Browsing Category2018

Omaha, NE

Disclaimer: This blog was written at a significant delay (October 2018). As in, the delay was so significant, that I don’t feel that I can accurately represent our time at this location in story form. So, I am just going to post photos I captured here and then ramble about some of my clear memories of the place via some bullet points. How did I get so far behind? Well, there was a summer visit from a nephew, and also a giant party in Rochester that needed to be planned for. But, also, if it comes down to blog writing…

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Denver, CO (Round 3)

We came back. We always come back. How can we not? One of our favorite people on earth, a sweet free place to park, a vibrant city, VooDoo Donuts and now – Torchy’s Tacos is in town too? Thanks for welcoming us back, Denver. Dayum, you look good. There aren’t too many things that could make us leave a boondocking space as sweet as the one we found outside of Northrop, CO after staying only a few days. The promise of Holly can. And the threat of missing out on Holly (hey, that girl travels! She’s got shit to do…

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Nathrop, CO

Jake tricked me. Jake assured me “no worries, there won’t be any big passes when we go through Colorado. We’ll just go around the passes!” Like we usually do. We always go around the passes in Colorado. Because Dyna has weenie-brakes. 40,000+lbs stopped only with a set of service (foot) brakes, and an engine brake that supposedly can hold us at a consistent speed going down grades if we go slow enough. Well, we learned what ‘slow enough’ meant over 37 miles of 6%+ grade when Jake TRICKED ME and routed us over Wolf Creek Pass. Slow enough is 23mph…

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Hesperus, CO

  We landed in Hesperus following a short scouting trip on a Sunday morning after spending a night at Mancos State Park. We weren’t sure that the area’s National Forests would be open to vehicle travel yet, but, surprise! They were. Apparently Colorado had a pretty light year in terms of snow, which was great for us in April when we wanted to park Dyna on some public lands. We settled on a spot in the San Juan National Forest on Madden Peak Road. It was a pretty swell spot. Mountain views and dirt roads for miles, which provided great…

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Monticello, UT

We got chased out of Moab by a family of mice who decided it would be cool to squat in Dyna. Spoiler: it is not cool to squat in Dyna, mice. So, this is officially the second time a pack of tiny critters has caused us to pull up our levelers and haul butt out a place. Cool. We hit the road on a Thursday morning, Jake at his computer working away, while I pointed the wheeled house South on US 191. We weren’t really sure where we were going to stop and set-up camp, but we did know we…

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Moab, UT

Moab, UT was not on the radar. For the past year and a half or so, we’ve been traveling with a ‘long term’ destination (like Disney World, or Kentucky Derby), but the route to get to that destination hasn’t been planned. I mean, we generally know a direction, and weather patterns. But other than that, we’ve been going wherever seems interesting at the time and is within a hop’s distance – which is typically about 350 miles for us. Moab, UT was not on the radar. It was about  100 miles off the radar. But then a text thread with…

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Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV. It’s loved. It’s hated. It has a big airport. The airport drew us in. Her gaudy vibrance won us over. And also the swankiest RV park we’ve ever stayed. Yeah, that part really extra won me over. Our friends Cam & Alissa came to hang out with us near the Grand Canyon, and while they flew into Phoenix, AZ, it was cheapest for them to fly out of Vegas. And when Vegas says “come here, we’ll fly you home cheap,” you go to Vegas.* *When Vegas offers you other things or activities with the same tag line, you…

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Williams, AZ / Grand Canyon (Round Two)

With Jeffy on board, we made a quick hop over to Williams, AZ to stage some trips into Grand Canyon (South) National Park. I guess Jeffy picked a good (impromptu) time to show up at Dyna – the Grand Canyon is pretty sick-nasty-awesome-amazing. I can’t get e-freaking-nough of the Grand Canyon. After 2 weeks of dry camping in the National Forest outside of Flagstaff, we were super pumped to empty our tanks and have access to all-you-can-water-yourself showers. We were extra pumped when we pulled into The Grand Canyon Railway RV Park and were assigned the primo spot in the park.…

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Flagstaff, AZ

Flagstaff, AZ is basically one big boondocking site. Free camping areas surround the city center like flies to sh…oo-fly-pie. Paired with Flagstaff’s reputation for great beer, great food, and running trails galore, we couldn’t resist the temptation of a free camping site – even when threatened with below enjoyable temperatures and probable snow squalls. We settled on some land in the Walnut Canyon National Monument area, as we were sure the roads would be open and possibly accessible by Dyna. When we boondock, it’s a bit of a process. Rolling around the country in a 40’er has it’s perks (dance…

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Winslow, AZ

So let’s get it out of the way now. Yes, the Eagles wrote a song with mention of the city of Winslow, AZ. And yes, Winslow thinks that is a very big deal. So that you can suffer momentarily as I did for a full week, here are the lyrics: “Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me”  Jake thought it was great to play that stupid song every time we got in the car. I am so…

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