California – Ferns, Fires and the Golden Gate
We wanted our final stop to position us for a short drive to Half Moon Bay, our temporary “home” south of San Francisco, and keep us close to the Redwood National & State Parks. Luckily we… Read More
Oregon – PCH in Oregon
We were in the home stretch, with a target date to be back in the Bay Area but flexibility on how to get there. We decided that traveling south down the entire Oregon Coast would… Read More
Portland – Great Times with Friends
We awoke excited to spend the day with some of our favorite friends in one of our favorite towns – Portland. While Angela ran a few errands, I took the boys for an introduction… Read More
Road – Boise to Vancouver
It was a long driving day from Boise, Idaho to Vancouver, Washington (just north of Portland, Oregon). We stopped only briefly in Baker City in eastern Oregon for fuel and lunch, and… Read More
The De Facto Mayor of Boise
In Boise, we hunkered down for a day to catch up on things – laundry, emails and a first day of schoolwork for the boys. The outside temperature was scheduled to be… Read More
Jackson to Boise … Sideways a Little
As much as we enjoyed Wyoming, it was time to keep moving toward the Bay Area so that we could coordinate the next leg of our travels. Near Idaho Falls we stopped at Frontier… Read More
Grandparents Visit in Jackson Wyoming
Joan and Russ (aka Grandma and Grandpa) joined us for our last few days in the Jackson/Teton area. It was a special treat on a road trip that was mostly just the… Read More
The Visit to Yellowstone National Park
We got an early start to drive through Yellowstone National Park. Originally, we had NO intention of visiting the Yellowstone simply because it would be too crowded and too chaotic for us to enjoy.… Read More
Epic Hike Around Jenny Lake
I awoke earlier than the rest of the crew – earlier even than Asher, which is a rarity – and decided to run. Given the risks of running alone on trails in Grand… Read More
Les Trois Tetons
Angela’s parents were joining us later in the week, so we choose to invest a little time exploring the park and town of Jackson for possible activities and places to eat. Besides, we’d… Read More
Togwotee Pass & Grand Teton National Park
Today was a travel day – going from Thermopolis, Wyoming to the Colter Bay Campground at Grand Teton National Park. Wyoming has a wonderful feature to its highway system in which it… Read More
Devil’s Tower & the Fountain of Youth
One of the many things learned on the road is that RV parks are either like neighborhoods from the fifties populated by people who are generally happy, with kids riding bikes, people… Read More
End of the Trail for South Dakota
Today was a get-it-done day. Ronan and I prepped the truck for travel – refueled, added DEF, aired up the tires, and reconfigured the bed. The boys and I did a little… Read More
Wind Cave National Park & Custer State Park
By Friday morning a lot of our fellow campers had packed and headed out, with a fresh batch likely to arrive in the afternoon. Although Hill City is a good hour or… Read More
Notes from the Road: Thermopolis, Wyoming
The first thing that hit us was the eggy smell. We’d been traveling across Wyoming all day and pulled into the Fountain of Youth RV Park without a reservation. The sun was… Read More
Mount Rushmore & the Black Hills
The first three nights in Hill City were pretty low key – in other words, we slept in, re-organized the truck and coach, caught up on emails and hit the grocery. The… Read More
Interior to Hill City
The trade-off of a short travel day is that loading up the truck and driving that first mile isn’t nearly as attractive as languishing in bed. Inertia is a warm, confortable bed… Read More
The Green Side of the Moon
We were sad that it was our final day in Badlands NP. The Cedar Pass Campground had been an incredible basecamp even though it only had electricity. The austere landscape was so tranquil.… Read More
Off the Beaten Path in the Badlands
The weather in the Badlands is notorious for being very, very hot in the summer – and unpredictable. We lucked out as our journey followed a cool front from Canada that gave us… Read More
Medora to Badlands National Park
It was a pleasant drive from Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora, North Dakota to Badlands National Park, about an hour southeast of Rapid City, South Dakota. The countryside was a living… Read More