After striking out at Castle Mountain National Monument, we found ourselves wandering a web of dirt roads inside the Mojave National Preserve, passing the still-operational Hart Mine along the way. Not long into the wandering, we were stopped cold by a fallen Joshua Tree sprawled across the road. This was...
We rolled straight through Kofa National Wildlife Refuge without even lifting our foot off the gas. We’ve been through there a few times now, and while it’s still beautiful, this was one of those keep-moving days. Quartzsite was next. We’ve been here before too. In fact, everyone has been here before....
Somewhere between Colorado’s mountains and New Mexico’s hot springs, we lost our grip on time. Too many long soaks, too many lingering sunsets. Now we were behind schedule — and, to make things worse, it was Kerri’s busiest work season. Not exactly ideal for long Interstate hauls where work time...
We made a bee-line straight down Interstate 25, through Albuquerque, running the usual road-trip errands: fuel, truck-stop showers, bathroom breaks, repeat. By early afternoon we rolled off the highway just north of Socorro, New Mexico, chasing another patch of dirt our maps had promised — the Quebradas Backcountry Byway. These...
After a few days of cocktails and sunsets in Taos, we figured we’d better take a short break from civilization before diving into Santa Fe. Just east of town, a rugged mountain called our name. On the map, it had a dirt road that wound its way up a canyon...
Escaping the gravitational pull of Pagosa Springs took more willpower than expected, but eventually, we did it. Marcel’s nose turned south, New Mexico-bound. Next stop: Taos. We weren’t in any particular hurry now — the threat of Colorado snow was safely behind us — so when a dirt road over...
After a week packed with family time, hot chicken, and van repairs, it was time to retreat back into the mountains for some much-needed decompression. We didn’t have a destination in mind — we rarely do — but we know the Rockies well enough to trust that something would turn...
After three days camped at 10,000 feet with the foxes, we finally cried uncle. The cold had seeped through everything — the van, our bones, even the coffee. So we rolled off the mountain the same way we’d climbed it, chasing warmer air. Even Marcel had started complaining, tugging to...
We’re on a schedule — a dangerous word for people who live in a van, but there it is. The goal: beat the snow. We had to make it through Wyoming, over the Rockies, visit my son (and dog) in Colorado, and reach New Mexico before the first white stuff...
