The End of the Road

Scott and Tami at the end of the road.

We made it to the end of the road. Starting in Key West in January our goal was to cross the country from corner to corner. We made it all the way. Perhaps in a couple of years, we will repeat the adventure of crossing from San Diego to the far northeast corner of Maine. …

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Amazing Fort Worden

Fort Worden

Fort Worden shouldn’t be mentioned without mentioning its sister forts. Fort Worden, Fort Casey, and Fort Flagler were linked together as if they were one fort. This was because they all had one task. They created a crossfire that defended Puget Sound from a Naval attack. These forts, all acted as one, even though miles …

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RVing in a Heat Dome

July 2022 heat dome

RVing in a Heat Dome isn’t fun. There I go again, complaining about the weather. Yes, the problem was all self-induced. Our goal for the year was to travel and have fun while crossing the lower 48 states from the tip of Florida in Key West all the way to Puget Sound in the far …

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The Big Fire

The big fire valley in the Bitterroot mountains seen from the Route of the Hiawatha.

In the “big fire”, as they call it, it all burned. Everything of value was gone. The big fire was actually 3000 smaller fires, yes the number is correct three thousand fires. The fire destroyed three million acres of prime, old-growth forest. The big fire Three million acres is three times the area of the …

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Kayak Adventures

Kayak Adventures sunset at Clear Lake Washington.

Our Hurricane Kayaks are very responsible for making our kayak adventures more fun. By following our journey, you already know that we really love kayaking. We promised to and are taking our kayaks to places that Hurricane Kayaks have never been before. I can say this with confidence because some of our next stops are …

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Across Idaho

Across Idaho

While going across Idaho we rejoined the Oregon trail in Burley Idaho. The Oregon trail splits from the Mormon Trail at Fort Bridger. Instead of staying on the Oregon Trail, we followed the Mormon trail to visit Salt Lake City. You might see some similarities in the title of this post. Last month I described …

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Salt Lake City

Looking at the Wasatch Range south of Salt Lake City.

We stopped in Salt Lake City on our way west. Starting in Fort Bridger, we (almost) followed the Mormon trail to Salt Lake City. I say almost because starting in Echo Canyon, the Mormon pioneers took a different route. From Echo Canyon, we followed the Weber (Wee-ber) River, through Weber Canyon, and then to Ogden. …

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Across Wyoming

Across Wyoming Photo taken in Colorado.

Before the road was built, all the locals (all second and third-generation pioneers) agreed that this route across Wyoming was a big mistake. Since we are not pioneers and have a motorhome rather than a wagon, we have to follow the roads. We went anyway but timed it carefully. So going across Wyoming, for us, …

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Our JackRabbit article was published in Escapees magazine

JackRabbit Article Published

Our JackRabbit article was published, this time by Escapees magazine. The article is meant to be a review of this super fun, super small e-bike. Escapees will occasionally publish articles from our blog in their print magazine. This time the JackRabbit e-bike article is in the Escapees print Magazine. In the past, they have published parts …

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Small Town Presidents

Small town Presidents Abilene Kansas

I don’t know how many small-town Presidents there are. This spring we visited two small-town Presidents’ museums and libraries. It was fascinating. Bill Clinton was from Hope, Arkansas. Dwight Eisenhower was from Abilene, Kansas. Both Presidents are from very small towns. All the other Presidental Libraries that we visited were about small-town Presidents. Thus the …

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Blackstone Griddle

Cooking with gas on a Blackstone 17-inch griddle.

We upgraded to a Blackstone Griddle. This is the story of our RV outdoor cooking makeover. This is a big improvement to our grilling. Really this article started as a how to use a Blackstone Griddle but that subject was pushed out to a different article and this one is about how we became Blackstone …

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January in April

January in April

It is like January in April here in South Dakota. I got this phrase from one of the residents here and he agrees that it is unseasonably cold. Yes, we have friends who live in South Dakota year-round. They said that this recent storm was like January weather. Thus the title is January in April. …

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Cooking on our Blackstone

Cooking with gas on a Blackstone 17-inch griddle.

This article explains cooking on our Blackstone griddle. This is a companion article to our article on why we chose a Blackstone griddle. Here is a link to our other Blackstone article. Blackstone Griddle Cooking on a Blackstone Griddle isn’t difficult but it is a little different than cooking on a standard propane grill. The …

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Kayak movie stars

Kayak movie stars

Now we are kayak movie stars. The movie is about us and our new kayaks. We have the first production model the Hurricane Prima 125 kayaks. This resulted in our being the first Hurricane Prima 125 kayak action-adventure film. Filming was while we were working our way north through Florida along the Gulf Coast. Of …

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Key West Solar: How did we live on Solar when at Key West?

Sunset in the Valley of the Sun

Key West Solar: As a recap, this is the geeky version of how well our solar did while boondocking in Key West without outside electricity. Also covered is some detailed information on how we lived with limited water. The last part will introduce you to my supplemental water plan. We already covered the wonders of …

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Hurricane Kayaks

Hurricane Kayaks

Hurricane Kayaks are amazing. I have known this for years. These are our new 2022 Hurricane Prima 125 Ultra-Light Hurricane Prima 125 kayaks made by Hurricane Aquasports in North Carolina. Everyone knows that we have our kayaks with us everywhere we travel. What some don’t know is that I first started kayaking when I was …

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Florida Springs

Florida Springs

Northwest of Orlando we went to seven different Florida springs. Florida Springs have crystal clear water that boils up from limestone caverns. In all cases, the water started as rainfall that seeped into the limestone rock formations only to come back to the surface sometimes after spending hundreds of years underground. Crystal Clear Water Water …

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Screamin’ Gator Zip Line

Screamin' Gator Zip Line

Is it crazy to combine an alligator farm, amusement park, and a Screamin’ Gator Zip Line into one location? Gatorland has the answer. To the best of my knowledge, zip-lining above pools swarming with alligators is only found at Gatorland. Gatorland has combined wildlife adventures into a gator-themed thrill ride. We are moving north through Florida …

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Big (bad) Cypress Swamp

The Big Cypress Swamp has lots of shallow water but unlike the everglades, this water doesn't flow from Lake Okeechobee.

The Big (bad) Cypress Swamp is a very wild place. In most areas not only are you knee-deep in water without any dry land but you are always surrounded by plenty of wildlife. Most of the big wildlife is able to kill you. Some of the small wildlife is also able to kill you (mosquitos …

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The middle of the swamp

The sign at the Midway campground in the everglades warns all the campers that alligators are expected in the pond.

We are in the middle of the swamp. It is swamp for at least forty miles in every direction. To the east, everglades. To the west is the Big Cypress Swamp. Beyond the Big Cypress Swamp is a mangrove swamp called Ten Thousand Islands and the Gulf of Mexico. For the next sixty miles to …

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Deep in the Everglades

Sunset Deep in the Everglades

It is hard to go deep in the everglades without special equipment. We went deep in the everglades and found it enchanting. The everglades define the largest contiguous wilderness in the country. The one defining characteristic is that it is a shallow freshwater swamp nearly everywhere. Most of the swamp is covered in sawgrass. We …

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Beyond Key West

Beyond Key West

The Dry Tortugas National Park is well beyond Key West. To get there, you must go by boat or seaplane. That is the only way to visit. I didn’t know you could go beyond Key West I have wanted to visit Key West since about 1974. My goal was always to drive there. Once there, …

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Key West Wildlife

Key West wildlife.

Most visitors have a different view of Key West wildlife than I do. Most people associate Key West wildlife with Key West nightlife. Key West is an amazing vacation location, it also has tremendous sport fishing in every direction. Surprising most people, Key West wildlife is very abundant. No Name Pub It would be an …

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Key West Sunsets

Key West Sunsets

Key West sunsets are amazing !!! Sunsets here are a special treat especially after not seeing sunsets for most of this year. It isn’t that the sun didn’t set all year, but nearly every place we went this summer, during our travels around the east coast, we were in trees. Frankly, we missed the sunsets. …

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Happy New Year 2022

Happy New Year 2022

Happy New Year. A couple of months ago we hit the four-year mark living in our RV without a fixed location to call home. We have a wonderful home it just has a couple of features that make it unique; namely an engine and big wheels. The adventure has been so fun, even though sometimes …

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End of Year Review – 2021

2021 End of Year Review

This is our end-of-year review. Where did we go and what did we do in 2021? (The states we visited in 2021 are above this paragraph next to the date.) What amazing things did we see along the way? In 2021 we added eleven new states to our route map. Other than Louisana we spent …

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