January 25th, 2012
the petrified forest was one of our favorite afternoons..
it’s not what everyone expects..since it’s not really a forest, have you been?
did you love it or were you disappointed?
(missed our visit? go here & here to take a peek)
need a petrified tchotchke?
from top left, clockwise..
one, two, three, four, five, six & seven
January 24th, 2012
»»»» even though january isn’t the best time to get away,
it sure is when we think about it a lot…don’t you? ««««
Filed Under: travel shoptalk
Tagged: airstream blog, avenue of the giants, balboa park san diego, cadillac ranch, echo lake colorado, luxor las vegas, marathon texas, me&him, prada marfa, roadside attractions, rv blog, torrey pines, travel, travel blog, travel shoptalk
*please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here.
January 11th, 2012
…spring in arizona will be full-swing in about 8 weeks….
(we’re up for pool time in phoenix, baseball games, a blizzard…or five)
…it’s amazing how much there is to do in this one state…
→ holbrook arizona ←
→ the grand canyon ←
→ red rocks ←
→ hoover dam ←
→ phoenix ←
….we can’t believe a year ago we were weeks away from basking in the sun in mesa….
(and now are covered in the 7th?? snowfall so far)
Filed Under: travel
Tagged: arizona, arizona attractions, green restaurant tempe arizona, holbrook arizona, hoover dam, petrified forest, phoenix arizona, snowbirds, south rim grand canyon, spring training phoenix, the grand canyon, travel
*please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here.
January 9th, 2012
we’re celebrating another ANNIVERSARY. one year ago today WE took off in our AIRSTREAM looking for anything and everything. our first stop included BEIGNETS for the first time, candy’s can-we-have-them-everyday-amazing-MARGARITAS, and lots of work on eddie. oye. walked most of MAGAZINE street in new orleans. rode the ALGIERS ferry. drank a PINA COLADA from a drive-thru daquiri place. can we have one in denver please. saw the most amazing rocks on the KUMEYAAY hwy. made it to HOLLYWOOD and saw lots of STARS. thought about pretty woman as we walked along RODEO drive. walked amongst GIANTS. tried to convince the husband to grab onto a trolley and belt out rice-a-roni the san franciso treat. failed. ate the very best chicago style vegan DEEP DISH pizza. three times. drank thai TEA. watched FORTUNE COOKIES being made. walked in the petrified FOREST. found the best mexican restaurant in las cruces new mexice. hello stuffed sopapillas we like you a lot. learned all about BORDER control. went thrifting on SOCO in austin. watched old FAITHFUL erupt. stood next to a BUFFALO. saw about a hundred more. peered into turquoise POOLS and got steamy glasses. ran into an airstream with a doughnut on top. saw CANADA from the seattle shoreline. visited cadillac RANCH. saw the biggest blue BEAR ever. went to the BERNSTAIN bears hometown. fell head over heels in love with ROSLYN washington. dreamed about having more deep dish pizza. had a flat in one of the HOTTEST cities in america. saw the LONDON bridge. in ARIZONA. dared to go to the WICKEDEST town in the west. saw my first big cactus. jumped back and forth between arizona and nevada on the HOOVER dam. thought about TRANSFORMERS hanging off of the dam. couldn’t believe the dense forest in FLAGSTAFF. took pictures of EDDIE next to the wigwam TEEPEES. watched a BASEBALL game during spring training. went on tea, beer and wine TASTING tours. decided not to leave the ROCKIES. made LISTS of everywhere we still want to GO. blogged a lot. shared some FAVORITES. got frustrated some. had FUN. feel blessed. can’t wait to get out there all over again.
♥♥♥♥a big THANK you to all who follow along with us, we’re so happy you do♥♥♥♥
January 2nd, 2012
we had a BIG year, how about you? we sold almost all of our stuff. uprooted ourselves in search of ADVENTURE and a new home. drove over THIRTY thousand miles. experienced lots of the U.S.A. camped for our very FIRST time ever. drove all of california. fell in love with SEATTLE. saw amazing wide open spaces. felt like KINDRED spirits with marathon and marfa texas. blogged over 12oo posts. met amazing new blog FRIENDS. learned a lot about living in an AIRSTREAM. drove through a blizzard, ice storm, rain storm and sunny bright skies all in ONE day. finally saw MONTANA. confirmed that it’s is one of the most beautiful places ever. had one four vegan blizzards in tempe arizona that were the best things i ate all year. WISH i could get them everywhere. ate vegan REUBENS all over the place. none beat the CHICAGO diners version. went on the most torturous BIKE ride ever known to man in SAN DIEGO. had some 20 degree NIGHTS and over 100 degree days. went on inspiring hikes in JOSHUA TREE national park. hiked almost the entire south rim of the grand canyon. saw lots of NEON in las vegas. and michael jackson, darth vader and minnie mouse. visited the close encounters of the third kind house in fairhope ALABAMA. ate at top notch in AUSTIN texas and felt like we had stepped into dazed and confused. had the best thai food we’ve ever eaten in NAPA. walked the entire GOLDEN GATE bridge. had DIM SUM for the first time. and loved it. bought a teeny tiny HOUSE in edgewater colorado. couldn’t believe we were new homeowners AGAIN. two became three with our new miniature bulldog penelope. hiked to a GLACIER. watched FIREWORKS from our backyard. got into more renovating than we ever thought possible. wondered from time to time how we got into so much renovating. fell in ♥ with colorado. missed SOUTHERNERS. said hallelujah to living in no humidity. spent thanksgiving in charlotte. watched the macys day PARADE. missed NYC. came home to MORE diy. and SNOW. scraped my car windows for the first time since.. embraced wholeheartedly having a home. plotted our next roadtrips. watched SUPER 8. bought it in blu-ray because it’s awesome. saw poltergeist for the first time. wondered how that had escaped me. and LEARNED more than we could imagine about everything. well not everything but a lot. blogged about most of it. are thankful for everything. 2012….
September 27th, 2011
We know so many of you out there want to do just what we did, grab a camper, hit the open road, and see all there is to see. Right? Does it seem totally un-doable or so far in the future that it truly doesn’t seem possible? There are so many ways to travel, and rv’ing is definitely a great way to see a lot and do a lot at once. Within this community are so many choices, travel trailer, motor home, fifth wheel, small, big, and in-between. Where to start?
After traveling most of this year in our Airstream we know so much that we had no clue whatsoever about. Things like, gas costs, camping costs, where there’s an abundance of campgrounds and where you can’t find one anywhere. What it’s like to tow, problems that arise, hooking up, unhooking, parking, driving, boondocking, solar power, generators, yada. yada. yada.
With all this we’re hoping to share some insights that just might get you out & about sooner than you think. First, towing can be awesome. (travel trailer of fifth wheel) You have a vehicle for running all over town in when you’re all tucked into a spot. No driving your motor home everywhere you go or towing a car behind the motor home. It’s two totally separate things. In a lot of ways this offers major advantages. Your vehicle and your home are not one in the same. If something goes wrong with a travel trailer (that doesn’t prevent it from being towed behind your car) you can keep moving until you get to a good spot to work on repairs. When you are out sight seeing it’s just like any other excursion with your vehicle. On the negative side, if you have a heavy rig, you need a heavy duty truck/suv to haul a travel trailer. Heavy duty = heavy duty gas bills. And those gas bills stay with you on all of that sight seeing too.. it will decrease a little since you aren’t pulling.. but not that much. If you’re towing, parking and pulling into and out of places can be more of a challenge, and sometimes not feasible at all. So, when you’re trucking down the highway and see something you want to stop and see it may or may not be easy.
This is where size of your rig comes into play in a big way. Our little eddie is pretty small, 22 ft total, but.. heavy. So we needed a lot of car to get up and go and gas was our number one expense, it blew every other cost out of the water. We definitely had times I would have liked to have stopped but it was absolutely not feasible, and a few times that I really wanted to see something and Sean had to let me jump out so he could keep moving and then turn around further down and maneuver. (always worth it to both of us, but still a challenge sometimes) Having said this, we love our painted Airstream and it will get lots more love from us always, both for trips and as our guest house! If you’re traveling with a family, sometimes you have to go larger or it just won’t work (or won’t work without everyone sleeping with one eye open.. haha!) when traveling en mass, going bigger versus staying home? no contest, go bigger. (but just big enough for everyone to fit happily) But, if it’s just you or you and a partner, light and small will free you up immensely. There are several lightweight, fiberglass travel trailers that you can pull with a car! Huge difference on gas bills, and for many, whatever vehicle you currently use will be fine, so no added cost of purchasing a tow vehicle. Double bonus. These campers are easy to maneuver, can be parked almost anywhere, and are easy to drive/pull for anyone regardless of towing experience. (pop-ups could fit into this category as well) The more simple your set up the more freedom and cash for your travels, and with a regular car as your tow vehicle you’ll be running around town saving even more money on gas while you’re camper is parked. It’s not for everyone, but if you can go small, and light, we highly recommend it.
Motor homes are a whole other ballgame. You will either have a tow vehicle behind you, creating more gas costs, or if you choose not to tow you have to drive your “house” with you everywhere you go. Can be a downer, but on the upside, there are tons of smaller motor homes that offer much larger conveniences in the same amount of space than you might find otherwise. Companies devote a great deal of time into motor homes, making them as much like home, with as many of the creature comforts as possible. If you’re willing to drive something larger, chances are you’ll get double the amenities. Motor homes typically have great storage and good flat roofs for adding solar panels. Once you get used to driving it, zipping in and out of just about any spot becomes second nature. If however, you have a big rig, a bus, or some other long version, you run into some of the same issues as pulling a trailer. (harder to maneuver, ease of pulling in/out of places, etc…) We have definitely seen some small motor homes that blew us away, we couldn’t believe the storage, bathroom size, and kitchen amenities. Another big bonus, when you’re driving you can jump up and get something from the back.. can’t do that if you’re towing. If you can drive a small motor home, take bikes or a little scooter on the back (we frequently saw this) then you can have the best of both, less gas expense from not towing, more amenities, and easy maneuvering. If scooters or bikes don’t cut it, then not having a separate tow vehicle might be a bit of a drag.. all depends on you and your personality.
And for all of you dreaming… that none of these options will work or seem viable in your near future…. don’t give up!! We 100% believe that, even though the experience would be different from camping, if you have a decently gas friendly vehicle, jumping in the good old car and hitting the road is awesome. If you can keep your standards of where you stay from being sky high, you can hit the road with no rv, just you, your car, and basic living needs and see the country. Stay at mom & pop motels, check craigslist for affordable places to stay, there are tons of programs online for staying with people for free (with like minded people who love to travel as well, and help others trying to do the same) and if the weather is great you can even tent camp. The huge advantage is how easy you can go and do everything with no restrictions. If you get somewhere and don’t love it, it’s easy to move on, no being stuck at a campground that you had to book in advance because that was the only place to stay, etc. You have the freedom to be more flexible, and if it were us, waiting until we got somewhere (if we were unsure of the place) to see if we wanted to stay at all. If it’s somewhere you know you’ll love then you can check on any of the above listed ideas and be good to go when you arrive.
It may seem like this would cost more, but in reality you might end up saving or at the very least breaking even. We can’t stress enough how high gas costs are and how that plays into your budget, being in a gas friendly car virtually eliminates thousands and thousands of dollars you’d spend towing or driving a motor home, this will very much balance out the spreadsheet of staying in motels. Especially if you mix motel stays with other overnight options, or staying in one place for a week or more and getting discounts. In many ways, you could go and see much more, much faster this way, which is great! Especially if you don’t have the ability to take big chunks of time off, but can take a week, two, three or four at a stretch. You would be amazed how far you could go and what you could do with only a suitcase and your car. There are obvious downfalls, eating out more, not having a kitchen, but lots of motels offer these amenities, in the lobby at least, and most alternative stay places are homes where you have full access. While it may not be for everyone and is not the camping or rv experience, it would allow the thing that has most people on the road for in the first place….travel, seeing the U.S., exploring. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about for everyone. Going and doing.
Filed Under: travel shoptalk
Tagged: airstream blog, rv blog, travel, travel blog, travel shoptalk, travel trailer or motorhome, traveling
*please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here.
July 6th, 2011
What is the American dream? Who is John Galt? It really is the unanswerable question because the answers are wide and many. The old standard was a house, white picket fence, 2 kids, a dog, and a steady 9 to 5. Doesn’t really fit everyone anymore (not that it ever truly did) and within the current economy doesn’t even seem feasible sometimes. Main point being, the American dream is as open to interpretation and dreaming as each person is individual.
For us, when we got married, we didn’t have a set dream in mind, we just lived life and went where the curves took us, which included buying a house, selling a house, renting, selling it all (almost), and trucking down the road in an Airstream full-time. The first time we bought a house we learned more than a million books could have taught us.. about home ownership, commitment, mortgages, mortgages + marriage, and when we sold that house it took 7 full years to be ready to take the plunge again. Seven. Full. Years. With a huge chunk of wanderlust and no roots whatsoever thrown in the mix as well.
We’re a combo platter of planning and not planning. We planned to leave-it-all, hit the road, live one version of the American Dream of traveling cross-country in a travel trailer, an Airstream specifically.
We didn’t know for how long, what it would be like, feel like, how it would change us or not. We planned to go and do but didn’t plot every thing. We wanted warm(ish) weather and to see whatever popped up in our path. We dreamed of finding a new spot to call home so we could travel indefinitely from year to year when the weather was welcoming.
We had ideas of what all we would see and where we would go in our first year.. we’ve seen some, missed some, have tons left, we knew one year would never do it and felt content all along that the open road would be ready & waiting each and every time we were ready to hitch little eddie on the yeti and take off. We hoped to fall in love with somewhere that inspired us to stay and play and work while dreaming of the next big adventure in Airstream living. We imagined finding a little slice of land and parking eddie on it and trying a whole new kind of stay-put living, this is what we imagined but didn’t know. What we did do was meander & explore, we visited & learned, we learned so much that we didn’t know about different parts of the U.S. and never knew if the next spot we drove through was going to be that little slice of heaven that made us say, this.. is it! To not know where you might lay down roots next is exhilarating and nerve racking all at once.
We worked very hard and saved and saved, and saved to go on this big adventure. We primarily put our earnings on hold as most of our work involves being somewhere not rolling down the highway. This meant that our full-time was to be for a definite amount of time, we just had no idea what that was. A year? 6 months? 2 years? Full-time, as we have experienced it..and have witnessed via numerous travelers…is more of a gone all winter somewhere (because you live somewhere frosty cold) or gone all summer/spring (because you live somewhere hot.. or because you can easily go anywhere during these seasons) than it is truly moving down the road 12 months a year, never staying put anywhere. This is where our dream of finding that new special spot came into play, a place we could live and work and save some more, allowing warm weather to be the beacon light showing us the way to all still left unseen.
We are very, very excited that our loosely imagined and hopeful idea of just the right place practically jumped out and bit us! We had imagined all along a little piece of land for us and eddie and another something new.. when a teeny tiny house, in a town less than a square mile (a pint-sized town on the edge of Denver), stole our hearts and made us more ready than ever to take on the moniker… home-owner once again.
We’re not done traveling, we have loads of amazing stuff from the last few weeks that we haven’t been able to squeeze in yet..and we have so much left to share about traveling, simple living, downsizing, and our latest venture of how to own small and keep the dream of travel alive & well. This blog will continue to be all about our adventures & roadtrips, Airstreams, plus lots of love for our new home base.. Denver. Our new blog *Camp 1899* will chronicle our before, during & after of our new home remodel, life with me & him.. in an only slightly bigger space than our little airstream…from 175 sq. feet to 528 sq. feet… we’re so excited, thanks for following along with us!!
June 17th, 2011
I recently heard the phrase.. “there are a lot of ways to blaze a trail, adventure comes in all shapes and sizes.” Traveling the U.S. and leaving brick & mortar life behind for a stint is an adventure for sure, and for us it is one that we planned and dreamed of for awhile before launching this year. I know lots of you out there dream of doing the exact same thing. It has taught us more in the past 6 months than we would have learned in years. We’ve learned more about what we like and don’t like, what thrills us in a new place and what makes us want to keep on moving. We’ve learned so much about the United States that we never, ever imagined. Much of what we have found has been disappointing and sad, like the loss of middle America, and some of what we have found has been amazing. With this blog we are sharing, in as unbiased a way as possible, what we’ve learned in hopes that those of you planning your own dream getaway will be saved some unnecessary routes and at the same time be pointed directly to what will give you the most satisfaction.
What I know for sure it that as the phrase says..adventure comes in all shapes & sizes..is absolutely true. You can have huge adventure without ever leaving where you are right now. You can kick the bad boyfriend to the curb and demand better, you can start your own etsy shop, cut your hair short that you’ve worn long your whole life (big! adventure) try spicy thai food when you’re normally a spaghetti-only person. Little adventures are what really make up life. Yes, the big things make for big outcomes, but big things (like trips across the U.S.) are only for X amount of time and it’s all concentrated, whereas little things all the time make up a full life. Sometimes big changes are both fun and necessary but too often we discount what the little things will do for us in the long haul. Treat yourself to a cafe au lait in the morning, take the time to make it and enjoy it instead of whatever is fastest and easiest, cultivate new friends, go to the free day at the museum, devote more time to your hobbies, get a dog or a cat, take walks in the evening. All of these “little” things are what make day-to-day life go round and round, remind yourself that anything out of your norm is an adventure. Try doing the things that in the moment you brush off for another day. Have little adventures, eat lunch outside, have breakfast for dinner, all while you plot & plan for the big adventures. But today and each day foreward.. enjoy the things that in the end make life that much sweeter… all from where you are right now.
Filed Under: travel shoptalk
Tagged: adventure, airstream, full time rv'ing, full time travel, travel, travel shoptalk
*please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here.
May 29th, 2011
A collection of some favorite posts from the past 6 months…
If you’re new to the blog this is a great place to start!
Or you might find a post you missed along the way.
Click the images to read each post…
Filed Under: travel shoptalk
Tagged: favorite posts, travel, travel shoptalk
*please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here.
May 18th, 2011
If you’re thinking of traveling full-time or even part time, do you know what you’re looking for? Are you going back to places you’ve already been and loved? Only interested in seeing new places? Flying by the seat of your pants and whatever comes your way? Are you going to places that are super well known and you know will be right up your alley like San Francisco or Yellowstone? Or are you interested in seeing the less beaten path in hopes it will offer something unique?
It’s an important question to ask yourself. Otherwise you get to where you’re going and you might have set yourself up for a fall. I went into our travels with an excitement to see pretty much everything and Sean felt basically the same way. We definitely wanted to see the tried & true such as Sequoia National Park, Moab, Yellowstone, and too many others to list individually. More than that I had a keen interest in seeing the roads less taken, the small towns, rural America. Less interstate, more local.
Even with limited expectations and an eagerness to see “it all” I have found things to be much different than my minimally formed ideas had allowed for. In no way, shape, or form did I expect to see almost no middle class America. What I had in mind of small working towns, towns not glitzy or glamorous but thriving in their own small way, making lives work day in and day out.. isn’t out there. Not the way I thought, Sean thought, and I feel many people besides us assume is “out there.”
We’ve found vast poverty in every state we’ve visited. Some states this encompasses almost all of what we’ve found. The small, working towns that I thought we would drive through and make you want to chuck it all and go small town, know everyone and everyone know you, wow.. they are almost non-existent. We found instead towns all dried up, or towns that leave you in awe that anyone is making a living and the how is undetermined. The state of the houses, yards, everything to be trashy, neglected, and given up on. Or there is no individual business at all, instead the only commerce is fast food, truck stops, gas stations and not much else.
To the other extreme you have towns that are quaint “ish” on the surface, but once you peel back a layer we’ve found the town to be 100% commercialized and no local substance to speak of. Or the town is fabulous and bustling because it has a lot to offer therefor everyone is there. If a lot of people are all gathered in one place, we’ve found there is good reason this is so. Austin, Portland, San Diego, New York, Seattle, all are bursting at the seams because of what is offered. If you think, no way, city life isn’t for me, I totally understand. It’s finding the town that will sustain you and you it that is hard. We would not have thought this but we’ve seen it first hand.
All communities, towns & states, have good, hard-working, amazing people with amazing stories. A place considered less desirable does not indicate no worth in it’s citizens. I know that every place is an opportunity to meet great individuals. But a hard scrabble life is what many are living and without a formed community, a community bonded and working together…it’s the picture of a hard life, and an isolated life.
We both thought we would end up with lists of the neatest little towns that we had never heard of but felt so enriched to have traveled through. It is sadly not what we have found. This is not meant to be a discouragement. It is what it is. It shouldn’t dictate if and where you travel, instead it is just our observations, our discoveries within our travels. I do not under any circumstance think we are alone in these observations. Anyone who has traveled extensively will have witnessed this first hand. Just because a name of a city is very familiar, does not mean it will be lively, prosperous or anything more than McDonalds and a gas and go. Cities I had heard of for years, we arrived and found them poor, dirty and basically drive-thru towns.
If you know ahead of time what you’re looking for, what you find will be that much sweeter. National and state parks are beautiful and could keep you traveling with no other stops for years. They are vast and plentiful and awe-inspiring. If you are down with nature and that’s your thing and that’s what you’re going for, you won’t be disappointed. If you want to go to major cities and see all you’ve seen in movies, I think you too will be satisfied and happy. There is room for all kinds of travelers.
We also expected to meet lots of people in every campground we stayed at, this hasn’t even come close to happening. We love to be outside. We sit outside every single day the weather is at least half way permitting. We never see anyone. Everyone stays in their RV. No walking around the park, no sitting outside their rig, not even doors open on their RV.. most times. It has astounded us. Now we haven’t been in state/national parks as much due to lack of gray tank, etc. (which we are still working fervently on!) and we assume people in these parks might be more friendly and more out and about, not locked up tight in the trailer, but assumptions are just that and who knows.. we’ll let you know when we get there.
The middle class is gone. Or barely surviving and this is making a huge impact on the landscape and people of America. What you find on your travels might not be what you expect. Think about why you want to travel and what you’d like to see and find on said travels so that you can go out and have it really be the dream you have dreamed. Our travels have been invaluable in a million ways. What we have found and seen will affect us forever. It will make the future better, more settled and more focused. Nothing you find is ever for naught. If we can help you, those of you waiting to go, or wishing it were you, maybe this will help you form your dream with a little more focus, a focus that makes breaking the penny bank to set sail all the more worthwhile.
Older »
