live. work. dream.

Stayed up late last night updating our full-time RV road trip gallery with the latest photos and videos. But no pictures can do justice to the outdoor adventures we enjoyed while dry-camping for the previous four days at Seedhouse in the Routt National Forest.

While heavy thunderstorm clouds kept us incognito in the woods, the weather was not so bad that it kept us from enjoying the great outdoors in the Rocky Mountains outside Steamboat Springs. Though the incredible thunder did freak out Jerry.

• I hiked along the Continental Divide Trail and deep into the woods through heavy undergrowth fly fishing the North Fork of the Elk River. I’ve never worked so hard for such small fish, beautiful Brook Trout as they were.
• We rode down the Burn Ridge trail early one morning for some of the best, most secluded single track mountain biking ever.
• We gave our four wheel drive Dodge Ram 2500 a serious workout on a steep, narrow winding forest service road that seemed like a single track.
• And we finally made the hobo pies we’ve been waiting so long to enjoy by a campfire.

All this activity – and the intermittent showers, however – did result in a lack of time for R&R in the hammock. Oh well, better luck next time.

There’s so much catching up to do tonight after boondocking out in the Routt National Forest outside of Steamboat Springs, CO. Due to some crazy mountain storms, our satellite service was iffy at best, so we couldn’t get online. We had to find other things to do over the last few days, like fish, mountain bike, hike, knit, and play with Jerry. It was hard to leave Seedhouse Campground, the best campground we’ve taken the RV to yet. But we have to keep moving.

Both Jim and I agree that we love Colorado. But the areas we love are so darn expensive and out of reach. So now here we are, in a KOA by the side of a major interstate in Laramie, WY.

We’re on the way to Devils Tower National Monument (we’ll miss the Sturgis rally by 2 weeks…darn!). But we stopped in Laramie on the way, because of an Utne Reader list that claimed Laramie is “One of America’s Most Enlightened Towns.” Their reasoning is because the University of Wyoming is here. So we thought we’d check it out.

Well, people here are definitely friendly, and although there is a bit of bohemian academia attitude and appearances here, there’s definitely not enough of it for us to stay longer. Also, my Dad reminded me that Laramie is where the horrific Matthew Shepard murder happened in 1998. Yikes.

Laramie, and the flatlands in general, are definitely not for us. Bye bye Laramie.

Our first day boondocking at Seedhouse Campground in the Routt National Forest, we had excellent connectivity with Satellite 91 West using our DataStorm F2 dish. The next few days however, we spent too much time trying to troubleshoot connectivity issues. In a previous life, this would have been frustrating. But it’s hard to get upset when your home office is deep in the woods with so much to do…

(more…)

We’ve been giving the fridge a serious workout the past few weeks as we have traveled through some record-breaking heat in Arizona and Utah. I’ve been meaning to post about how the fridge issues that began at Lake Francis RV Resort seem to be resolved. Then I noticed the ignition fault error this morning after our first night in the Rockies outside Steamboat Springs, CO.
(more…)

Ouch! See that price per gallon? That was for B20 biodiesel in Carbondale, Colorado. Now, do the math to figure out what it cost to fill our 34 gallon tank.

I was thrilled to finally be able to fill our tank up with biodiesel for the first time since leaving California, but what a painful experience it was. This was B20 for cristssake, not even the primo stuff. Once, we wanted the kind biodiesel, so we paid $3.74 a gallon for B100 at Real Goods in Hopland. Pure as gold, and worth every penny to find out how our Dodge would perform on it. But B20? In Arcata, CA, we paid $3.05 a gallon for B20, and we were OK with that. But $3.53?

Why does doing the right thing have to hurt? Can average people truly afford to be “green”? Not completely, not in this universe. Would you pay that?

(more…)

Since the first time my knobby tires hit dirt back in the early 90s when I regularly biked Mt. Tam in Marin, I’ve always wanted to hit the trails in Moab, Utah. Those red mountain single tracks, biking to the edge of a thousand foot drop on some mesa . . . all those things I heard about, there they were, at our disposal when we arrived in Moab on July 8. But there was just one problem: it was a record-breaking day weather-wise, a whopping 100-something, in a town that never gets that hot. Only a fool would ride under those conditions.

(more…)

Arizona’s canyon lands, painted dessert and red rock buttes are beautiful sights to be seen and appreciated. That being said, I am happy to say I can check that area off my list of potential places to plant permanent roots. I’ll never say never, but the heat and local societal attitude that I encountered – yes, first impressions do count in my book – throughout Northern Arizona put it on a back burner for now, quite literally.

Whether it’s the weather change, the incredible drive through Monument Valley, or today’s office view of the canyon rim, or the San Juan River swim, I’m already liking things better as we head back north. Good decision to bypass Four Corners and opt for the Valley of the Gods. I will admit the direct sun may actually be just as hot, but the shade trees are better and there is a consistent awning-tolerable cool breeze off the river.

PHOTOS: Sunset in the clouds over the San Juan River near Bulff, Utah (Top); Why they call it Bluff, from Sand Island Campground site #8 (Below) Check out the campsite movie on our Gallery page!

The heat over the past week in Flagstaff was much drier, but the saying “It’s a dry heat,” means nothing when everything is just so hot, dusty, and well, dry. The dirt here from the Southern Utah canyons, however, is much more like sand – course with the multicolored crumbles of this land’s distant past.

It was wonderful to visit with the Agredanos. It is always a pleasure to share good times with them, and I’m glad to have finally seen Jerome with Raul and the Douglas Mansion Museum at the site where his father was a copper miner. A good time was had, hopefully by all. But it feels good to be back on the road. There’s much catching up to do with pictures, videos, and tales of our recent adventures. Stay tuned… Now that we have seen everyone on our agenda for a while and over a month has passed since we officially started our full-time RV adventure, it’s time to get back to work. Life is hard. Life is good. Enjoy it. Thus is the essence of my live/work dream.

I gotta give Raul an A for Effort for the biscuits and gravy he made us yesterday. After all, they were the first thing ever cooked in our new fifth wheel’s little oven, he used Rene’s homemade “Bisquick” mix, and the gravy was from Tony Chachere’s Southern Pantry White Gravy Mix – a decent standby for quick homemade biscuits and gravy. But I must say the Coffee Pot in Sedona, AZ has served up the best biscuits and gravy on this trip so far.

Famous for serving up a menu of 101 different omelets since the 1950’s, this colorful and comfortable southwest restaurant is named after the nearby Coffee Pot rock – one of the many prominent red rock buttes surrounding Sedona, AZ. The service is fast and friendly. The coffe is good, and the leave the hot pitcher on the table so you can fill the unique handmade mugs which are available for purchase in the gift shop.

Since I felt it mandatory to order an omelet at a place that offers 101 varieties, I opted for a biscuit instead of toast and asked for a side of country gravy. A good decision indeed. The cut cake pan style biscuit was tall, fluffy and golden brown. The gravy was creamy with a smooth consistency and quite flavorful. Crispy hashbrowns and a tasty mushroom, avocado and swiss cheese omelet made this my best breakfast yet in our travels.

Do yourself a favor, and skip this area of AZ any other time of year except winter.

We don’t like KOA parks, but we decided to stop here because it was easy to meet my parents there, and we could use it as a base camp to explore the area south, Sedona. The tightwad in me also wanted to avoid the few overpriced RV parks closer to Sedona. So upon check in, we weren’t expecting much other than the standard swimming pool and hookups that would allow us to run our AC. But what we found out after check in was, this KOA is, simply put, a dump.

The place is run down, trash is everywhere, the sites are crammed together, and management is so cheap they won’t even buy toilet seat covers for the restrooms. Unlike other KOAs we’ve overnighted at, this one had no DVDs for rent, the office doesn’t open till 8am and you can’t even buy a newspaper until then because they’re in the office. And they don’t even have a pool! In Arizona!

As we sat in the cool comfort of our Fox’s air conditioner while the outside world baked in 100 degree heat (ok, it was 95, but is there really a difference?), someone knocked at our door. It was a KOA Flagstaff clerk, who arrived to tell us that we weren’t allowed to run our AC on their 30amp hookups, “because the park is so old it can’t handle it.” If we had been told this ahead of making the reservation, we never would’ve stayed there.

(more…)