Upon our return to the States we’d planned to jump right into the van and go exploring for a month before my mom-sitting commitment started in late October. My sister and brother-in-law were finally getting a well-earned vacation, and I was on duty. But, as they do, plans changed. Instead...
Our final days in the UK were reserved for exploring the countryside before heading back to Dublin and the long journey home. We waved goodbye to the animals, loaded back into our complaining rental, and set out midday with a 4-hour drive along the southern coastline. We couldn’t sightsee much—arrival...
Our second part of UK time was to do something different: stay put. Not that we needed a break from the van already—we’d just gotten back to it—but to move less. A lot less. We’d originally planned a week or two auto-touring Scotland and Ireland after the concert. But as...
Kerri jumped at the opportunity to be free of the boat and immediately found a new adventure: a Florence & The Machine concert in Scotland. We’d both been obsessed with them for a couple years. It seemed like a big trip for a single-night show, but at first we thought,...
After our first major roadside repair job of 2026, we didn’t want to take huge risks driving far from a parts store. I still had a bad feeling another seal needed replacing, which would’ve meant completely redoing what I’d just finished. Miller Bar came to the rescue—an overnight spot not...
Fresh off our first real van-adventure of 2026, we continued north up Highway 101. We still had one more family member to visit on our route up to Washington State, but in between was nothing but weeks of coastline and dirt roads—or at least that was the plan. The small...
With most of our family and friends visits out of the way, we had time to take our first adventure of the year. The Lost Coast has been on our todo list since last year’s drive north through California. It’s a stretch of coastline through California’s King Range—good for temperatures...
We arrived back in the States and to Kerri’s parents’ place in California, where Marcel was awaiting our return since we left him wrapped up like a burrito back in January. It felt good to see the towering beast sitting there in the woods, just outside the window of our...
Now officially on the wrong side of the Sierras—and a few days too early to deliver Marcel to his winter resting place—we called an audible and dropped in on family friends down in Placerville. A little moochdocking in a quiet, comfortable driveway followed. The days passed easily: eating, chatting, and...
We aimed Marcel toward Mono Lake on what might be the most aggressively side-to-side rolling dirt road we’ve ever driven. Not the gentle up-and-down kind — this was full-body sway, the kind that makes a tall van question its life choices. Marcel was not a fan. Neither were our cabinets....
We were on the final push now. Mojave behind us, the plan was simple enough: head north, cross the Sierras, and get Marcel settled in for a long 6–8 month hibernation while we disappeared halfway around the world to go sailing. Simple plans, of course, are rarely executed simply. Originally,...
