We’re so excited to be back on the road again in Stan the Tan Van. We’ve missed his rumbles and creaks—here’s hoping that three times a charm with radiators. Currently we’re en route to the sunshine state for some vitamin D replenishment. You may have noticed that we’ve been stationary for a while, spending the last few months in Wisconsin. Before you think we’ve gone completely mad by choosing to winter in Wisconsin, the truth is we didn’t plan to…
With the end of one year and the beginning of another we think about where we are, where we want to be, and most importantly what we want to do. How will we spend our time this next year? What will we accomplish? Since the new year stimulates reflection and planning we thought it was time to share the back-story of how we came to live this simple roaming existence in Stan the Tan Van. When I sat down to write…
2017 was probably the biggest year of change and travel plans in our lives yet. We got rid of almost everything we owned, moved into a van, and started road tripping around the US. We created this blog and a few of you lovelies actually read it. Tom started working remotely as an eLearning Developer. We met new people, tried new things, and learned so much. Here’s our year by the numbers. 18,545 miles driven 21 national parks explored 29…
After our sandy and snowy time in Colorado we made our way to the last stop on this leg of the journey—South Dakota. While the comforts of family, friends, and (let’s be honest) showering regularly are inviting, we’re sad to end this travel session. We plan to go out with a bang though and have many grand plans for South Dakota. There’s not one, but two caves close in proximity to one-another—Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. If you haven’t noticed,…
Sand and snow are the themes of our next two National Parks. No, I’m not talking about children born out-of-wedlock in Westeros. After spending a warm long weekend in Cortez, CO and Mesa Verde, the next stop on our eastern journey was Great Sand Dunes National Park. Wolf Creek Pass The Great Sand Dunes are located in southern Colorado about smack-dab in the middle of the state. To reach them, we must cross the Great Divide. We get a tad…
The main attraction in Utah’s Mighty 5 national parks are natural rock formations. After visiting Canyonlands and Natural Bridges it was time to start exploring some human created formations. We headed to Hovenweep National Monument and Mesa Verde National Park. These sites (along with many others in the four corners region) contain the ruins of ancient civilizations. Specifically, Ancestral Puebloan communities that built large elaborate villages near canyons and cliffs. Hovenweep National Monument Hovenweep includes six different villages spanning the…
Our last few posts have been informational about Utah’s national parks so we thought it was time for a travel story. This is a tale of a series of bad decisions and what not to do if you find yourself stuck in a thunderstorm. Learn from our mistakes friends. We hope you enjoy this story about our unexpectedly eventful hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. The Iconic Arches Arches NP is one of the most iconic places in Utah….
Great Basin National Park. The name makes us think that the park will be mostly flat, centered around one of the many basins scattered across Nevada. Once again, Nevada had a surprise for us. Great Basin NP is actually centered around the Snake Mountain Range. There’s a huge diversity of landscapes and ecosystems to see in Nevada’s only national park. Lehman Caves Another surprise was finding out that Great Basin NP has a cave system to explore. All explorations are…
Nevada just might be the most surprising state we’ve been to yet. This wasn’t our first rodeo in Nevada. Okay, there weren’t any rodeos, but that would’ve been fun. Our previous visits to the Silver State were to Las Vegas—where the majority of visitors go. This time we wanted to explore the land and history of Nevada. We wanted to know what Nevada is like outside the giant concrete maze and flashing neon lights of Vegas. Pause for a moment…
Admittedly we had some post eclipse blues after watching the sun become blotted out by the moon. I mean how do you follow-up day becoming night at 10:30 am? It turns out that hiking up volcanoes is a good next move. After watching the eclipse from the path of totality in Central OR we headed down to Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern CA. This is another park that we’ve never really heard anyone talk about. Honestly, our knowledge of…