Author: Van-Tramp

1

Christian Valley

Crossing the border into Canada was less dramatic than I imagined. A couple of pointed questions from the agent — mostly about whether we planned on sneaking into the maple-syrup utopia forever — and a raised eyebrow at our “yes, we really will go home eventually” story. Once convinced we...

2

Run for the border

We spent two blissful days tickling Mt. Rainier’s toes — cool mountain air, towering evergreens, and a view so good it felt like Mother Nature herself was showing off. But with a heat wave barreling toward us, we packed up camp and started rumbling down the long, winding gravel road...

4

Luke’s Spot

It took nearly 20 more miles of bone-rattling, pothole-pocked gravel to even get to the side road we were aiming for. We were deep in it now—way out there—but also way closer to Mt. Rainier than we’d ever been. If I had Luke’s directions right, we’d be within a thousand...

2

The ugly step-sister

With Marcel riding a couple hundred pounds leaner over the rear axle—thanks to the strategic shedding of the genset—we made yet another dramatic exit from my family’s property. If no one kicks the bucket in the next 48 hours, Kerri and I just might finally break free from the gravitational pull...

0

Full Circle

By all reasonable logic, you’d think we’d had our fill of the Olympic Peninsula by now. Truth be told, even we figured we’d be out of Washington within days of reclaiming our freedom—finally untethered from schedules, deadlines, and the tyranny of “must be here by this time.” But when faced with...

2

Pee with a view

With all our commitments done, we ventured into new territory; unscheduled travel. With nothing on the calendar but to get to Colorado before winter we waved goodbye to our Washington family and pointed Marcel further North West in hopes of making it to un-civilization before the sun set. Kerri had...

1

Two gems in three days

Kerri and I spent nearly a week living like regular folk; inside a house, on a regular bed, with running water, electricity, and a daily hot shower. This, so I could relieve my sister and brother in-law from parent-sitting for a weekend so they could get away for something fun....

1

We rush

It took a total of 9 days to get Marcel’s new radiator, hoses, and water pump – the very costly remedy for a single can of STOP LEAK from the previous owners – shipped and installed by a local shop. Six nights waiting in a RV park, and two nights...

1

Marcel weeps for the first time

Immediately we were traveling by the worst way; by a schedule. In just a few short days we needed to be at a predetermined destination to link up with my brother & wife to visit my eldest brother near Clearlake, California. This, at least, allowed us to drop in at...

0

Meet Marcel

We returned from our New Zealand sailing adventures and got straight to work rebuilding our new [to us] van. The original plan was to rebuild only a few small things and get to our land-travels ASAP, but as usual plans change. The change happened because on day-1 I came to...