Dear Pacific Northwest Rainforest: Why do you have to be so wet and cold? I understand the wet part, and I hear the cold part is actually “mild” during the winter. But man oh man have we been cold and wet. It’s worth repeating. Don’t get me wrong. The forest has been lush and otherworldly, and I’m glad […]
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Introducing GDTR Guest Writers
New voices have joined me here! Here are regular posts by sets of friends we’ve made on the road, friends who RV full-time or mostly fulltime or who help us RV. Click on their names for their posts, or click here for all guest posts: Guest Posts Here are a few: And here are our […]
Sweetwater Summit
It’s a chilly, drizzly day on top of Sweetwater Summit at its regional park campground—in the town of Chula Vista, directly east of San Diego. But no matter: we have full hookups, which means we can run the heat pump on city electricity (saving our propane for nights in the tent), and I’ve been gleefully […]
The Beach Every Day, Several Ways
Today, we move on, from Tijuana River Valley Regional Park to a whole honking half-hour away, to a county park east of San Diego. A week there, then up the California coast. As I leave here, I realize it might be the only place we’ll be on the entire Pacific Coast where we could walk […]
Banjo Visits Mars, Again
Our long-planned spring trip up the Pacific Coast begins with reservations in San Diego soon (but not yet), so we needed a stop west on the way there. Why not revisit Mars (aka Imperial Dam LTVA)? Our seasonal pass is still valid, and we can get mail and packages here, plus a handful of other […]
An Eye-Opening Night in an Old Ghost Town
Ruby, Arizona, used to be a mining town, built after the first strike to its ore in the 1870s. Along with a shaft mine—that produced gold, silver, and then lead and zinc—came the company town, including a handful of houses, two barracks, a nine-bed hospital, a cement jail, a school for up to 150 children, a […]
What’s Behind that Unusual Van
After I posted a tour of my neighbor’s van conversion, several of you dear readers (I love using that phrase) said that I’d left you hanging. So, what’s in the trailer behind the van? I’ll tell you what Tyll told me the day he gave me the tour. Creating Community as a Nomad In the […]
A Fascinating Man and His Unusual Van
I met Tyll when I first arrived at the Imperial Dam LTVA. I was wandering around on my bike and heard someone playing jazz on a ukulele, so I stopped to listen. Seriously. I’m so glad I said hi: Tyll is one of the most interesting people I’ve met in a good long while, and he […]
Socializing in the Clam
I’ve been reveling in “zero days” since we’ve arrived at Imperial Dam LTVA—that’s what AT thru-hikers call days when they make no progress on the trail at all. Zero Days My zero days mean I haven’t gone hiking, kayaking, errand-running, anything-ing that’s productive. So, how do I spend my time? We put up the tent […]
The Ebb and Flow of Life at a State Park Campground
I’d forgotten how predictable—and oddly comforting—is the migration of the state park campground population. We show up mid-day on a Wednesday, often, when about half the campground is empty. Things seem slow and lazy, and we back into our site and set up in our full regalia. Then we run errands in town while others […]
