hitting the road again for further adventure on planet Earth.

The galaxy can wait for now.

Albuquerque to the Ojito Wilderness, New Mexico

Before a month ago, neither of us had ever been to New Mexico, and both of us were super excited to explore the state. It certainly never disappointed! (Except Taos; that city didn’t live up to the hype at all.) We loved Santa Fe and Diablo Canyon, and next on the list was a night in Albuquerque on the way to the Ojito Wilderness.

We went to Old Town in Albuquerque and walked around the shops, had tacos for lunch, chatted with some charming locals, and visited the historic church in the middle of Old Town.

While we were in one of the touristy shops, I noticed a whole wall full of Breaking Bad paraphernalia. We remembered that the show was set in Albuquerque, and as we walked through Old Town, I saw a flier for a Breaking Bad tour that takes you to a dozen or so places from the show. Andy wasn’t a fan of the series, so he watched me curiously as I frantically found a post from Lonely Planet with a map of a do-it-yourself Breaking Bad tour and ran for the Turtle.

I didn’t want to take over Andy’s day with my Breaking Bad fandom, so I picked a few of the locations I most wanted to see, and luckily (for Andy) they happened to be fairly close to one another.

First, we went to the park where Mike always went with his granddaughter.

And of course we had to go to Walt and Skyler’s house, which has been painted and gated.

And the A1A Car Wash!

In the far end of the car wash parking lot, we ran into a familiar-looking RV. It’s not the same one, but close, and we guessed that it’s part of the $75 tour we saw advertised, which was arriving at the car wash as we were pulling out.

We also ran by Gus’ Laundromat, but the sun had almost set so we just looked and then went and grabbed a beer at the Red Door Brewery, just a few doors down.

The next day, we got supplies and drove to the Ojito Wilderness, about 45 minutes outside of Albuquerque.

It’s a gorgeous desert spot on BLM land just west of San Ysidro. Lots of people go there to ride bikes on the White Mesa Bike Trails outside of the wilderness area, and to shoot guns various places just inside the entrance.

We kept driving in until we got to the Hoodoo trailhead, on the west side of the wilderness, where we made camp—a.k.a. parked the Turtle and opened the door.

Ojito is a great spot because you have access to over 11,000 acres of wilderness! You have to park on the edge of the actual wilderness area, but it’s all BLM land so you can hike in and camp anywhere you like. There are two marked hiking trails that get you out into the wilderness, or you can just blaze your own trail. We did both, and loved both equally.

The rocks and formations out there are diverse and lovely. There is an abundance of sandstone, gypsum, quartz, volcanic rock, and even fossils, which of course you can’t take but are really fun to find!

I’m beginning to suspect that the desert is Andy’s natural habitat.

Gracie loves it because she gets to run and roll in the dirt all day, nap in the sun when we leave for hikes, and ever since she learned to climb the ladder at Diablo Canyon, she’s made the top of the Turtle her personal patio.

Check out this enormous sliced cucumber rock!

Both animals were so happy here that they were even more sweet with each other than usual. This is what I woke up to on my stomach one morning:

Gracie was so pleased that we finally found sunshine that she did her best to soak it all up, and I think she succeeded.

On our last day there, we got a day without wind, which was exciting because the previous two days we were hit so hard that Gracie and I opted to stay inside and read all day! We celebrated the sunny day by taking our favorite four-hour hike for a final picnic and rock-collecting mission.

We left this idyllic site only because we saw rain in the forecast, and the dirt roads would be nearly impossible to drive on for a Turtle if we were caught in wet weather! So we began our journey south to Roswell, not knowing that halfway there we’d decide to make a last-minute detour to Oklahoma City to see our friends Beth and Jonathan!

Which is why as I write this, we are in Elk City, Oklahoma. We found a great free spot for RV’s just south of town on a lake, and it even has water, electric, and lot of nice red dirt for Gracie to roll in! So everyone’s happy.

Great Sand Dunes National Park: Climbing Up & Sliding Down

With our compass pointed south we continued our quest for some sunshine, and found it as we neared Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Andy was happy to channel The Dude with his sweet Lebowski shades as we pursued the sunny weather.

We were a little surprised to see how much snow was covering the ground, but it made for some dramatic views of the Greenhorn Mountains as we approached the entrance.

We found a little pullout along the road into the park, and stopped to admire the view. We noted that it would make a great spot to stay the night, in case the campground was closed for the season. We had found conflicting information about whether or not any campsites would be available this time of year, so we had our feelers out in search of potential real estate in the event that we couldn’t stay in the park.

As we drove on, the snow-covered dunes came into view, and every direction we looked was just stunning.

A quick stop at the Visitor’s Center saw our water filled and our questions answered about where we could stay the night in the park (nowhere). We had to assuage the concerns of the rangers who told us it was going to get “reeeal cold” that night if we were staying in our “car,” and we felt pretty pleased with our setup as we reassured him that we had heat, a warm bed, and a stove to cook a hot meal for the night. Ah, Turtle life.

We decided we’d return to our pullout to spend the night, but in the meantime we had an hour to two to run around on the dunes! Dogs are even invited, and Scout was so happy. His two favorite landscapes are sand and snow, and he couldn’t believe his luck in getting to play on both at once. A great day for everyone! (Gracie was sleeping in a sunbeam back in the Turtle, so she was happy too.)

I think Scout inherited my posture.

That’s better.

Pictures could never quite capture it, but as the sun shone on the snow it created an explosion of rainbow fragments flickering across the surface as we walked along. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We parked near the amphitheater to explore a bit, then had to head back to our overnight spot as the sun was beginning to set. (We have a list of rules we’ve compiled for successful overlanding, and the first rule is Never Drive At Night. We break it now and then, but life is much easier when we don’t.) One obvious benefit to traveling only during daylight is that we don’t miss the scenery, and I was very pleased we made it in time for sunset so we could admire the view.

The next morning we woke up and drove right back to the parking lot outside the dunes for a long hike to the top. We packed a lunch and set out, and as we walked across the snowy dunes, Andy reminded me of a conversation we’d had earlier this year. . .

When we were visiting the Badlands, I was in such awe as we walked across Door Trail; I’d never been in such an incredible place before. It seemed so otherworldly and dreamlike, aside from the distraction of those other humans roaming around. I told Andy that I wished I could have the Badlands all to myself, for my birthday or some special day—just once. Always the voice of reason, Andy responded, “Well. . . I think that restricting public use would kind of defeat the whole point of the National Park System.”

Ok, ok, I know. But it would be SO COOL, right?

Well as we ascended the first rise at Sand Dunes National Park, Andy pointed out that there had been no cars in the parking lot, and that there was not a soul anywhere. My birthday was a just a few days away, and he asked, “Is this close enough?” Yes, it was.

For over an hour, we were the only people on the dunes. It’s pretty exciting to accidentally have a wish granted.

I’d like to point out here that these pictures give no sense of depth; I was actually so high up on this dune that I was a little nervous to be standing that close to the edge!

We hiked up, up up, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet. I’m telling you, that air is thin. And the last dune was a real doozy! There was some vertical hands-and-knees climbing there at the last ascent.

So we were thrilled to reach the top!

There we ate our well-earned cheese and crackers, with olives for me and onions for Andy.

After our picnic, I had a surprise waiting for Andy: a trick up my sleeve that I borrowed from my dad, who was endlessly creative when it came to having fun. When I was a kid, on a family outing in the mountains of Montana, we happened upon a steep valley covered in snow. My dad grabbed some trash bags out of the car, and we had instant makeshift sleds to fly down that mountainside. So when I saw the dunes covered in snow, I squirreled a few black garbage backs into my pack before we left the Turtle, and once we were at the top, I handed one to Andy.

After a few trials, we learned that they worked brilliantly on the snow, and when we’d hit the sand it would slow us down quickly and stop us. So we stuck to the good patches of snow, and rode those garbage bags all the way down the dunes.

It was a short two days at Great Sand Dunes, but by the time we left we felt like we had really made the most of it. As we travel from one National Park to another, it never fails to amaze me how diverse and beautiful this country is. We can’t wait to see more!

Winter Camping in Yellowstone National Park

Have you ever heard of a Chesapeake Start?

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

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

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

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

And to see sunshine in the morning!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leaving Bozeman Harbor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Year of Vandwelling!

Guess what?

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

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

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

THE EASY:

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

THE HARD:

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

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

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

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

A Quick Photo Catch-Up

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huckleberry Heaven: Seeley Lake, MT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wahoo!

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