Escaped Doodles
The end of May 2018 Denise and I made the jump to living full time in our travel trailer. Quite a change from "normal life".
This journal is a log of our travels with descriptions of the trials and tribulations we've gone through. Below are a few recent posts. Check out the links below for additional posts.
Oct 24, 2022 - Rapid City to Prescott Valley
We finished all our business in Rapid City and headed out for a slow trip south. Turns out we'll likely be here in June 2023, so on the way out we checked out a National Forest CG in the Black Hills. It is Sheridan Lake, west and a touch south of Rapid City. It's a very nice camp and wasn't crowded this time of year. We planned to stay one night but extended it to two.
You were left hanging as we arrived at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit. Well, here's an update to the ongoing saga.
Sept 26, 2022 - slow Fast Trip
A "slow Fast Trip". It was a Fast Trip, to Thunder Bay, Ontario and back, 'cuz we traveled most every day. Slow 'cuz we travel max 200-250 mi/day. For most that's an easy day, but about as much as we like to do. We'd planned a trip to South Dakota to renew Hugh's drivers license and register our "new to us" Subaru. Denise's brother Jim is getting cancer treatment in Thunder Bay so we decided to extend the trip to Canada for a visit. Thus, this "slow Fast Trip".
The Canada trip started in Arizona on Sept 7, just after Labor Day. We stopped at Holbrook AZ, Albuquerque NM, Raton Pass CO, Brush CO, Stapleton City NE, Platte SD .........
July 1, 2022 - Eastern Arizona
Some days are just bad, bad from the start. We'd planned to spend a couple of weeks at Winn and Big Lake CGs. But Denise had trouble the first day at Winn so we decided to move to a lower elevation. The only campgrounds within the area with FFS sites appeared to be in the Black River Canyon. In this canyon there are 5 or 6 smaller CGs. We drove past Big Lake southeast towards these. The turn taking us to the south end of the canyon was missed somehow and we ended up on a nice paved road (249) to Alpine.
Winter 2022
Well, it's been awhile. Sassy was repaired but it took two months which cancelled our fall 2021 travels. Seems like a long time to fix a hole in the fiberglass, but it was a big hole. The insurance company, Foremost, was very good about covering the cost which approached $10K. Our agent at Foremost thought that 2 months was less than average these days. I don't have the expertise to judge, but two months was frustrating. Northern Arizona RV Collision did do an outstanding repair job and I would recommend them highly. They are in Prescott Valley.
July 15, 2021 - Back to Prescott Valley
After leaving Yaak River we headed straight, pretty much, for Prescott Valley. Well, still on secondary roads and leaning towards roads we hadn't been on before. It took us 10 days to get from Montana to Arizona, a blistering pace for us.
From Yaak River we took Hwy 56 south to Hwy 200. 56 was new to us but we'd bicycled 200 some 25 years ago. Decided this rather than through Kalispelle and Hwy 83. We haven't driven 83 but taking 200 was quite a bit faster. (We'll be back for Hwy 83.) Driving 200 was interesting, more for what we didn't remember than for what we did.
July 5, 2021 - Livin' up North
We spent the last half of June in way northern Washington and way northern Montana. Almost all our time was in two campgrounds, Sullivan Lake and Yaak River. Good to slow down.
We found a nice campground at Sullivan Lake, off Hwy 31 some 10 miles from the Canadian boarder. Very close to Idaho but still in Washington. There was a "beach" at the lake and the kids got to go swimming. Not a great beach but they liked it. There is also an grass air strip adjacent to the CG....
Oct. 1, 2019 - Cottonwood & Chaco
After the North Rim we made a two day stop in Kanab to restock and wash. Kanab is a nice small town just over the Arizona boarder. We must have jostled some more hard pack in the black tank loose, as it would not drain upon arrival in Kanab. The good news is we're getting good at diagnosing and clearing blockages. Couple of hours later we have empty gray and black tanks, and a full fresh tank. Ready to go again.
After Kanab we went out Hwy 89 and up Cottonwood Canyon. The canyon goes north about half way between Kanab and Page.....
Sept. 15, 2019 - North Rim
We left Brenda Monday, Labor Day. It was still way too hot so good to get out of there. Headed for Flagstaff.
Dumped tanks on Sassy (the new Bigfoot Trailer) on the way out. The black tank would not dump, thought it was the valve. Too hot to fuss with so we just headed north. It was very busy on I17, but everyone was going the other way, back to Phoenix. Glad we're not in that traffic jam, and not going back to that heat, and not going to a city, and....
We stayed at Woody Mt CG in Flagstaff. Needed a full hookup to straighten out the black tank problems. The black still would not drain. So, after a few go arounds on the Internet Hugh figured out....
One Year on the Road
Oh the places you'll go, the things you'll see! It's been one year since we started this full time traveling adventure. We've been a few places and seen some things. We've at least touched Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Some 25,000 miles and a lot of campgrounds. Close to half of that 25,000 miles has been towing. But most of our time has been spent in South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.
It has been a most excellent but challenging adventure. Not a vacation, which we knew from previous long trips.
Who? Who the heck are you?
Well, there are two of us:
Before moving to Klamath Falls Denise grew up in Toledo, OH and spent time on the Cape in MA. She did a lot of bicycling including racing and touring. She has always enjoyed the outdoors spending time hiking and backpacking. Denise has had a dog or two for at least the last 40 years. She retired from Occupational and Massage Therapy in 2013.
Hugh grew up in Klamath Falls, OR also enjoying the outdoors.....