Tillamook Head is in the northwest corner of Oregon. It is beautiful and very interesting. Tillamook Head is to the south of the Columbia River along the coastline. Tillamook Head is the furthest north mountainous area in Oregon on the coastline. Everything north of Tillamook Head all the way to the Columbia River is a …
The Quinault rainforest and Kestner Homestead are at the southwest corner of Olympic National Park. It is the newest part of the park. Positioned northeast of Lake Quinault, the Kestners tried to carve a farm out of the rainforest and eventually failed. It wasn’t for the lack of effort or associated with lack of water. …
Kalaloch Beach is part of the Olympic National Park overlooking the Pacific Ocean to the west of the mountains in the Olympic National Park. Before planning our trip to the Olympic Penisula I didn’t know that Olympic National Park had two sections. One section is in the mountains and a separate section is on the …
The Hoh Rain Forest is at the northwest corner of Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington. This place is wet. Wet is an understatement in a rainforest, but for us, during our visit, because we timed it in September, it never rained. I am very glad that we were able to visit without the threat …
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. …
Lake Crescent is amazing. Its crystal clear water sparkles with colors that range from the deepest sapphire blue to turquoise. It is the largest lake in Olympic National Park and the second-deepest lake in Washington. Even though the size doesn’t match Lake Tahoe or Crater Lake it is just as, or for me, more beautiful. Location …
Hurricane Ridge is the easiest place in Olympic National Park for most people to visit. This is because it is located about eighteen miles south of Port Angeles. Port Angeles has an airport and most of the hotels in the area. Olympic National Park is divided and separated into two sections. There is the main …
I have been hearing about the Olympic Rain Shadow for about fifteen years. The Olympic Mountains get lots of rain, so much rain that I could never consider living there. Not willing to live there also holds true for Seattle, Tacoma, and almost all of western Washington. As a side note even though I am …
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 …
In 1890 the people of Port Townsend hoped it would be the New York of the west coast. It was already an ideal port and had a vibrant waterfront. In 1890 Port Townsend was the very first port on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Strait of Juan de Fuca was easy to navigate, …
Here is how solar works. I could have started my RV solar series with this article or I could have avoided it entirely. Some of you might just trust the rest of us who say it works and leave it to that. I find it interesting to know how things work. I hope this article …
I am very happy to announce that our RV floats. Not that our RV floats by itself, but rather our RV floats just fine on a ferry. It is not that I had any doubts, but this is the first time floating our RV. Last year, when we were on the east coast, in Virginia, …
Deception Pass connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Skagit Bay. This waterway is between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island. The state of Washington built Deception Pass Bridge in 1935. The bridge connects Whidbey Island to the Washington Road system. Before the construction of the bridge, the only access to Whidbey Island was via …
Whidbey Island sunsets are beautiful. We are so lucky to have been there at the perfect time of year and camped at the perfect campsite. This was a surprise, not that I didn’t know if Whidbey Island had a sunset every day, but rather it was that I didn’t know where our campsite would be …
Working our way west across the Cascade Mountains. During our full-time travel journey, we have done this several times. We might go across the Cascade Mountains again next year. Our route next year is not quite certain yet but firming up. This year’s journey started on January 1st in Key West and crossed the entire …
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 …
That is right, we are not going back to a wonderful place. It was just too hard, so hard we are not going back. Once and done is good enough. This is not the first time we have declared that we were not going back to some particular place, but it might be the first …
The Lochsa River is wild and remote. After Lewis and Clark crossed Lolo Pass they continued westward (generally) following the Lochsa River. The Lochsa River headwaters start north of Lolo Pass flowing to the west. On both the north and the south banks of the Lochsa River there is a dense forest. When Lewis and …
We went across the Bitterroot Mountains and enjoyed every minute of it. The Bitterroot Mountains connect Montana and Idaho. U.S. Highway 12 starting in Lolo Montana follows the same path across the mountains as did Louis and Clark. We liked the Lolo Pass area (explanation below) so much that we visited it three times. They …
Going the old way across the Bitterroot Mountains Read More »
Lolo Pass – Bad Roads for RVs is located on U. S. Highway 12 between Lolo Montana and Lewiston Idaho. This road has almost no services. This road is steep for five miles westbound from the pass. Following this, it doesn’t have a straight section for the next seventy-seven miles. This is a paved two-lane …
We heard that the Bitterroot Valley was a very pretty place in Montana. I have wanted to visit it for a very long time. There is so much more to the story. Yes, the Bitterroot Valley is very pretty. We spent ten wonder-filled days in a tiny campground on the edge of the Bitterroot Valley. …
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 …
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 …
For the Oregon Trail Pioneers, crossing the Grande Ronde and the Blue Mountains was near the end of their journey. The Grande Ronde (great round valley) was easy and gentle compared to the last two thousand miles of sage and desert sand. On a wet year, like this spring the Grand Ronde is lush green. …
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 …
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. …
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, …
Carhenge is a modern interpretation of Stonehenge made by Jim Reinders. It must have been a long coldwinter in 1986-87 to design and erect a not-so-exact replica of Stonehenge in western Nebraska. I can’t come up with a better reason (other than a long cold winter) to stack cars up like Stonehenge in Alliance Nebraska. …
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 …
Our JackRabbit article was published in Escapees magazine Read More »
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 …
We have visited every cowboy state. It has taken almost five years to do this. Said another way, with the exception of Alaska, we have camped in every western state. I call this a milestone. This is not to say that there are no cowboys in states we have not yet visited. There are also …
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 …
Correct campground voltage is very important. If you operate your RV on low campground voltage you will damage your RV. You can fix low campground voltage. For my RV I have decided to install a Hughes Autoformer to make the correct campground voltage every time I plug in the RV. It took nearly two years …
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. …
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 …
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 …
It worked, this year we chose to go into the cold so we could stay ahead of the storm. We left Florida and headed north early this spring. We often hear of people staying in Florida until April but we left on the first day of March. Did it work or was it really a …
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 …
Key West Solar: How did we live on Solar when at Key West? Read More »
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Our JackRabbit e-bike is a fun addition to our RVing lifestyle. It ranks really high on both the fun list and the useful tool list. This super small, super lightweight, electric bicycle has improved our RV life, especially in the fun department. It is great to swing your leg over for a quick zip around …
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, …
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 …
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. …
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 …
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 …
